Game 9: Montreal 5 Philadelphia 1 (Bell Centre)
Written by Rick Stephens, AllHabs.net
MONTREAL, QC. — Some blood was spilled by Canadiens brass prior to the game. The players took care of things on the ice for the final 40 minutes. All is well in Habsland.. for now.
During the media conference Pierre Gauthier said, “The sun rises every morning, but you never know what the day will bring.”
Well, the sun is shining in Montreal, and folks are in a better state of mind. Images of the Canadiens head coach on TV are met with muted growls rather than flying foreign objects.
Max Pacioretty, Carey Price and Erik Cole were the obvious stars of the game, but the coach on death watch got a stay from an unlikely governor: Yannick Weber.
Philadelphia had their way with the Habs in the first period. Rarely did the puck exit the Montreal zone. At times, it looked like a game of keep-away by the Flyers.
Raphael Diaz was caught running all over his zone and Philadelphia cashed in with only Hal Gill back defending. It could have been much worse than the one goal lead if not for some outstanding play by Price.
The Habs managed only five shots in the first period. For a 14:15 stretch, the Canadiens did not have a shot on goal. The first shot by a forward came with 54.9 seconds remaining in the period.
Philadelphia only had a one goal lead by were dominating the play. If the Habs had gone on to lose the game, the Bruins were hungrily waiting for their shot at the corpse in back-to-back games. If the Canadiens were to end the month of October with four points, could they recover?
But with 1:20 left in the period, Cole drew a penalty as Andreas Lilja went off for interference. The anemic Canadiens power-play came to life with Cole forcing a Kimmo Timonen turnover. With 2.6 seconds left in the first, Weber fired a rocket past Ilya Bryzgalov.
The game was tied. Montreal’s terrible first period was erased. After dominating the Flyers were deflated.
In the second period, Philadelphia warts were exposed. On defense Lilja, Matt Walker and Mathieu Carle looked slow and were turnover machines. When tested Bryzgalov began to show why he had lost his two previous starts — he served up the game to the Canadiens on a platter.
To their credit, Montreal took advantage of the opportunities provided by the Flyers with Pacioretty and Cole leading the way. When the Flyers tried to get back into the game Carey Price was there.
The Habs head to Boston for a game with the Bruins on Thursday. Both teams head to Montreal for a game on Saturday night.
Plus / Minus
▲ Max Pacioretty impressed fans with his play and his courage. He had two goals, an assist and a plus-3 ranking.
▲ Erik Cole made the most of his 13:33 of icetime. He led the team with six shots on goal and picked up an assist.
▲ When Yannick Weber scores, the Canadiens win. He has two goals this season coming in wins against Philadelphia and Winnipeg. He now has a team high plus-5 rating.
▲ Andrei Kostitsyn was a force and chipped in with a goal.
▲ Josh Gorges had his best game of the year with one assist and a plus-3 rating.
▲ Carey Price ditched the pink gear and achieved his 100th win. He is the fifth youngest goalie to do so.
▲ The Canadiens have a fourth line. Petteri Nokelainen is contributing important minutes on the penalty-kill and Michael Blunden delivered five hits. When Ryan White returns, this could be an energy line.
▼ The deployment of special teams is still puzzling. Mathieu Darche had 1:47 of power-play time only seven seconds less than Mike Cammalleri, and a whole lot more than the 29 seconds received by Andrei Kostitsyn, who was one of the game’s best forwards. Cammalleri had almost as much time in penalty-killing duty as on the man advantage.
▼ Raphael Diaz is a wanderer. He needs a few months in Hamilton to learn responsible positional play.
All Habs game stars
1. Max Pacioretty
2. Carey Price
3. Erik Cole
