Rocket:
A frigid night in Montreal. Weather advisories are posted. Snow storm and the ‘Hurricanes’ on their way and due tomorrow.
But tonight it was Ryan Miller and the Sabres. The Buffalo goaltender was coming off a 40 shot shutout against the Kings last night. Tonight Miller made 42 saves but it wasn’t enough as the Canadiens scored 4.
The Canadiens had to overcome 3 Sabre leads. The reunited KPK line had the younger Kostistyn in place of an injured Andrei. But Sergei was a terrific substitute and was the game’s first star.
A preview of the game came in the first two shifts. Sergei used his speed to beat a Sabre defenseman to the puck to set up Alex Kovalev for a good chance. Jaroslav Halak left his crease to get the puck and fell down. The puck rebounded through the blue paint.
Sergei K scored 2 goals and was very effective again playing the point on the power-play. Kovalev had an up and down game. Kovy set up the tieing goal, scored the winner, and had 8 shots on goal. But his two penalties led to two Sabre goals.
Jaroslav Halak had another game full of adventure. He was out of position a number of times and surprised by Sabre shots. Three goals beat him on the glove side. But Jaro was also there to make timely saves.
After the line combinations had worked so well against the Flyers, Carbonneau went back to tinkering again. Tanguay and Lang played well but really missed Matt D’Agostini. For too many shifts, Carbo substituted Georges Laraque in D’Agostini’s place. To my shock Laraque was sent out on that line with 3 minutes to go in a tied game. When D’Ags was reunited with Tanguay and Lang, the line had 2 good scoring chances in the last 30 seconds of the 3rd period.
Tanguay had a goal and an assist. Plekanec, Lang and Lapierre were dominant at the face-off dot. Josh Gorges is getting more comfortable and looks like a good candidate to replace Brisebois on the 2nd unit of the power-play. Gorges is also playing much better since being moved off the 1st defense pairing.
Laraque had a meaningless fight on his first shift of the game. I suppose that Peters met Laraque’s code but it was nothing more than a sideshow. 32 games into the season and we are still waiting for Georges to come to the aid of his teammates. Laraque did help to provide a screen on the Canadiens 2nd goal but it was Tanguay deflecting Hamrlik’s shot from the point.
Ben Maxwell had his best game with the big club. He had several good shift and seems much more comfortable. He probably should have been centering the third line.
Steve Begin led the team with 7 hits but was also on the ice for two goals against. Begin is not a good penalty killer and should have taken the point man on Sekera’s goal.
Patrice Brisebois was also on the ice for two Sabre goals. Brise screened Halak on Derek Roy’s goal. On the Sabres second goal, Brisebois took neither the man nor the pass as Pominville set up MacArthur.
The referees and the NHL war room completely blew the call on what would have been Lang’s goal in overtime. He was set up with a great pass by Tomas Plekanec. The official ruling “after review, the net was dislodged by the attacking player before the puck crossed the line.” Actually the net was bumped by Lang but came down on its pegs. It was only then that Tallinder used his stick to push the net back.
Another full game effort by the Habs. One more win tomorrow night and the Canadiens will get the week off promised by the coach. They will be motivated and should get a boost if Carey Price returns to the line-up.
Pre-game:
Halak will start his 6th straight game. Price will be the back-up. Denis was returned to Hamilton. Higgins, Koivu, Dandenault out with injuries. O’Byrne is a healthy scratch.
Dave Jackson will referee his 1000th game in the NHL.
Rocket’s 3 stars:
1. Sergei Kostitsyn
2. Ryan Miller
3. Andrei Markov
(photo credit: AP)