Montreal 3 Carolina 2 (Bell Centre)
Wow! Andrei Kostitsyn scored with just over two minutes left in the third period to tie the game. In overtime Carey Price was brilliant as Carolina outshot Montreal 7-to-1. Price shut down each of the six Hurricanes’ shooters making some spectacular saves in the shootout. Maxim Lapierre scored the lone shootout goal for the win.
Bell Centre fans left happy and the Canadiens had two points, their first win at home in November.
But, wait a minute. Prior to the shootout, overtime, and last three minutes of the third period, this game was a dud. Other than for a handful of players, it was a lackluster effort by the Canadiens.
Let’s not forget that Carolina came into the game last in points and goals scored in the conference and without a win on the road. It should also be noted that the Canes were without Cam Ward, Eric Staal and Joni Pitkanen.
One more not-so-minor detail. Carolina’s starting goaltender, Michael Leighton was injured in the second period while stretching making a glove save. He was replaced by Manny Legace who was winless in four starts. The Habs weak offense proceeded to make Legace look like a star. In fact, it was the first time in 13 games that the opposition had scored fewer than three goals against the Hurricanes.
The Habs were outhit 24-14 and outplayed for the majority of the game. Only the heroics of Carey Price game them a chance to win. There was a standing ovation for Price at the end of overtime. Chants of CA-REY,CA-REY filled the Bell Centre to start the shootout.
Coach Jacques Martin was more modest in praising his goaltender, “Carey played a good game but is still a work in progress. He has lots of things to improve and work on.”
Besides Price, Kostitsyn had one of his better games of the year. In addition to scoring the tying goal, he was physical, created scoring chances, and was good on the forecheck and backcheck. Kostitsyn didn’t appear on scoresheet for Habs first goal but he made the play by going to the net, taking the defense and providing a screen. Andrei even won a draw in his own end against the vaunted faceoff man, Rod Brind’Amour.
Tomas Plekanec had two assists and continues to be the Canadiens most consistent forward. Max Pacioretty played with Plekanec and Kostitsyn and scored his first goal in the last 12 games. The second line was the Canadiens best of the game.
None of the other Habs were deserving of positive mention for this game. It would be a reach to credit Jay Leach for his steady play or to recognize that Guillaume Latendresse awoke from his season-long snooze to deliver four hits.
The Canadiens fourth line struggled in the game and was limited in ice time. Being caught in the offensive zone created an an odd man rush for Carolina. Josh Gorges couldn’t catch Brandon Sutter and the Hurricanes had their first goal.
Due to the depleted defense corps Jaroslav Spacek is playing more than he should. Spacek also seems to be nursing an injury. A stretch pass from Spacek in the second period was intercepted creating a 3-on-2 for the Carolina and their second goal.
Canadiens will have to raise their level of play with Washington and Detroit on the schedule this Friday and Saturday.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Carey Price
2. Andrei Kostitsyn
3. Tomas Plekanec
Special mention: Brandon Sutter, Matt Cullen
(photo credit: Getty)
A terrible effort all around, aside from a small group of players. In fact, I think it would have been better for the long term success of the team if they had just lost the game. It would have accelerated any changes that may be forthcoming. This group can no longer be labeled as a bunch of guys learning to play together. It's been long enough now and the only excuse left is that Markov and O'Byrne are out.
If it takes Markov and O'Byrne to better dispense of the worst team in the league, then you yourself are not a good team by any stretch.
Just as the Canadiens spud gun offense looked Leighton and Legace look like stars, the Canes depleted attack also made Price look like a hall of famer. No doubt he was good, but this was a game in which neither team seemed to want the victory.
Price appears to be on his A game, but let's see how he does this weekend with Washington and Detroit on the menu. Somehow I don't think he'll look as stellar vs the likes of Ovechkin and Semin as he did against Cullen and Brind'Amour.
Everything else about this team is in the gutter. The offense is a mess, and the defense, while they've done a better job recently (up until the Preds game) are still a wayward group with no poise in their own end.
Through 1/4 of the season, the Canadiens have scant few things to be grateful for, but among them are:
1- Plekanec's return to form
2- 4-on-4 overtime and shootouts.
We are all happy to see the Canadiens pick up the W and stay in the hunt, but let's face it, this is not a playoff team at this point. There are no 4-on-4 overtimes in the playoffs and there are no shootouts, which has been the Canadiens bread and butter this year.
On the bright side, at least Latendresse threw a couple hits, Kostitsyn was awake and Lapierre scored the shootout winner.
The coming schedule over the next 2 weeks is grueling and will probably go a long way in determining this team's fate. Based on the way the team has been playing, there's no reason to think we'll do any better than 1-4 for the rest of November, which would probably be too much of a hole to dig out of.
If anyone read Red Fisher's review of last night's game, it was as critical as I've ever seen him of the Canadiens. That's saying something considering they won the game.
You're right Kyle. I was surprised to see the reaction after the game. Fans seemed to blank out the Canadiens performance in the first 57 minutes of the game. Needless to say, it was dreadful against a Carolina lineup that was full of holes.
Its clear that the source of the Canadiens' problems are on defense. Now Jacques Martin has also messed up the offense by pulling the forwards back to help out.
Martin was known as a defensive coach first. We haven't seen any evidence of that. Martin has preached that he wants a puck possession team. We have seen not a hint of that style.
So, while I was willing to be patient with the coach to implement his system, how much longer will we have to wait. 20 games isn't long enough? When should we begin to focus on the fit of Martin for this team? Heaven knows we have analyzed individual players to death.
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20 games is certainly long enough to realize that this is not working in its current format.
Can we expect changes? I'm not sure. Are the Molson's bold enough to clean house? Because I think if we're about to start moving guys out, then they should dump everyone overboard.
That would be the first step, IMO. Who's out there to replace the current group? I'm not qualified to say, and I don't even really want to think about it. We just went through this, and it would be crappy to have to endure it again. What does firing a respected coach like Martin out after 20 games with a brand new team say to the rest of the hockey world? To me it says one of 2 things:
1- The Molsons are smart hockey guys and know how to make decisions.
OR
2- The Molsons are intolerant and will run you out of town in a relative heartbeat if you struggle. Not a good message for the rest of the hockey world to perceive.
Are we going to have to swallow the excuse that with Markov, Gill, O'Byrne etc missing such a big chunk of time that Martin was never able to make his mark? I suspect this is going to be the m.o. for the time being, for better or worse. This is one of the dangers of narrowing your search for a coach to one demographic.
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