Maple Leafs 4, Canadiens 5 – Final in shootout (from Montreal, QC).

posted by Kyle

Does it get any more stressful than that? Or do you prefer to call it ‘exciting’? Either way, I’m sure a lot of Habs fans, myself included, aged about 5 years during this game. Ditto for Jacques Martin.

After not once scoring the opening goal of any game this year, the Habs were the Leafs slump buster in that area as Alexei Ponikarovski scored early in the 2nd period to give his team the lead. The Habs, who held in the edge in game play fought back to score the next 3 goals, by Metropolit (his 2nd), Latendresse (his 2nd) and Hal Gill (his 1st of the year). Things were looking good at that point, but the Leafs replied right off the next faceoff to make it a 1 goal game again.

After a tight first period which saw the maligned Vesa Toskala play well, as well as (surprise?) Habs starter Jaroslav Halak, the 2nd period saw these teams erupt for 5 combined goals. That may as well be a hundred for 2 teams that have trouble scoring.

The 3rd period saw the Leafs fight back late in the game with 2 goals in the last 4 minutes, just as the Habs faithful thought it would be a good idea to start serenading the Leafs adieu. Oops.
Tomas Kaberle, who in my opinion is the NHL’s player of the week, scored on a pinball-type shot to tie it at 4 with just under a minute to go and Toskala on the bench.

The overtime produced nothing by heart palpitations for all involved, so things had to be settled in a shootout.

Mike Cammalleri shot first and he made it look unbelievably easy against a frozen-in-the-headlights Toskala. Top shelf, glove side. Halak, for his part, looked calm and collected in stopping Stempniak and Kaberle, with Gomez doing his best Cammalleri impression and again beating Toskala high, glove side.

It was a miserable night for one Mike Komisarek in his 1st game back to Montreal. He was booed lustily at every opportunity and for his part, he had a wretched night. He was -3, has 4 PIMs and was a solid contributor to the Habs win, just as he was in the season opener. He’s now sporting a robust -9 this season. I guess 5 million per season doesn’t buy what it used to.

The Leafs played a spirited game, and they certainly didn’t look like a team that has just 1 win. They’ve had a “fairly” successful roadtrip, in which they got their first win, and several OT loss points, so they’re not too far from a few W’s. Tuesday’s return or Phil Kessel ought to help their cause.

On the Habs side, they were their typical Jeckyll & Hyde selves. A totally different team at home than on the road, most notably in the “goals for” department. Just about every forward played a strong game for the Habs…except Andrei Kostitsyn. Again. I don’t want to single him out, but he still refuses to put his considerable skills to use. Next stop will be the press box for him. I thought Guillaume Latendresse played a strong game, doing the things he needs to do in order to stay in this league: using his size in the corners, and in front of the net. He was rewarded with his 2nd goal of the season. Hopefully this was the game that opens his eyes on how to succeed.

Metropolit was Mr. Everything for the Habs again, scoring the team’s first goal, and making several terrific defensive plays.

If there’s an achillies heel for this Habs team, it continues to be defense and special teams, notably the penalty killing unit. Once this group gets caught in their own zone, only divine intervention seems to be able to save them…or a delay of game penalty.

Enter the dreadful PK unit. Not sure what to say about this aspect of the Habs, nor how it can be fixed given the troops on the job, but it is something that Martin MUST continue to work on.

The other urgent aspect to address is turnovers. I know Montreal is a hospitable place, but it doesn’t need to rub off on the good guys on the ice. Everyone is culpable here; forwards and defense; 1st line through 3rd pairing.

Jaroslav Halak, to my surprise, and to most Habs fans’ surprise was given the start over Carey Price, who played well last night in Chicago.

If Martin is continuing with the “win & you’re in” philosophy, we should see Halak again on Tuesday vs Atlanta. Halak seems to be getting the job done, whereas Price, regardless of his personal performances continues to rack up the losses. Halak is now 5-2 on the year, while Price is 2-5.

The Kovalchuk-less Thrashers return on Tuesday and let’s pray that the Habs don’t take their major absence for granted.

Pre-game expected lineup:
Gomez, Gionta, Cammalleri
Plekanec, Lapierre, Latendresse
Metropolit, Moen, Pacioretty
Chipchura, Stewart, Andrei Kostitsyn

Hamrlik, Spacek
Gill, Gorges
Bergeron, Mara

Jaroslav Halak starts in goal for the Canadiens; Vesa Toskala for the Leafs.

Scratches: Laraque, D’Agostini (suspected concussion), Markov (ankle), O’Byrne (knee)

Kyle’s three stars

1. Tomas Kaberle
2. Tomas Plekanec
3. Alexei Ponikarovski

Special mentions to Glen Metropolit and Mike Komisarek for their valued contributions to tonight’s win!

Comments welcome!