Montreal 5 Tampa Bay 3 (Bell Centre)
Bell Centre fans watched tonight poor zone coverage as the defense played soft, allowing free passage to the goal. They also watched as forwards losing puck battles on the boards. A too many men on the ice penalty led to a goal against while shorthanded.
The difference is that the guilty players were dressed in white.
Tampa Bay committed the same kind of mistakes that we have seen from the home team much of the season. Tonight, the Canadiens were able to take advantage and capitalize on their opportunities.
The Habs took an early lead with a power-play goal and made it 2-0 about half-way through the first. It was a dominating performance in the period, with the Habs aggressively forechecking and being first on the puck.
After the game, coach Jacques Martin talked about chemistry starting to build among the players. It may sound like a strange comment in game number 68 of the season, but given the number of injuries, some members of the team haven’t spent much time together.
“We’re starting to get a sense of what it might have been like earlier if we hadn’t had the injuries,” said Scott Gomez. “But a lot of teams have had injuries. We put ourselves in the situation we’re in, so we can’t worry about that.”
Gomez had a strong game with a goal and two assists. Linemate Benoit Pouliot added a goal. Brian Gionta was pointless but created a turnover that led to a goal when he forechecked Victor Hedman, a Lightning defenseman who is 11 inches taller.
Coach Martin was very complimentary to Mathieu Darche in his post-game presser. Martin said that Darche is a “smart player, and a tremendous human being, who brings determination and commitment no matter the minutes [played].”
Darche made the most of his 9:37 played with two goals. Glen Metropolit had a very efficient ten minutes of ice-time with a goal and an assist.
“You want to show them that they might have made a mistake by not bringing you back, but they have great players over there,” said Darche, a former Lightning player. “At this point of the year I’m just happy to contribute to a win. If it’s against your former team, it’s just a little cherry on top of the sundae.”
With the third and fourth lines contributing, Maxim Lapierre may be watching from the press box when his four game suspension expires. Lapierre is eligible to play on Saturday against Boston but may have difficulty getting back into the lineup.
The Canadiens defense played well while blocking 21 shots in front of Jaroslav Halak. Hal Gill led the way with five blocked shots.
Gill was also generous to the Lighting with two giveaways on the same sequence near the crease. Gill backhanded put it on the stick of Vincent Lecavalier but was fortunate to get the puck back blocking Lecavalier’s shot. Gill then made a perfect pass to the stick of Steven Stamkos who put it in the back of the Canadiens net.
“I mean, it’s a good pass, right on the tape. Obviously he was trying to clear it,” Stamkos said. “I just got lucky and it went on my tape and I had an open net. Probably one of the easier ones of the year.”
With the win, the Canadiens are in seventh place with 72 points with 14 games to play.
After a day off for the players on Wednesday, the Habs face the Oilers on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Scott Gomez
2. Mathieu Darche
3. Glen Metropolit
Player quotes from wire services were used in this report.
(photo credit: Getty)
"Brian Gionta was pointless …"
Oops.
Love it. :)
What, no mention of Halak, you could find nothing good to say about his play, lol. How bout Halak playing the Bolts for the first time this year, Halak winning his 20th game of the year, Price has almost that many loses, he just needs one more start to get to 20 loses.
Well, I guess if you have nothing good to say then it`s best to keep quiet.
Such a shame the way Price has folded under the pressure this year, hope it`s not an every year kind of thing, as Halak will be gone to greener pastures come next year.
That's the play I'm talking about. Aggressive, they jumped on the shakey looking Lightning quickly, balanced scoring, great defense and goaltending and yea whatever they put the puck in their own net twice but it was just one of those games you really didn't have to sit on the edge of your seat worrying about the other team coming back.
It's kind of surprising how quiet the Bolts were, really. Usually they always play the Habs really tough, especially at the Bell Center. But I didn't notice Lecav all night until he tripped over Jaro. Tanguay was invisible. Surprised St Louis was playing, actually. Rammed into the boards and looked absolutely concussed last game, was kept pretty quiet but did manage to score that lovely goal. Unless something drastic happens, I don't see the Bolts making the playoffs.
Habs have a solid chance of picking up 6 points this week and already have the 2. The Oilers aren't the same team they met at the beginning of the year unless DD stands on his head again but he can't do it for 5 games straight (and he didn't, as he finally cracked against Ottawa), and the Bruins are the Bruins (they might go to OT though). But if they continue playing like this, those 6 points are totally doable.
This was one of those games where the Habs did what they had to do against an opponent that is on the verge of packing it in. Considering guys like Vinny, Tanguay and St.Louis usually create mayhem vs Montreal, they were all but invisible last night…a sure sign to me that they are about to drop out of the race permanently.
Depending on your point of view, either the Habs played a great game, or the Lightning played a poor one. I don't know how to separate one from the other.
For example, on the Habs second goal, was Gomez relentless on the forecheck, or was the Tampa defender as soft as wet kleenex?
As usual, the truth probably lies somewhere in between. Tampa was nowhere near their best (when Gionta eats up Hedman in a physical battle, you know something isn't quite right), and the Habs deserve credit for not falling in to their typical defensive shell, or playing down to their opponent's level; something that has been typical of them for YEARS.
There were some congrats to give out for milestones reached:
• Metropolit for 400 career games (scored his career-high 15th goal of the year)
• Darche for his first multi-goal game of his NHL career (or at least with the Habs)
• Halak for hitting 20 wins for the first time in his career
• While there's no specific milestone, Gomez has been the team's best player over the past 10 games or so, and deserves kudos.
As fans we should also be happy to see the team is finally winning some games without needing the goaltending to be through the roof. Recent wins against the Bruins, Kings, Ducks and now Lightning all came with plenty of goal support, and without the Habs giving up 40+ shots. The goaltending ranged from good to great in the wins, but never did I feel that goaltending stole the victory.
For the first time this season, I am starting to feel a little bit confident in this team. That's not to say that I think they'll beat one of the conference powers in a seven game series (they might), but their style of play seems to be changing slowly and that should help them pose a greater threat to one of the top teams. Prior to the Olympics I could not see the team winning more than 1 game vs the Penguins or Capitals. The passive approach that haunted and marred the first 60 games seems to be fading at least a little bit, which is good news.
Mind you, this all gets wiped out should the Habs stumble and lose to the Oilers and/or the Bruins. Both are weak or depleted teams and anything but 4 out of 4 points over the next 2 games should be regarded as not good enough.
Great game and great post!! They are really starting to find each other, especially the Gomez line. Hopefully Cammy will be ready to play soon, and we'll have 2 solid scoring lines… something we haven't really had at any point this season (though with Metropolit's many goals, one can argue with that :P ).
Looking forward to seeing what they can do for the last few games!
So bitter, and so much hate Anon. One can only hope that you find "greener pastures."
Funny that you mention the invisible Bolts, Number 31. I agree completely.
I had a paragraph written on Lecavalier, Tanguay & St Louis that didn't make the cut. Decided that they were such a non-factor that it wasn't deserved.
Good catch, Anvilcloud! :)
Thanks for the compliment habsbloggergirl!
Good comments kyleroussel. One additional milestone: Jacques Martin got his 550th career win.
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