It was a painful game to watch with only a handful of good moments. The game actually started well, for two shifts the Canadiens looked like they were dominating the game. But then, Halak showed how confident he is with Carey Price sitting on the bench instead of Marc Denis. The only good news is that Price got a chance to try his new pads, not the ones in the picture but the new red ones. And he looked quite good for a man who had been on the injured list since the New Year.
The Lang and brothers line was also good by moments but it just wasn’t enough. I could say the same for all lines tonight although the Stewart, Begin and D’agostini line was doing quite well all game long for what they are asked to do. They cycled the puck well and were putting pressure on the opposing defense. The only other player who really played well all game long was Max Pacioretty. The kid is showing he wants to stay on the top line and he should probably stay there. If that really happens or not is something to be seen but he is doing well.
The defensive corps didn’t play a solid game at all. Everybody, save maybe for Komisarek, had a hard game. Breezer was actually playing better than usual, probably one of the only players who didn’t lower his intensity level. It turned around at mid game when the Canadiens closed the gap from 3-0 to 3-2 but it could mostly be attributed to playing nervously at that point.
On the bright side, the powerplay scored for the 7th straight game. Also Markov got a point in a 7th straight game.
Really there is not much else to say. The team played a loose game and Halak was more generous than Santa Claus on the 24th. Hopefully this was only a minor hiccup and the players will be able to motivate themselves playing against a good team like New Jersey, especially after the horrible game they played two weeks ago against them.
