CANADIENS
Montreal

MAPLE LEAFS
Toronto

Game Recap:

Without the motivation of their fans (why so quiet ACC?) the Leafs got off to a strong start taking the play to the Canadiens taking an 8-3 lead in shots halfway through the first period. But it was Max Pacioretty that got the Canadiens on the scoreboard first as he easily went around Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf and fooled goaltender Jonathan Bernier with a partly-missed shot along the ice.  Pacioretty had a strong game despite a sluggish start for half of the game from his two linemates. But the best player on the ice was Tomas Plekanec, who took on more of an offensive role tallying two goals including the game-winner.

Manny Malhotra played more than 13 minutes and was superb at the faceoff dot winning 69 per cent of the draws.

On the back end, Carey Price was solid quietly returning to playoff form from the spring.  Andrei Markov was the Canadiens best defenceman logging more than 26 minutes of ice-time, with P.K. Subban and Alexei Emelin not two for behind. Like Plekanec, Emelin provided an unexpected offensive contribution with two assists including a great lead pass to send Plekanec away for a breakaway goal.

If you’re keeping track, that means the players identified as leaders by Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien, namely Price, Pacioretty, Plekanec and Markov, all played key roles in the win tonight.

Plus / Minus

▲   Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin, Max Pacioretty, Carey Price, Manny Malhotra

▼   Tom Gilbert, Nathan Beaulieu, Rene Bourque

1.  Tomas Plekanec  MTL 
2.  Alexei Emelin MTL
3.  Morgan Rielly  MTL

Coach Michel Therrien

• “After a slow start, we played better in the second and third period. The goal of the exercise was to win this game, and we accomplished that.”
• “We got a lucky break, obviously, but they got a lucky break to tie the game. So at the end it evened up”

Tomas Plekanec

• “I thought we played a pretty good game from the second part of the game onward. We played much better. We put the puck where we wanted to. We played the game that we wanted to in the offensive zone, and we’re happy about the win.”
• On the pass from Alexei Emelin that led to his breakaway goal, “It was a great heads up play from Emmy. I jumped from the bench. I don’t know what happened on their side, but it was a great play by Emmy to set me up.”

Goaltender Carey Price

• “We have a lot of speed as a team. It’s one of our strong points. When we work well as a team and we support one another on the forecheck, we can use our speed to our advantage.”

Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle

• “We’re going to build on the things we were able to create and demonstrate a work ethic for 60 minutes like I’d say we did for about 45 minutes tonight.“