CANADIENS
Montreal

MAPLE LEAFS
Toronto

Game Report

And just like that an 82-game regular season has zipped by.  Your Montreal Canadiens won 50 games (for the first time in 26 years), are Atlantic division champs and finished second overall in the league.  It is the Habs second divisional title in the past three years.

Carey Price won 44 games for a new franchise record and has already won one NHL award as co-winner of the Jennings Trophy. Price finished the season with a 1.96 GAA and a .933 Sv% tied for the third highest ever recorded in a single season.  Price becomes the first goaltender to lead the league in wins, goals against average and save percentage since Ed Belfour in 1990-91 playing for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Canadiens played and won this game like many other this season.  They used their speed and skill to force turnovers and create offense. Montreal was prone to defensive lapses and Carey Price calmly turned away most threats.  In particular Price bailed out his team with third period saves on breakaways by Phil Kessel and Nazim Kadri.

Tomas Plekanec seems ready for the playoffs scoring his 26th goal of the season.  Plekanec combined with Brendan Gallagher for 11 shots on goal.  Gallagher’s third period go-ahead goal should have counted.  The other member of the line, Alex Galchenyuk,  had a quiet game but came through in the shootout scoring the game-deciding goal.

Lars Eller is playing a dominating style and has been for the last third of the season.  Eller’s strong forecheck led to Jacob de la Rose’s key tying goal with just 8.9 seconds left in the second period.

The focus has already shifted towards the Canadiens first round opponent: the Ottawa Senators.  Consensus among the fanbase is that Ottawa is the last team that the Habs wanted to face.  The Sens finished 23-4-4 over their final 31 games to grab the first wildcard spot.

But the Canadiens finished 11 points above them in the standings. And they have the soon-to-be-crowned Vezina and Hart trophies winner.

Montreal will enjoy a day off on Sunday but get back to work on Monday to prepare for the playoffs. The series schedule looks like this:

▲     Carey Price, Tomas Plekanec, Lars Eller, Jacob de la Rose, Brendan Gallagher, Smith-Pelly, Desharnais

▼     Torrey Mitchell, Dale Weise, P.A. Parenteau, Brian Flynn

1.  Casey Bailey  TOR
2.  Tyler Bozak  TOR
3.  Alex Galchenyuk  MTL

• “We’re very proud of this accomplishment. I think this was a season that exceeded peoples’ expectations. If you look at our division, three teams had at least 100 points. There’s a lot of parity and it’s very, very difficult to win. All the credit goes to the players.”
• “It’s going to be a tough series. The Senators deserve to be where they are, but for the moment, I want to think about what we just accomplished.”

Carey Price

• “Playing in the Bell Centre is a lot of fun. We play well at home. That crowd during the playoffs is electric.”

P.K. Subban

• “First of all, it’s been a successful season for us. Getting 110 points and 50 wins is a big deal for our group, and I think it is well-deserved. We played hard all year, and now it’s great to know we’re going to focus on the playoffs.”
• “We haven’t put a lot of time into thinking about who we’re going to play, but we know we have to go through everyone to win a Stanley Cup.”

Lars Eller

• “It feels good right now. I think we can be proud of what we accomplished as a group this season and enjoy that tonight, but once we get to that first game of the playoffs, it doesn’t mean anything. We have a lot of confidence in the room and we know what makes us successful. If we can continue doing the things well that we did in the regular season, we have a good chance of being successful going forward.”
• “No matter who we’re going to face in this series, we have to focus on ourselves. I know it’s a cliché but it’s really true. That’s what we’ve been doing all season. If we want to go all the way, we have to go through all the teams.”

Brendan Gallagher

• “I think we’re excited. I think it’s going to be a challenge. We know how well they’re playing lately and they have a ton of confidence, but our team is the same way. We have a ton of confidence too. When the puck drops, we just need to play our style and we’re confident in ourselves.”

Maple Leafs coach Peter Horachek

• “Ultimately, there was still too much undisciplined defensive play.  We didn’t lose most of our games because of a lack of offense; we lost because of a lack of defense. Individuals resist change. People don’t want to change. They want to keep it in the comfort zones where they are.”
• “There has to be a new approach to next year. There has to be a commitment to being better conditioned. There has to be a new attitude and approach to how we want to do things. This has to change.”