CANADIENS
Montreal

DUCKS
Anaheim

Game Notes:

A contender. When the Canadiens were riding at the top of the standings earlier in the season, some fans openly dreamed about a long Stanley Cup run.  The team has fallen back since then. So just what does a Stanley Cup contender look like? I would say a lot like the Anaheim Ducks. They are big, skilled and played a very efficient and effective system. The Ducks took a first period lead and dominated for the first 25 minutes.

Offense stifled. The Canadiens went toe-for-toe in the possession game for most of the second period but weren’t able to get any sustained pressure or second chance opportunities. Frederick Andersen was solid in goal and the Anaheim defence cleared any rebounds.  The Habs couldn’t mount any kind of attack in the third period being limited to just three shots on goal.

No excuses. There will be chatter about the officiating in the game. To be polite, it was very inconsistent. Some fans have already pinned the loss on a fourth line shift in the first period. Others will contend that the result would have been different if Max Pacioretty wasn’t forced to exit the game in the third period. And some want to blame P.K. Subban for his lack of discipline. Each has varying degrees in merit. But the bottom line is that there was plenty of game time between the first period timeout and Clayton Stoner‘s questionable hit on Pacioretty in which the Canadiens could not dent the Ducks armor.  The Canadiens lone goal came on the power-play following a brilliant setup by Andrei Markov.  Anaheim  was simply the superior team on this night.

Tribute to the captain. Prior to the game, the Canadiens honoured Saku Koivu. It was an emotional ceremony with Koivu receiving a five minute ovation before he spoke.  With his usual class, Koivu delivered a sincere, heart-felt thanks to the fans, his former teammates and the city that became his home. Let’s hope that this is not the end of the honours for the Canadien who is tied with Jean Beliveau for the longest tenure among captains.  That distinction, coupled with his leadership, courage, perseverance and extensive fund-raising efforts should have the Canadiens planning to retire Koivu’s No. 11. One would hope that the organization has already extended an offer of an ambassador’s position or one with the Children’s foundation to show Saku the respect that he undoubtedly deserves.

Plus / Minus

▲    Carey Price, Andrei Markov, Brendan Gallagher, Alexei Emelin

▼    Tom Gilbert, Eric Tangradi, Michael Bournival

1.  Matt Beleskey   ANA
2.  Frederik Andersen  ANA
3.  Brendan Gallagher  MTL

• “We worked hard tonight. I liked our work ethic, I liked our passion, we were on the puck; we had good scoring chances and we didn’t capitalize on it.”
• “When you work hard, you’re always giving yourself a chance to win, even if we didn’t tonight. The guys played really well tonight regardless of the result.”
• “It’s an upper-body injury, and we sent [Max Pacioretty] to the hospital for precaution.”

P.K. Subban

• “I always remember my first training camp here; when I got sent back, [Saku Koivu] told me to keep my head up and it meant the world to me. It’s just the type of guy that he is. He puts everybody else ahead of himself and that’s why he was the captain of this team for nine years and that’s why people love him here.”

Carey Price

• “They’re a pretty good team and they played pretty well tonight. We didn’t generate a whole lot in the third and they capitalized on the one opportunity they had so we’re just going to have to move forward from this one.”
• “Obviously he’s a big part of our hockey club. He’s one of the guys we look to in those situations at the end of the game so not being able to put him out there was definitely tough.”

Ducks defenceman Clayton Stoner

• “I think their team wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t mean to hurt [Max Pacioretty], but the game’s fast and sometimes guys go into the boards wrong, so I hope he’s all right and I didn’t mean any intentions to hurt him.”

Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau

• “Our resiliency has been great all year. We were down to four defensemen at one point in the third period, but we kept making simple plays. And when we did make a mistake, Freddy was there to stop it. No team wins without good goaltending. When you get good goaltending, and we play the way we do, we’re usually successful.”