Sorry that I haven’t written in a while, my blog was having problems.
Anyway, in a game where I was in attendance at the Bell Centre, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1.
This was a much-needed win in many ways. If the Canadiens wanted to keep pace with Columbus and Carolina in the playoff race, they needed to win this game. Carolina has been hot lately and Columbus also won last night, beating Boston 7-4. This was also a much-needed win because a certain Mr. Carey Price, star goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens, had a chance last night to beat Jacques Plante’s record for franchise wins. Needless to say, he made good on that chance. Everyone was chanting his name at the end of the game, as they were when he was awarded first star. However, there were a lot of other factors that went into the Canadiens’ victory last night.
· At the beginning of the third period, Price let in a bad Red Wings goal. He had not faced a lot of shots beforehand, and that goal seemed to wake him up. He played his best hockey of the game in the third, spectacularly stopping multiple breakaways.
· Max Domi had two goals, one a very deft tip from the side of the net, and the other an empty-netter.
· Tomas Tataaaaar, who assisted on Domi’s and Gallagher’s goals, got third star of the game. Chief hockey analyst Michael Herman said about Tataaaaar, “I think he skated really well.”
· The PA announcer really likes to say, “Tataaaaaaaaaaaaar”.
· Brett Kulak did not look out of place on the second pairing. He assisted on Gallagher’s goal, taking the shot that Gallagher tipped. He was reliable in the offensive zone. Mike Reilly may not be getting in the lineup for a while.
One negative thing that I noticed in last night’s game:
It’s a good thing Price was sharp in the third. The Canadiens had much more trouble employing their speed game in the third than in the first two periods. There is a reasonable cause for this. The Canadiens have been playing such an up-tempo game, every game, throughout the season, that the players are tired and don’t have enough energy to continue that speed game through the third period. Without their speed game, the Canadiens aren’t much. There are two solutions to this problem.
1. Go easy on the players in practice, so they have more energy for the game.
2. The Canadiens need to build up enough of a lead in the first two periods that skating a bit slower won’t cost them the game. This is what happened last night. It was 2-0 for the Canadiens heading into the third, and 3-1 heading out of the third. Against most teams, you can’t stop skating fast if you only have a two-goal lead. The Canadiens would need a three-goal lead heading into the third at least.
All in all, the Canadiens were expected to beat the Red Wings, and they did. It was an enjoyable game.
Go Habs Go.
Signed, Le Bo
What year was it that they completely fell apart in the last playoff game against the Rangers? They looked like they were completely out of gas and the Rangers took the series. This is a major problem that needs to be solved if they want to go further than four games in the playoffs.