Ann 22009 NHL Playoffs Round 1: Bruins' Powerplay Kills Canadiens 5-1, Bruins Lead Series 2-0
April 20th 2009 17:36
Momentum. The Montreal Canadiens can't seem to get any this year and when they do it usually gets lost due to either a) a bad penalty, b) a missed assignment in the defensive zone, or c) poor goaltending. The Habs suffered from all three Saturday night as the Bruins easily skated to their second victory of the series a 5-1 thrashing.
The Canadiens started the game relatively well. They even went as far as outshooting the Bruins for awhile before things started to unravel. First, Francis Bouillon who was playing his first game in two months left the game after two or three shifts, proving that Gainey's decision to start the small but strong defenseman was a mistake. Then, Sergei Kostitsyn also returning from injury took a ill-advised penalty halfway through the second period. Marc Savard scored on the subsequent powerplay after both Chris Higgins and Glen Metropolit failed to clear the puck. Less than five minutes later, Chuck Kobasew scored his first of the series by cashing in a rebound after evading Saku Koivu's marking in the offensive zone. And just like that, the Canadiens were back to where they started in Game 1.
Alex Kovalev the best Montreal player on the ice by far that night reduced the Habs' deficit to one goal less than one minute into the second period. Unfortunately, a goal by Shane Hnidy five minutes later completely deflated the Canadiens. Marc Savard and Michael Ryder finished off their opponents with two goals on the powerplay and the game was over. Jaroslav Halak replaced Price at the start of the third period but since no one except Kovalev had showed up to play, a comeback was highly unlikely.
The turning point of the game for me was Hnidy's goal. Price had made a couple of excellent saves towards the end of the first period to keep his team in a 2-0 game, but then in the second period, he goes and give a soft goal like that. Three of the Bruins' five goals were scored on Price's blocker side and two of those happened as the result of the Canadiens' defensemen backing in instead of stnading up at the blue line. This recurring problem in the defensive zone is probably what makes Montreal the worst team in the playoffs this year. They are last year's Senators: no offense and crappy defense/goaltending. Kovalev is the only one willing to try while the rest of the team is in desperate need of shooting practice. They don't keep count of shots missing the net but I bet the Canadiens had a lot more of those than real scoring chances. The Maxim Lapierre which was heavily touted as a playoffs line has been completely invisible while the Habs' supposed second line doesn't even exist snce Plekanec was an healthy scratch for Game 2 and Andrei Kostitsyn still doesn't understand that he needs to skate. The Canadiens have even more trouble up front since the TKK line has been dismantled in favor of putting Laraque on that line to bring space for Koivu and Kovalev. Perhaps Gainey hasn't realized that it was Tanguay who allows Koivu and Kovalev to gel effortlessly; without him there the line simply isn't the same. Having Laraque there is Carbo-coaching period and everyone knows that it doesn't work.
If I'm Gainey, I start Halak in net tonight (but then Price is Gainey's baby so he'll probably come back) and put Tanguay back where he belongs. Plekanec has to return also but a decision has to be made about the Kostitsyn brothers. They are the key to the series right now. If they can't buzz around the Bruins' net, Julien has only the TKK line to focus on and that makes his job a lot more easier.
My 3 Stars:
3. Alex Kovalev
2. Michael Ryder
1. Marc Savard
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