Ann 2Game 21 Review: Canadiens Defeat Red Wings 3-1 With Best Performance To Date
November 28th 2008 22:19
After an okay game where the New York Islanders left the Bell Centre with two points thanks to Ryan O'Byrne, the Montreal Canadiens arrived at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit cautiously optimistic. By flawlessly executing the coaching staff's gameplan, the Canadiens were able to hold off the Wings for more than 40 minutes and defeated the defending Stanley Cup champions 3-1.
Since Detroit are a puck-possession team with a deadly transition play, the gameplan was simple – forget about the forecheck, put all five skaters in the neutral zone to force the opponent to dump the puck in, and that's what the Canadiens did all night. At first, the Red Wings weren't deterred. They tried different ways of bringing the puck into the Canadiens zone without having it leave their sticks, but the visitors stood tall. When the zone entrance did work, the Habs were quick to put three players on any Red Wing who tried to get in the slot to get a shot off. Consequently, the Wings were pushed to the perimeter where their shots were a lot less harmless than if they were right in front of Carey Price. When the Wings decided to use the dump-in, they were beaten to the puck either by a Canadiens defenseman or by Carey Price who didn't hesitate to leave his net to help out his defense during the game.
At the other end, the Habs' plan was simple. Make simple plays and go to the net. The loss of Alex Tanguay in the first period meant that some players would be double-shifted to compensate. It was one of the re-formed lines that give the lead to Canadiens early in the second period. With Kovalev posted in front of the net, Lidstrom had no choice but to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, Maxim Lapierre took his own dump-in in the corner and redirected the puck towards the net where it deflected on Lidstrom's leg to give the Habs the first goal of the game. The Canadiens added their second more than ten minutes later when a 4-on-4 situation turned into a powerplay in their favor. The Wings lost the puck in their defensive zone thanks to a nice play by Kovalev who passed the puck to Plekanec who then passed it back to Markov who had just joined the play. The defenseman passed the puck back to Plekanec who one-timed it past Ty Conklin for the Canadiens' second. The play was vintage 2007-2008 Canadiens with a nice tic-tac-toe between the three players. One minute later, Christopher Higgins scored the Habs' final goal after terrific work by Saku Koivu and Tom Kostopolous.
Perhaps realizing that they were losing the game, the Wings finally woke up in the third, shelling Price with 16 shots, almost reaching their shots total of the two previous periods combined. They were helped a bit by the Canadiens who made no effort of trying the keep the puck in the Wings' zone. Every time they got the puck back, they simply skated to the halfway line and cleared it out, leaving the Wings' to continuously rebuild their attacks. Halfway through the third, the home side benefited from a momentary lapse by Ryan O'Byrne (him again) who sent the puck straight to Johan Franzen. The Swedish player then proceeded to undress the young defenseman twice before sending the puck past Carey Price. With one minute left to go, the Wings pulled out Conklin in favor of a sixth defenseman but they still couldn't solve the issue of entering the zone with the puck. They decided to use dump-ins, hoping that their extra-man advantage would permit them to beat the Canadiens in the corner, but they didn't count on Carey Price acting as an extra-defenseman by intercepting all the dump-ins and rim-arounds. In the end, the game ended in a satisfactory win for the Canadiens. The Wings probably could have done more – Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Hossa were completely invisible – but it was too little too late.
My 3 Stars:
3.Josh Gorges
2.Tomas Plekanec
1.Carey Price
Since Detroit are a puck-possession team with a deadly transition play, the gameplan was simple – forget about the forecheck, put all five skaters in the neutral zone to force the opponent to dump the puck in, and that's what the Canadiens did all night. At first, the Red Wings weren't deterred. They tried different ways of bringing the puck into the Canadiens zone without having it leave their sticks, but the visitors stood tall. When the zone entrance did work, the Habs were quick to put three players on any Red Wing who tried to get in the slot to get a shot off. Consequently, the Wings were pushed to the perimeter where their shots were a lot less harmless than if they were right in front of Carey Price. When the Wings decided to use the dump-in, they were beaten to the puck either by a Canadiens defenseman or by Carey Price who didn't hesitate to leave his net to help out his defense during the game.
At the other end, the Habs' plan was simple. Make simple plays and go to the net. The loss of Alex Tanguay in the first period meant that some players would be double-shifted to compensate. It was one of the re-formed lines that give the lead to Canadiens early in the second period. With Kovalev posted in front of the net, Lidstrom had no choice but to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, Maxim Lapierre took his own dump-in in the corner and redirected the puck towards the net where it deflected on Lidstrom's leg to give the Habs the first goal of the game. The Canadiens added their second more than ten minutes later when a 4-on-4 situation turned into a powerplay in their favor. The Wings lost the puck in their defensive zone thanks to a nice play by Kovalev who passed the puck to Plekanec who then passed it back to Markov who had just joined the play. The defenseman passed the puck back to Plekanec who one-timed it past Ty Conklin for the Canadiens' second. The play was vintage 2007-2008 Canadiens with a nice tic-tac-toe between the three players. One minute later, Christopher Higgins scored the Habs' final goal after terrific work by Saku Koivu and Tom Kostopolous.
Perhaps realizing that they were losing the game, the Wings finally woke up in the third, shelling Price with 16 shots, almost reaching their shots total of the two previous periods combined. They were helped a bit by the Canadiens who made no effort of trying the keep the puck in the Wings' zone. Every time they got the puck back, they simply skated to the halfway line and cleared it out, leaving the Wings' to continuously rebuild their attacks. Halfway through the third, the home side benefited from a momentary lapse by Ryan O'Byrne (him again) who sent the puck straight to Johan Franzen. The Swedish player then proceeded to undress the young defenseman twice before sending the puck past Carey Price. With one minute left to go, the Wings pulled out Conklin in favor of a sixth defenseman but they still couldn't solve the issue of entering the zone with the puck. They decided to use dump-ins, hoping that their extra-man advantage would permit them to beat the Canadiens in the corner, but they didn't count on Carey Price acting as an extra-defenseman by intercepting all the dump-ins and rim-arounds. In the end, the game ended in a satisfactory win for the Canadiens. The Wings probably could have done more – Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Hossa were completely invisible – but it was too little too late.
Franzen's goal
My 3 Stars:
3.Josh Gorges
2.Tomas Plekanec
1.Carey Price
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