Ann 2Game 34 Review: Kostitsyn's Hat Trick Lifts Canadiens Over Penguins (Highlights Video Included)
December 30th 2008 03:10
After a restful five-day break where the Montreal Canadiens staff and players took the opportunity to spend Christmas with their families (a rare occurrence for hockey players who are often on the road during the holidays), the team started its post-Christmas road trip with a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Habs' victory was signed off by three players who probably had their best game so far in the season that night – Andrei Kostitsyn, Tomas Plekanec and Carey Price. Coming back from a leg injury sustained a little less than two weeks ago against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Belarussian winger wasn't even confirmed to be playing until a few hours before game time. To everyone's surprise, Kostitsyn went on to score the game's first goal in his first shift one minute into the game. He finished his night with a hat trick, scoring his second goal two seconds before the end of the first period and his third early in the final period. Not only was his performance a great sign for things to come, his goals also hinted to the return of a dominant Tomas Plekanec who assisted his winger's first two goals. Plekanec has been in a scoring drought since what seems like forever, losing confidence in the process, and getting rid of the puck more often than not. On Saturday night, the old Plekanec resurfaced as he played 18:55, the second-highest playing time among forwards after Kovalev's 20:59. He rocked the face-off circle with a 56.5% success rate, a nice statistic considering the opposition. Furthermore, he was often double-shifted since Guy Carbonneau couldn't run the risk of matching AHL call-up Ben Maxwell against Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in a one-goal game.
The other shining star in the bleu-blanc-rouge was goalie Carey Price who stopped 32 shots – 17 in the third period alone – to give his team the win. After surrendering a fluke goal to Pascal Dupuis in the first period where the puck bounced off the boards only to come back in front of the net and getting pushed in by Price and Komisarek's desperate efforts to keep it out, he had no chance on Crosby's wrap-around as the superstar moved faster than lightning to slide the puck between Price's legs. The netminder rebounded with a flawless performance in the third period, frustrating both the Penguins' forwards and the fans who often found themselves standing up only to see Price stop the puck. After the game, Michel Therrien stated that Price stole the game for the Canadiens. That may be true, but now he knows how it feels when Fleury steals games for the Pens.
On the other side, after coming back from behind twice to equalize the mark, the Penguins gave it all they got in the third period, but they simply couldn't get past Price. And that's where the game was won. On all three Canadiens goals, both the Penguins' defense and their netminder looked quite shaky, and couldn't deal with Plekanec's speed and play behind the net. Fleury looked especially weak on the third goal as the puck flew in between his pads – it's the kind of stop any goaltender should make and Price let in quite a few of them in the season already. Still, Fleury kept his team in the game in the third period when he stopped Maxim Lapierre's breakaway, but the home team couldn't solve Price.
My 3 Stars:
3. Tomas Plekanec (Honorable mentions to Sidney Crosby and Andrei Markov)
2. Andrei Kostitsyn
1. Carey Price
The Habs' victory was signed off by three players who probably had their best game so far in the season that night – Andrei Kostitsyn, Tomas Plekanec and Carey Price. Coming back from a leg injury sustained a little less than two weeks ago against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Belarussian winger wasn't even confirmed to be playing until a few hours before game time. To everyone's surprise, Kostitsyn went on to score the game's first goal in his first shift one minute into the game. He finished his night with a hat trick, scoring his second goal two seconds before the end of the first period and his third early in the final period. Not only was his performance a great sign for things to come, his goals also hinted to the return of a dominant Tomas Plekanec who assisted his winger's first two goals. Plekanec has been in a scoring drought since what seems like forever, losing confidence in the process, and getting rid of the puck more often than not. On Saturday night, the old Plekanec resurfaced as he played 18:55, the second-highest playing time among forwards after Kovalev's 20:59. He rocked the face-off circle with a 56.5% success rate, a nice statistic considering the opposition. Furthermore, he was often double-shifted since Guy Carbonneau couldn't run the risk of matching AHL call-up Ben Maxwell against Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in a one-goal game.
The other shining star in the bleu-blanc-rouge was goalie Carey Price who stopped 32 shots – 17 in the third period alone – to give his team the win. After surrendering a fluke goal to Pascal Dupuis in the first period where the puck bounced off the boards only to come back in front of the net and getting pushed in by Price and Komisarek's desperate efforts to keep it out, he had no chance on Crosby's wrap-around as the superstar moved faster than lightning to slide the puck between Price's legs. The netminder rebounded with a flawless performance in the third period, frustrating both the Penguins' forwards and the fans who often found themselves standing up only to see Price stop the puck. After the game, Michel Therrien stated that Price stole the game for the Canadiens. That may be true, but now he knows how it feels when Fleury steals games for the Pens.
On the other side, after coming back from behind twice to equalize the mark, the Penguins gave it all they got in the third period, but they simply couldn't get past Price. And that's where the game was won. On all three Canadiens goals, both the Penguins' defense and their netminder looked quite shaky, and couldn't deal with Plekanec's speed and play behind the net. Fleury looked especially weak on the third goal as the puck flew in between his pads – it's the kind of stop any goaltender should make and Price let in quite a few of them in the season already. Still, Fleury kept his team in the game in the third period when he stopped Maxim Lapierre's breakaway, but the home team couldn't solve Price.
My 3 Stars:
3. Tomas Plekanec (Honorable mentions to Sidney Crosby and Andrei Markov)
2. Andrei Kostitsyn
1. Carey Price
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