Ann 2Game 53 Review: Price Has Terrible Night, Leafs Win 5-2
February 10th 2009 20:59
Leafs players celebrating a goal
The game was less than two minutes old when George Laraque dropped the glove against Brad May to get revenge for Francis Bouillon who had fought with May in the two teams' previous confrontation. As for Grabovski, the long-awaited fight never came. Instead, the diminutive center was severely hit every time the Canadiens had the chance. Komisarek and Laraque had the most notable hits on the young Russian who probably didn't expect to be such a target.
The game itself was a joke by Montreal's standards. The Leafs opened the scoring via an harmless shot by Luke Schenn that found a way past Price. Although the Canadiens came back with a powerplay goal early in the second, they were repeatedly denied by Vesa Toskala while Price continued to give gifts as if it was Christmastime. Despite a great start in the first period, Price's confidence was shaken after Schenn's goal. His glove-hand weakness resurfaced as all five Toronto goals were scored top-corner on Price's glove side. Of course, it didn't help that his defensemen easily gave away the blueline, allowing the Leafs forwards to enter the offensive zone unchallenged.
Guy Carbonneau tried to give some life to his team by shuffling two of his four lines (shuffling lines seems to be the only thing he does when his team is challenged). Kovalev was put alongside Maxime Lapierre and Max Pacioretty, but the tactic backfired as the new line conceded a goal on their first shift together. Tom Kostopolous made it 4-2 halfway through the third period, but the Habs didn't even try to make a comeback.
All in all, it was another pathetic display by the Canadiens who are now going to face stronger teams on road trip out West. They could very well come back from this trip out of a playoffs spot if the continue playing this way.
My 3 Stars:
3. Dominic Moore
2. Vesa Toskala
1. Jason Blake
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