Ann 2Game 61 Review: Halak Shuts The Door As Canadiens Defeat Canucks 3-0 (Video Included)
March 2nd 2009 03:20
Halak stops Henrik Sedin on a breakaway
Move over, Carey Price. The Montreal Canadiens have a new number one goaltender underrated Jaroslav Halak. Once again on Tuesday, the Slovak netminder kept his team in the game with big saves, and desperate move off his goal line by Patrice Brisebois in the final minutes of the game ensured his first shutout of the season.
With only 17 shots towards Roberto Luongo (six in the first period, seven in the second, and four in third), the Canadiens capitalized on their opportunities scoring a goal in each period. First, Tomas Plekanec beat Luongo with a precise shot right after getting out of the penalty-box. The goal came exactly at the conclusion of a 5-on-3 powerplay for the Canucks, and it was Saku Koivu's heroic effort that allowed Plekanec to break away with the puck.
The Canucks, who had no penalties to their name in the two teams' previous meeting the week before, were penalized 11 times this time around, and it was indiscipline that sunk them in the second period. Indeed, during those twenty minutes, the Canucks took four penalties (including a five-minute and a game misconduct for Alexandre Burrows who had been a real pest in the Canadiens zone) while the Habs only had one. The home side benefited from Burrows' five-minute penalty with a powerplay goal by Andrei Markov. Shades of last year's number-one powerplay appeared in that sequence as the Canadiens' passing was both patient and precise until Markov let himself slide to the back-door and redirected Plekanec's pass behind Luongo.
Vancouver tried to give it all they got in the final minutes of the game only to take a penalty with less than tree minutes left. Despite Montreal's powerplay, the Canucks decided to remove Luongo as soon as they could to bring the situation back to even-strength. Unfortunately, with seconds running down the clock, the Canadiens clogged up the neutral zone, preventing the Canucks from setting up in the Habs' zone. Maxime Lapierre finally killed Vancouver's hopes with an empty-netter with six seconds to go.
Through it all, Halak was the best player on the Canadiens' side. Since he's not as big as Carey Price, the young goaltender relies much more on his reflexes to stop the puck. The more he made saves, the more it seemed that nothing was going past him that night. For the first time in a long while, the Canadiens finally have someone reliable on the back-end. The defense is still crappy (Markov and Schneider are the only reliable pair), but at least now the guy between the pipes actually stops the puck.
My 3 Stars:
3. Saku Koivu
2. Tomas Plekanec
1. Jaroslav Halak
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