The Montreal Canadiens win against Ottawa with stylish ease. After a rough start to the game, that is. With a strange call by the referee, Plekanec landed a two minute goalie interference penalty just 30 seconds into the game. It was unfortunate and undeserved as Plekanec barely contacted the goaltender at all, was clearly trying to stop and was clearly shoved by Ottawa's defensemen.
Ottawa took advantage of the powerplay situation. Their special teams has been on fire this year. Silfverberg scored for them less than two minutes into the contest. And, no, I did not make a typo. I double check three times! That's acutally his name! He should drop the 'f' in my opinion. Silverberg seems much more appropriate. My last name isn't any better.
Thirty-five seconds after Ottawa opened the scoring, Montreal responds, and ties up the game. Desharnais, driving hard to the net receives a nice pass from Pacioretty and tips it into the net. That was Desharnais' third of the season. It was also really nice to see Pacioretty involved in the offense in his first game back since having surgery last weekend. Originally, the team's doctors said he would be out for four weeks.
Later in the first period Cole bangs in the rebound to bring the Habs up 2-1, assists going to Bouillon and Subban. Cole looked particularly big netting that goal. i suppose that 6'2" makes him a pretty big guy.
It might be the Habs general lack of size that makes Cole look so big. They are a bunch of small guys; Gallagher is 5'9", Bouillon 5'8", Desharnais 5'7", to name but a few of the short ones. However, they are playing like a tough, physical team. Gallagher and the others are going out and throwing big hits on guy that are way taller and heavier.
I was only able to watch the first period tonight, due to prior engagements, but it doesn't seem like I missed too much. At least I saw all the scoring. However, I heard Price played a fantastic game making 32 saves on 33 shots. He is really tall and uses his size to his advantage to block the whole net.
In a postgame interview Price said, "We knew that we had to play a solid game because Andy's [Ottawa's goalie] been hot." He added that the 2 points they earned tonight were very important for the standings because "everyone's trying to get into the top 8 spots right from the start since it's a shorter season, this year." The Habs are currently tied for second place in the eastern conference, but they are tied with two other teams. Boston Bruins sit as the kings of the Eastern Conference, but only have a one point cushion and the Habs have a chance at jumping ahead of Boston at their next game.
The Habs play Boston on the road Wednesday February 6, 2013 at 7:30 PM. The Boston Bruins are (6-1-1) this season and the Habs are (6-2), both very solid records. The game promises to be an exciting battle for the top spot in the East.
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