Well, that's a very different looking Washington Capitals team than the one that stumbled out of the gate of this shortened season.
They came out flying against the Habs, and fired the first nine shots of the game in only six minutes. Carey Price had the goods early on, making several quality stops to keep the Habs breathing in this one.
When you see a goalie stand on his head like that, you get a quick sense that his team will somehow manufacture a lead they don't deserve. Once the Habs finally woke up, that's exactly what they did.
The shift that Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller and Brandon Prust had to put the Canadiens on the board was by far the best any line had in the first period. It not only produced the goal that would keep the team in it for the rest of the game, it seized a potential onslaught from one of the league's hottest teams.
With momentum clearly on the Canadiens' side to start the second period, a quick burst by Alexander Ovechkin and a fancy move around Michael Ryder seemed to mesmerize Price, as a knuckling wrister slipped by the Montreal tender on the blocker side.
It was a goal Price certainly would've liked to have had back.
Talking with my buddy Arpon Basu at intermission, he made a valid point about the play that seemed to turn the game over to the Capitals. It's not very often you see Price bat at a puck like that. It looked like anticipation edged out reaction on the play. These guys watch a lot of video, but you don't need video to tell you that Ovechkin has a wicked wrist shot. Price clearly was expecting something of that variety, but what came at him was off-speed and dipping.
The guess seemed to rattle him, and goal number two--a comedy of odd bounces--wasn't particularly stunning either.
Not much Price could do about the shot that beat him to give the Capitals a 3-1 lead in the third period, but he'd be the first to tell you that he probably shouldn't be on his knees when the puck is at the point. Price was cheating to catch a look through a mess of bodies in front of him. It was a great shot, but maybe he'd have had a better chance at it if he hadn't given up the whole top part of the net.
That's how it goes sometimes. You'd have to admit the Canadiens may have been blown out of the water within minutes of the puck dropping in this one, but it balanced out in the end.
As for the rest of the team, they couldn't sustain the pressure they generally have throughout games this season.
Michel Therrien admitted the intensity was under the level they've customarily approached games with this season. That's an understatement considering how this one started.
It was one thing to be outshot 9-0, it was another to not record a single hit during that part of the game--most of which was spent without the puck.
There were flashes. The Habs certainly made a run for it in the third period. And when Nathan Beaulieu fired a shot off Lars Eller's stick, there was a sense that there was just enough time for them to pull a rabbit out of the hat. But the Caps held strong for their fifth-straight win-- a game they deserved to have when all was said and done.
It wasn't Chris Lee's best night (has he ever had a good one?), but if he and his partner Rob Martell were bad, they were for both teams. They were unwilling to blow the whistle in this one, despite several hooking, slashing and holding infractions that were plain to see. But if you're looking to blame this Habs loss on the officials, you may want to take a closer look at the stats.
Sure, it was impressive that the Capitals blocked 34 shots in this one, but of the 13 the Habs missed the net with, many of them were among their best opportunities of the night--whether it was Galchenyuk, or Max Pacioretty, or Eller.
The Caps also out-hit the Habs 31-21, and if the sheet accounted for it, you'd see that they out-chanced them too.
Oddly enough, Montreal was completely dominant in the faceoff circle, winning 63%...all for not.
With that, it's on to Buffalo to avenge two recent losses, with hopes to avoid consecutive losses to start the final push towards the playoffs.
............Find great deals on Montreal Canadiens tickets at Fanxchange.com.............
*******************
-Let's see if the momentum keeps going for Galchenyuk. He's got it going with Prust and Eller, and the line would clearly benefit from some more ice time. They got shorted last night, with Eller clocking in under 14:00, and Galchenyuk under 12:00. Perhaps they did because they got caught out there on Washington's third goal, and their coverage was sloppy at best. But you have to take a bit of the bad with the good, and the good well outweighed the bad for them on this night.
-Balance that with Pacioretty, Desharnais and Gallagher--each of whom were at or near the 20-minute mark, and well, you might deduce that Michel Therrien was as off of his game as the Canadiens were at times in this one.
Everyone can appreciate that the Habs need to get Pacioretty and Desharnais going, but at a certain point you have to go with the horses that are charging, and Eller and Galchenyuk were clearly much more effective than Pacioretty's line was.
And we can't blame it on the matchup, even if Therrien seemingly put his top line out against Ovechkin's for a large portion of the night. As far as we know, he doesn't focus much on matchups, so it's not really an excuse for the preferential treatment.
-Mitch Melnick brought up a great point on TSN690's post-game show when he said that every time you expect they might break up Desharnais and Pacioretty, they come back with a strong performance that keeps them together. We'll see if that holds true in Buffalo.
-Ordinary game for P.K. Subban. Haven't been able to say that very often this year, if at all.
-Despite the pressure they faced in the first period, I thought Davis Drewiske and Nathan Beaulieu handled themselves very well. They struggled a lot more in the second period, and eventually, Francis Bouillon moved up to play with Andrei Markov, and the two newcomers to the Habs found themselves paired up together on Montreal's third unit. They seemed to have a good thing going on for the rest of the game.
-Did Mike Ribiero play last night?
-He's not going to make the difference, but there must be something more Travis Moen can bring to the table. He never had the foot-speed, but last year's concussion combined with this year's lockout doesn't seemed to have been a recipe for a resurgent Moen.
After Ryan White played a couple of great games against the Jets and Bruins, there's no chance he deserved to be sitting in favor of Moen, as Rene Bourque drew back in to the lineup.
And I don't see how Therrien can keep him out against the Sabres.
-Speaking of Bourque, he played a strong game after missing 21 with a concussion. He was implicated physically, and he manufactured a couple of good scoring chances, not to mention getting the Canadiens on the shot-clock.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»