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Canadiens Bring The Pain in 8-3 Victory Over Senators |
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If It Keeps On Rainin’ Levee’s Goin’ To Break….
The rain clouds poured on the Canadiens from September until late October. The stats told us that the Habs were playing well and they couldn’t be held back like this all season….
Then the mean ole levee broke and baby we got some goals.
The Montreal Canadiens took Erik Karlsson and his Sens to the woodshed last night for a lesson they will likely remember all season as Charles Hudon (2G, 1A) and Artturi Lehkonen (2G) finally broke out to guide the Canadiens to a 8-3 victory.
Al Montoya picked up the victory after a recovering from a shaky 1st period where he allowed 2 goals, the first being at the 21 second mark. Luckily for big Al, the Canadiens attack was relentless and they recovered swiftly from the early goal when Hudon ripped his first career goal past Craig Anderson about 4 minutes after OTT’s goal. The Captain followed that up by stripping Anderson of the puck behind the net, on the PK, and sliding the puck into the open cage at the 7:20 mark. OTT’s Dzingel took it back a minute later on the PP though to tie the game.
At this point you could see this game may get out of hand and with Montoya in net, the anxiety level was getting high. It was a welcome change though to see the Habs score the next two goals of the period with the first coming from a slick Drouin pass to Lehkonen in the slot who fired a laser past Anderson for his first of the season and then Hudon striking again less than 3 minutes later. 4-2 Habs after one felt good, but like I mentioned in my previous blog, OTT has scorers so defensively they had to be strong.
A back and forth 2nd period led to another OTT PP goal, this time by DiDomenico, halfway through the frame. The game got a bit tighter until Jordie Benn made a great pass to Alex Galchenyuk who burst in on a breakaway and ripped a shot over Anderson’s glove to restore the 2 goal lead at 17:41. But wait, there’s more! Brendan Gallagher broke that levee wide open with 31 seconds remaining in the frame with his dogged pursuit of the puck along the boards as he entered the zone before cutting hard to the front of the net, outwitting a sprawling Anderson, and sliding the puck just past his outstretched pad to make it 6-3 going into the 3rd.
By now the friendly Sens crowd had been chanting Ole’s and we got a glimpse of the Canadiens true potential this season. The start of the 3rd saw the Canadiens staring down former teammate Mike Condon with Anderson finishing his night with 9 saves on 15 shots for a .600 SP%
The Habs didn’t take their foot off the gas in the 3rd with Plekanec scoring his second of the season at 5:10 to score the Habs 7th goal of the game. Lehkonen added his 2nd of the season/game at 13:24 to make it a TD and 2 pt conversion. Condon finished with 12 saves on 14 shots and Erik Karlsson finished the night -6.
This helped quiet the latest shade thrown at the Canadiens 3 previous wins on the season. Some would say the Canadiens wins weren’t against quality opponents (Buffalo, Florida, and NY Rangers) but to lay the boots to the Sens to start a 4 game road trip seems to throw that theory out the window (for the time being at least). Ottawa is not a bad club and will be in the mix for playoffs this spring, barring any injury to Karlsson or Hoffman. For the Habs to open the flood gates against their rival can only do good things for their confidence.
Was Montoya shaky? Of course, we are used to calm Carey Price for the last 7 seasons. Price makes most goalies look shaky when he’s on. But credit where its due, Montoya made saves he had to make and the Habs reward him, and themselves, with the effort last night. Al finished with 25 saves on 28 shots.
Let’s see if they can keep the confidence high when the march into Minnesota Thursday night for a match with the solid Wild squad.
FIRST NHL GOAL FOR HUDON AND THE STORY BEHIND HIS CELEBRATION
Hudon celebrated both his goals last night with the sign of the Cross and a gesture to the rafters in memory of his friend, Nicholas Antonelli. Hudon’s best friend Nicholas was killed walking home from a party at 17 years old by a drunk driver from the same event.
The following excerpt is taken from the article on the Canadiens official website.
“On a fateful Saturday night in August 2011, after a party at a friend's house, Nicholas decided to walk home instead of driving or getting in a car with someone who had been drinking.
‘He was hit by one of his brother's friends after the party. That friend had decided to drive when he wasn't in a state to do so. Nick made a choice because he wanted to be careful and he's the one who got hit. We were both 17 years old,’ recounted Hudon, who is now 23. ‘It's been a little while, but it's still difficult to talk about, to think that he made the right decision and it backfired on him. It's tough. I know he's always with me and he always will be. I talk to him a lot,’ admitted Hudon. ‘When I'm at home alone, we talk.’”
I’m sure many of us have been affected in one way or another by impaired driving, I know I have. Remember to be safe when it comes to drinking alcohol. Always plan ahead not just for you, but for everyone. Have a read of the article in the tweet, please.
TOMAS PLEKANEC MOVES INTO 15TH ON CANADIENS ALL TIME SCORING LIST
We may be seeing the twilight of Plekanec’s career but with his goal and assist last night he has tied Mario Tremblay for 15th on the Montreal Canadiens all time scorers list with 584 points. Congrats to Tomas on his accomplishment and solidifying himself among the Canadiens all time greats! Plekanec was also +2 on the night while playing 16:06 mins.
NOTEABLE STATS:
Weber: 3 A, +4, 26:37 TOI
Mete: +2, 16:12 TOI
Benn: 1 A, +3, 17:20 TOI
Galchenyuk: 1G, +1, 10:43 TOI
Gallagher: 1G, 1A, +3, 14:33 TOI
Hudon: 2G, 1A, +3, 13:49 TOI
Lehkonen: 2G, +2, 15:57 TOI
Pacioretty: 1G, 4 SOG, 19:53 TOI
COLLECT THE BEST! COLLECT UPPER DECK!
Don't forget to check out Upper Deck products at your local hobby shops and online! Preorders for UD Series 1 and 2 are already happening so if you’re a big collector, or a new one, make sure you stop by your local shop and see if you can get yourself a box (or case). The Young Guns rookie set are one of the most collected rookie sets all year and the Exclusives (#’d to 100) and High Gloss (#’ to 10) are always worth good money on the secondary market (depending on the rookie of course). You can find Auto’s, jersey, and patch cards in these boxes as well! Check it out!
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