Game #16PP On, GG On and a Dominant Third Period Bags Habs Their 10th W of the Year

Details

Date: 11/11/2010
Opponent: Bruins
Location: Boston

Win: 3-1

Habs Goalie: Price (W)
Opposition Goalie: Rask (L)

Habs goalscorers: Subban, Gionta, Gomez
Opposition goalscorers: Chara

Play of the game

We needed production from Gomez and we needed production from the Power-Play. Tonight, we got both. The best play could have been any of those 3 goals, or even one of Price's saves, so it was a hard, nice, but hard, choice. The play I liked though was the Gomez goal because it was full of promise, meaning and even a fair bit of skill. At the blue-line Scott went in with Kostitsyn. Gomez hung back while Andrei blew by the defender to go to the net. A soft pass came in that AK deflected into Rask, a juicy rebound was then available for Gomez who followed up the play very nicely. Just like that, easy as it seems, he had himself a goal. The insurance goal in this game will hopefully be assurance to us, and the team that our #2 centre is back on track.

Dome hockey team

The 6 players we're playing in a no changes, do or die contest in the dome

Scott Gomez
Scott played a good all around game tonight. He gained the zone well throughout as he used his speed and control well to his advantage. Tonight was the first game that I saw chemistry between him and a player other than Gionta this season (Andrei). If he can play like this on most, if not all, nights (points or not) then I think the wins will continue to come more often than the losses.

Tomas Plekanec
Pleks picked up two assists tonight and the first one, in particular, was exactly the type of point we need from him. PK is going to be our shooter on the PP and, therefore, needs good passes coming in. That responsibility falls on Markov and Pleks and I was happy that Pleks delivered tonight with a fine feed. He played well the rest of the way as he once again demonstrated his superior puck-handling skills and penalty-killing proficiency.

Michael Cammalleri
Cammalleri didn't score tonight, but a highlight had to be his PP feed to Gionta on the game-winner. That pass was a soft, saucered pass that made Mike look more like a passer than a shooter. Aside from that pass Mike played a good offensive game as he took 5 shots and contributed a lot to our fine offensive play on the night.

Defencemen

PK Subban
Can you believe that PK is a rookie? It feels like we have known him forever. It is also, therefore, hard to believe that tonight he scored his first NHL (regular season) goal. I do find that his shot, although hard, is a little wild and far too predictable. Tonight, however, he got one on net, on the PP, and it hurt Boston. Aside from the goal he played well and he seems to be doing well with Gill. I think that that was a good move as Josh is also doing well with Markov. I feel that if you can split up one G+G duo then the other one had to be tried as well.

Roman Hamrlik
The good play keeps coming from our solid, Czech veteran. He logged the second most minutes on the team (Markov) and was probably one the biggest single reasons (other than Price) that Boston really got nothing going. He cleared the puck well, moved it up well, blocked-shots and even through a few hits; the best of which came 4 seconds after a whistle - classic.

Goaltender

Carey Price - Game Puck
Another night at the office for the now solid Price. I can depend on him to make pretty much any save these days and actually am surprised when he is scored on. We have a good team, but his play, confidence and calmness are the biggest reasons for our early success. Burning him out, however, would be a waste so I do hope to see Auld again in the next 2-3 games.

Comments

Boston is a good team that plays a good game these days. Their goaltending is, once again, some of the best in the league, their offence is deep enough to do without Savard and Krejci and their D boasts possibly the best in the league in Chara. So, to go into their building and play as we did, beating thenm by two goals is a big deal. I thought that Montreal played a very good road game as they seemed to get the most out of pretty much everyone. I was afraid of a Columbus replay, but was happy to see that the Habs had made the flight down to Beantown with one thing on their mind: winning.

We now have 10 wins in 16 games which is quite something for a team with only 3 good forwards, the world's worst coach and GM, 3 duds on D and a shaky starter. All of this makes me wonder if last year was a fluke or if we are indeed a good team? I actually think that we are somewhere in the middle, but with so many teams in the East just like us I really like our chances of staying top-6 in the this year. I can't see us keeping up this torrid pace, but even if we win half of our games from here on in we'll have won 43. I much prefer, however, winning at a better pace than that, this 5 in 8 pace is alright.. Keep it up though boys, the Round-Robin still has 66 rounds left.