Game #28Habs Have Fun Against A Team With No D

Details

Date: 7/12/2010
Opponent: Senators
Location: Montreal

Win: 4-1

Habs Goalie: Price (W)
Opposition Goalie: Leclaire (L), Elliott

Habs goalscorers: Cammalleri, Halpern, Gionta, Hamrlik
Opposition goalscorers: Foligno

Play of the game

The first 3 goals were all similar, but I thought that the third goal, the one that iced it, was the nicest of all. It all started with a fanned-shot at Ottawa's point and an alert play by our captain. He was able to take the puck; he and Kostitsyn were off on a 2-on-1. Brian played it well as he saw the D-man cheating and that Leclaire was way off of his angle. It may have been an easy shot to score on, but the play, in its entirety was very good.

Dome hockey team

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

Michael Cammalleri - Game Puck
Was there anywhere on the ice that Camms wasn't tonight? I felt that early on he was the one playing with the most energy and the player who was getting our best chances. He only scored the one goal, but I felt that he did a good job of keeping the Sens on their toes throughout.

Brian Gionta
I wasn't really seeing much out of Gionta in the first two frames, but really liked what I saw in the last period. It was during the third that he got more involved (as seams started opening up) and collected a couple of points. His goal was very nice and, to me, was the goal that sealed the win; his assist on Hammer's goal was icing on the cake.

Jeff Halpern
I thought about Pleks and his passing/77% face-off percentage, but went with Jeff instead. The main reason that I went with Hamburger Halpern was that I liked what he did on our 2nd line. With him and Moen there that could have been our 4th line, but I felt that it was Halpern that kept them going. His goal, scored with other linemates, was like that of Gionta as in he stole the puck and did well to beat a very beatable Leclaire.

Defencemen

Roman Hamrlik
Can we change his name to Doman? He is not just standing out, but is standing out on a very good team and D corps. He led the D in shots and scored a very nice goal. His play in our own end was perfect throughout the game. He may be playing the best hockey of his Habs career; is it even the best of his life?

Jaroslav Spacek
6 weeks ago no one would have guessed that Subban would be in the press-box, Markov on the shelf and Jaro a dome-regular, but here we are 28 games in and that is the case. Tonight he was a +3 and played just as well as Hamrlik in his own end. Not too much going on offensively tonight, but when we score 4 goals and let in less than 2 that doesn't really bother me at all.

Goaltender

Carey Price
That was a 9-5 type day for Carey. He showed up, got his work done, and called it a day. We talk about fatigue, but how tiring can a game like that be? My guess is that our goalies are probably playing half as hard this year as last and that is one of the main reasons they look fresh and ready at all times. Tonight was simply win #17 and an improved GAA and Save %...see you tomorrow.

Comments

Montreal played well early, but failure to capitalize combined with a PP marker with 10 seconds left in the first by Ottawa had me wondering as we went into the second. I wouldn't say that we got owned in the middle period, but we weren't playing well (luckily, neither were the Sens). The worst part of that period had to be the 7 PP minutes with only 3 shots. In years past we lose this game, we let it slip away, this year my confidence actually grew during the second. Why did it grow? When I saw that Ottawa had nothing going I was sure that we would strike. And, strike is what we did. Three goals in the third and shear domination let everyone know who the better team was. It seemed like it was odd-man rush one after the other as we made the Sens look like amateurs at times. We have two big games this weekend and may be down Gomez, so if we can grab two points and avoid anything drastic we'll be in good shape for next week.