Friday, March 18, 2011

Game #71

Solid Team Effort Grounds Lightning

Details



Date: 17/3/2011
Opponent: Lightning
Location: Montreal

Win: 3-2 (SO)

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

Habs goalscorers: Kostitsyn, Gionta (Dawes, Cammalleri - SO)
Opposition goalscorers: Purcell, Gagne (Gagne - SO)



Play of the game


This was made easy for me. Tied at 1-1 with Tampa on the power play, Gionta was in just the right spot to grab a pass gone slightly awry and took off with the puck. He made St.-Louis look slow down the ice (no easy feat) before positively undressing Roloson to bring it to 2-1 and put the taste of victory on the team’s lips.



Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Andrei Kostitsyn
Put himself in good position and showed serious stick control in our first goal, and put in a solid offensive game with Eller and Cammalleri (even if that wasn’t the line he scored with).

Brian Gionta - Game Puck
The captain did what was needed to make victory look like a possibility tonight, and created some quality chances as he always does. He also covered a defensive lapse late in the third to stop what would have been a breakaway for the Lightning.

Lars Eller
I almost wanted to put the Bulldogs as a collective unit here, but Eller convinced me otherwise by doing the simple things well. He has great puck control, keeps his head up, and is learning to use his body and strength to protect the puck so that that he can be patient and create solid chances like he did tonight.

Defencemen

James Wisniewski
Showing great skill and hockey sense in both ends from the first period, Wiz continues to impress me. A key acquisition that we’ll be heavily reliant on down the stretch, it’s a relief to see him deliver game after game.

Roman Hamrlik
Our Czech workhorse played his 1 300th NHL game tonight, and his experience showed through his superb positioning, 7(!) blocked shots, and almost 30 minutes of ice time without a goal against. He had some smart pinches in the dying minutes of the third and some great defensive play in the overtime period.

Goaltender

Carey Price
I almost put the game puck here, and you can accuse me of bias as I’m a huge fan of our captain. Certainly neither goal can be blamed on our netminder, who played a more-than-solid game, and did well to shut the door on some key rushes after Gionta’s goal. He stared down Stamkos and shrugged off charges at the net with equal
ease and kept us in this one as well as anyone could ask.



Comments


A really fun game to watch, with plenty of wide-open, end-to-end hockey. Both teams are fast and like to skate, and it made for a very entertaining game. Roloson was solid for Tampa and had his share of luck in the face of some solid chances, and we flubbed a few besides. With the injury to Plekanec, I was really hoping for Gomez to step up to the plate and deliver. Instead we got a boost from the Bulldogs, and I thought they did well to create some quality chances through simple hard work; Dawes added a welcome goal in the shootout. With our decimated roster and Gill out with a virus on top of it all, I would have been happy with one point against a team like Tampa Bay, let alone two. I’m going to focus on the positives and a big team effort
that brought home a very welcome win.

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