Game #1-2Montreal Take Firm Hold In Boston

Details

Date: 16/4/2011
Opponent: Bruins
Location: Boston

Win: 3-1

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

Habs goalscorers: Cammalleri, Darche, Weber
Opposition goalscorers: Bergeron

Play of the game

Too many choices, how nice is that? I wanted to say the save that Price made at 2-0 on Lucic, but think that it has to be our first goal instead. Boston were fragile tonight and, so, to be able to go up early against a team that is down a game and their best player was a big deal. It all started when Wisniewski made a great play to steal the puck in the neautral zone. A big shot meant a huge rebound and on the door-step was Cammalleri the poacher. That goal cemented the doubt that they had in their heads; it was the most important Habs goal of the year thus far.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Mathieu Darche
Darche scored a very important goal to put the Habs up by 2; it ended up being the game-winner. His linemates weren't as dominant tonight, but he himself played a good playoff game. He, along with Moen, led the Habs tonight in the combined total of shots, hits and blocked-shots with 8. I have a feeling that those 3 categories will be as important in the upcoming games vs. Boston as they have been thus far.

Michael Cammalleri - Game Puck
Mike set the tone early as he was in on both goals within the first two and a half minutes (not a bad start). His line played well and I felt that Moen did a good job alongside Mike and Pleks. Cammalleri is the type of player that seems to able to score when needed, a big-game player; let's just hope that this is simply the start of it.

Lars Eller
The other two members on his line deserve a mention (Pyatt and Weber) as they competed all night long. Lars, I thought, was the best of that group, leading the charge throughout the entire game. Believe it or not this playoff rookie led the game with 4 hits.

Defencemen

Roman Hamrlik
+2, filled in on the PK formidably and had a very good read on the third goal as it was his interception that led to the goal. Hammer is a good example of what we have and Boston don't. See, he can do very good work in his own end, but he can also 'relance l'attaque' better than any of the D that they had in their line-up tonight.

James Wisniewski
James got the ball rolling with an early steal and assist and kept the good play up throughout. There was a questionable hit from behind, but at least he stood up for himself when Hnidy came looking for trouble. I hope that he'll shoot more than the once that he did tonight if needed, but can see his value beyond the shots when he plays a solid game in our own end and we win by 2.

Goaltender

Carey Price
This is the type of goaltending that wins playoff games and playoff series. 1 goal in 2 games to go along with some of the most relaxed, confident and positionally-sound 'tending that I have ever seen from any NHL goalie. He got a bit lucky with some posts tonight, but had those shots gone in I am sure that he would (as well as his teammates) have been up to the task of taking Boston down.

Comments

This is a dream start for Montreal. We now head back home with 2 wins in the bank and 3 of the next 5 games (if needed) in Montreal. Like I said, though, it is a start, not the end. Winning 2 more games won't be any easier because we have won these 2. We have collapsed before from this kind of lead and must be careful to not let that happen again. The positive is, of course, that we are playing Montreal Canadien hockey which is a better product and more successful type of hockey than Boston Bruin hockey. They can keep hitting us after the puck is gone as much as they like because that is the point, the puck is gone. We are moving the puck up, through their team and they seem to always be one step behind, always playing catch-up. We've lost to this team though, we've lost big, so I would still be worried. We have to be worried that things may not always go our way. The big saves may go Thomas' way, not Price's, the posts at their end may be the ones ringing, not ours and the refs may start giving them more of the benefit of the doubt. So, we must keep the foot on the gas. Scoring early is, and always will be, key and that must be our only priority on Monday night. I like watching the Bruins play catch-up hockey, simply because they are not very good at it at all.