Game #1-5Heartbreak In Boston

Details

Date: 23/4/2011
Opponent: Bruins
Location: Boston

Loss: 1-2 (OT)

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

Habs goalscorers: Halpern
Opposition goalscorers: Marchand, Horton

Play of the game

Thomas' save on Gionta was probably the play of the game, the play of the series. The save was a good one, but I think the play I am really thinking about was Gionta's shot. A nice give-and-go with Moen meant that Brian ended up with a lot of the net to shoot at. He didn't get the best shot off, however, and gave Boston life when maybe they shouldn't have had any. That was our big chance and we made Thomas look great and then, a few minutes later, it came back to haunt us.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Brian Gionta
The captain gave it his all tonight and it showed on his face. He was exhausted at the end as I am sure most of the players were. He may not have scored, but did a great job to go to the net and test Thomas. In all he had 7 shots; that led the Habs.

Jeff Halpern
He scored our only goal on one of his 3 shots. Beyond that goal, which was obviously a huge moment for the Habs, he had a very strong, 2-way game. I liked what he was doing along the boards and at the top of our zone as his fight was really paying off. He also had a fantastic face-off night as his 73% was the highest in the game.

David Desharnais
I am thrilled for David that he got a shot on the second line as he once again deserved it. Although one of the smallest players on the Habs he certainly showed how big of a heart he has as he gave it his absolute all throughout the game. He kept fighting all along and almost played a hero's role on a few separate occasions.

Defencemen

PK Subban
40 minutes for PK tonight and the crazy thing is that he didn't look like he was tired. He played well throughout; smart and patient. He skated so well with the puck and each of his spins looked just too easy that you wonder why no one else can do them.

Hal Gill
Gill had some moments where he looked like his regular season self from 2 years ago, moments where I yelled at the TV. But, there were other moments, many more of them, where he made amazing plays and stopped Boston from getting anywhere near the net. He was unlucky to be there on Boston's first goal as it was the first of two bounces to go their way, a department that they beat us in by two tonight.

Goaltender

Carey Price - Game Puck
He was two very unlucky bounces away from a huge shutout win. They got the bounces and the calls tonight and we didn't. Carey was the best player on either team as he was thwarting Boston every couple of minutes. It was big save after big save. He looked so calm out there, could it be that my heart, in my living room, was pumping more than his tonight? Crazy.

Comments

You can't tell me that the Bruins didn't break a rule in the last 50 minutes of this game, well, you can if you are a ref. I can't blame Boston for breaking every rule in the book (apart from the shooting the puck over the glass rule - for some reason the only callable penalty in the playoffs as we all know it is the worst thing that one can do out there) because that is the type of hockey the fans (didn't ask too many people that I know) and the league wants. At the end of the day though we got unlucky (a Ryder glove save, a Chara leg save, two bounces right to them in our crease) and they didn't. It is a shame as I felt we played as well, if not better, for the majority of this game. We didn't dominate and we were certainly dominated at times, but we did have a lot of chances and played some good hockey at both ends, especially in nets. The Habs could probably be up in this series, they could probably already have won it, but at the end of the day we aren't getting the goals we need. Every game ends up being too tight and you can't go far if you always have to go to OT or win by 1 (let's forget 1993).

Game 6 will be intense and Boston will likely come out hungrier, so let's hope the ghosts can give us a few bounces so that we can go back to Boston and try, one more time, to beat them in a winner-take-all game.