So the habs take game 1 against the Caps in overtime. Last night's game showed that when it comes time for playoffs, all regular season stats are to be thrown out the window. According to all the experts (tsn, rds, sportsnet, radio) Montreal had no chance in hell against the caps and any win against the league's best team would require a God-like performance from one of the their goaltenders. Aside from the first period, Montreal didn't need to depend on Halak in order to win the game as the Canadiens were able to keep up with the Caps from the second period onwards, in fact, you could argue that Montreal was the better team after the first. Caps outshot Montreal 19-6 in the first period, but Montreal responded by outshooting the Caps 31-28 the rest of the way.
It was clear that the Habs were nervous/scared in the first period, they were trying to play it too safe, which ended up being disastrous, they were lucky the game out of the first 20 minutes with the game tied. Once they got comfortable, the Canadiens imposed their play on the Caps, in fact Jose Theodore deserves some credit for keeping the Caps in the game because Montreal had multiple scoring chances.
The Canadiens were able to contain Ovechkin all night, resulting in zero shots on net from the supersniper. Spacek played arguably his best game as a Hab; he did make a couple of mistakes, but his positives outweighed his negatives, especially his play on Alex the Great.
Halak was impressive as well, especially in the first, after that all he needed was just to play well positionally the rest of the way as the Canadiens were effective in containing the Caps' high octane offense, limiting their shots to the outside.
Scott Gomez continued his impressive playoff play, after last night's win he is now at 46 points in his last 43 playoff games. He made a beatiful move on Ovechkin and followed it by crashing the net and completing a great tic-tac-toe play. He topped off the rush by pushing Mike Green into the net after he scored his first off the 2010 playoffs.
Props must be given to Darche, Pyatt and Lapierre. Their non-stop play and energy gave Montreal a lot of momentum in the second, they also drew a couple of penalties and a few scoring chances. Props to Benoit Pouliot as well. He has been struggling lately, but he dished out a couple of nice hits and used his speed and stick to create turnovers. He made a bad mistake on the second goal, he should have cleared the puck, but overall he had a good game as he skated hard and used his size to his advantage.
Cammalleri played an impressive game. He didn't stop hustling all night, for a 5'9 185 pound forward, he gave the Caps D trouble down low all night, his linemates Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn had multiple scoring chances as well. Plekanec scored a beautiful goal in OT and it could not have been more fitting. After being misquoted by the media and made fun of by Theodore, Plekanec did his talking on the ice.
Finally, props to Jacques Martin for adjusting his game plan after the 1st intermission. For a guy who loves the passive trap system, he really sold the forecheck game to his team.
It's still important to remember that it is only one game and that the series is far from over, but so long as the Habs can use their speed against Washington's less then stellar defense and so long as the Canadiens forwards continue to backcheck and help out their d-men, the habs will give themselves a chance to win every night.
I fully expect Washington to come out flying next game, but that's not always a good thing. All the pressure is on them, especially Ovechkin. We'll see what happens, looking forward to the rest of the series. Hopefully, if the habs play another good game, they will get some respect from media and fans outside of Montreal.
Go habs Go.
It was clear that the Habs were nervous/scared in the first period, they were trying to play it too safe, which ended up being disastrous, they were lucky the game out of the first 20 minutes with the game tied. Once they got comfortable, the Canadiens imposed their play on the Caps, in fact Jose Theodore deserves some credit for keeping the Caps in the game because Montreal had multiple scoring chances.
The Canadiens were able to contain Ovechkin all night, resulting in zero shots on net from the supersniper. Spacek played arguably his best game as a Hab; he did make a couple of mistakes, but his positives outweighed his negatives, especially his play on Alex the Great.
Halak was impressive as well, especially in the first, after that all he needed was just to play well positionally the rest of the way as the Canadiens were effective in containing the Caps' high octane offense, limiting their shots to the outside.
Scott Gomez continued his impressive playoff play, after last night's win he is now at 46 points in his last 43 playoff games. He made a beatiful move on Ovechkin and followed it by crashing the net and completing a great tic-tac-toe play. He topped off the rush by pushing Mike Green into the net after he scored his first off the 2010 playoffs.
Props must be given to Darche, Pyatt and Lapierre. Their non-stop play and energy gave Montreal a lot of momentum in the second, they also drew a couple of penalties and a few scoring chances. Props to Benoit Pouliot as well. He has been struggling lately, but he dished out a couple of nice hits and used his speed and stick to create turnovers. He made a bad mistake on the second goal, he should have cleared the puck, but overall he had a good game as he skated hard and used his size to his advantage.
Cammalleri played an impressive game. He didn't stop hustling all night, for a 5'9 185 pound forward, he gave the Caps D trouble down low all night, his linemates Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn had multiple scoring chances as well. Plekanec scored a beautiful goal in OT and it could not have been more fitting. After being misquoted by the media and made fun of by Theodore, Plekanec did his talking on the ice.
Finally, props to Jacques Martin for adjusting his game plan after the 1st intermission. For a guy who loves the passive trap system, he really sold the forecheck game to his team.
It's still important to remember that it is only one game and that the series is far from over, but so long as the Habs can use their speed against Washington's less then stellar defense and so long as the Canadiens forwards continue to backcheck and help out their d-men, the habs will give themselves a chance to win every night.
I fully expect Washington to come out flying next game, but that's not always a good thing. All the pressure is on them, especially Ovechkin. We'll see what happens, looking forward to the rest of the series. Hopefully, if the habs play another good game, they will get some respect from media and fans outside of Montreal.
Go habs Go.
