La First; Lapierre Scored?
Et On Y Va! Luckily enough, I made it home just in time to see the black biscuit drop in Montreal for the Habs home opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Even after two years of West Coast Vancouver living, I must admit that I’m still adjusting my internal Eastern Time clock so that I may watch my beloved Habs play at 4:30pm. It just feels so strange to catch habitual late afternoon hockey games. Time and Subject just don't seem to mesh well, kind of like watching wars films on Christmas Eve or porn too early in the morning. Still, I can’t complain. After all, I was able to get RDS out here for a meager 3.95$ a month in order to make sure that I can monitor as many Habs’s games as I want. Merci, Shaw!
Opening period in this one definitely did not have the same jump as Saturday’s contest against Crosby’s tuxedo birds. In any case, Les Glorieux did make the most of it by getting two pass the Lightning’s net minder, Mike Smith. Max Lapierre ‘in your skate’ got the Habs on the board first five minutes into the opening period with a well placed shot to the right of the Bolts goalie. Albeit, this wasn’t anything to earn him free wings at La Cage since the opportunity came from a sloppy giveaway from Tampa’s defense. Nevertheless, Max has no other choice but to take whatever he can get given his uncanny ability for not scoring goals and being one of the most hated and pusillanimous players in the NHL. The Canadiens’ second goal came on a 4 on 4 situation late in the period. Smith made the initial save on Cammy but gave up the juicy rebound which found its way back onto the Jedi’s stick who tossed it Turtleplecks’ way who then found the back of Smith’s wide open cage. Overall, it was a good first period for the Habs. More importantly however, it was also another solid outing for Carefree Price who made 17 saves in the period. Woah, 17 saves?!? That has to be more saves in one period of regular play than he made in all his pre-season starts this year. Maybe we were too hard on Le Prix. We should learn to chill out in Montreal, shouldn’t we Carey?
La Second; The Pebble Keeps Rolling Downhill
Uneventful second period. Brett Clark put one pass Price on a power play at the top of the second period. Lapierre stayed Lapierre by talking the talk with Downie without ever thinking of marcher la marche. He did however lay a cheap blindside hit on his afore mentioned foe which cost him a 5 minute major and all the more admiration in my eyes and those of many hockey fans outside of Quebec. Still, the Habs were able to kill off the penalty and escape unscathed from ‘The Pebble’s’ antics. Aside from that, Price kept up his firm play by stopping another 12 shots in the period thus giving him 29 saves after 2 periods of play.
La Third; No Poutine in Tampa
You eat a large poutine for starters and what happens when the main course arrives? You aren’t hungry anymore. You went all out in the first course and forgot that there were two more to come. This is precisely how the boys rolled tonight. They dispensed all of their energy in the first period and forgot that they still had another 2/3 of a game to play. As the game progressed, we went from starving to full of pouts pouts. The only constant factor again (pinch me if I’m dreaming) was Price. He essentially kept us in this one. I know, it’s hard to believe but it’s true. Give credit where credit is due.
Le Petit Marty St-Louis did his thing, as French Canadian players who do NOT play from les Habs tend to overly do when playing in front of their home crowd, and tied things up at 2 a piece on the PP. This tie didn’t last long because AK ‘Where’s my little brother?’ 47 scored a beauty less than a minute later. At that point, it seemed as if we were in fact poised to get a W tonight in Montreal. Or so we thought. With two minutes left in the period and Price standing on his head, Pittsburgh’s new enemy # 1 P.K. Subban was called for a questionable ‘high’ stick sending him to the box for 2 minutes. Tampa proceeded to go all in by pulling Smith and creating a 6 on 4 chance. Price made some key saves but the boys in front could not clear their zone. This inevitably led to a Stampkos goal from a gorgeous pass by Vinny with the C (another French boy). Displeased with the initial call on the P.K penalty and what they believed to be a missed call on the power play, the Montreal enthusiasts let the zebras know how they felt by throwing empty beer cups and steamies wrappers on the ice. Strangely enough, this did not sway the zebras.
After 3, we headed into OT with Price already having made 41 saves.
Le OT; OHH Tabarnac!
With 50 seconds left, Big Malone lifted one top shelf on Price after some more sloppy play from the boys in front of him. Recurring theme.
Revelation of the Night: 2 games in a row = Carey price who made 43 saves on 47 shots.
Last Thought: Where’s the D, boys? 47 shots? C’mon, you can’t blame Carey for this one.
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