Recap Notes: - Carey Price was ridiculous tonight... tied a Canadiens record with 53 saves - His team must hate him... they couldn't score - Nashville had a franchise record 55 shots - Seriously Canadiens... you lost 2-0 to the offensively challenged Predators - How long until Price demands a trade? - Pekke Rinne pretty much summed it up: "The guys on defense did a great job, I didn't have to face too many shots," Rinne said. "Obviously you have your good saves and your moments, but it was one of the easier games that we have had this year so far." - You were the easiest game the Predators have had this season Montreal. Be proud!
Recap Notes: - Holy crap Carey Price won a game! - Price retired immediately after the game, saying he wanted to go out on a win - Montreal media is super excited about the victory.... you beat the slumping Coyotes. From Phoenix. Where they don't want a team. - You ever feel bad for Shane Doan just wasting away on this team? - Penalties euthanized the 'Yotes... Montreal was 2-2 on the power play - I bet Paul Bissonnette wishes he was still with the Penguins' AHL team - Plekanec playing like he's good! - Canadiens travel to Nashville Saturday for their next game
Three Stars: 1. Miikka Kiprusoff (25 saves, got the shutout) 2. Jaroslav Halak (only let up 1 goal, to the mighty Iginla) 3. Jarome Iginal (Only goal, being awesome)
Final Score: Calgary Flames: 1 Montreal Canadiens: 0
Recap Notes: - Not sure if the Flames played the Canadiens or the Wild last night - Seriously Montreal... just stick to the jerseys you usually wear - Dion Phaneuf may get sloppy seconds, but he's a beast - He was destroying those poor midgets - Jarome Iginla is what a hockey player should be - Carey Price might want to pack his bags - Or at least bring a cushion while he's riding the bench - Glencross sitting exemplifies what is wrong with the NHL's discipline practices - Cammalleri probably wishes he was still with the Flames - Hey Calgary... if you want to go anywhere in the playoffs this year.... REST KIPPER! - Canadiens back in action tomorrow against the Please Move Us Coyotes
Recap Notes: -There's the Price we know and hate. -The Lightning are 2nd in the Southeast division with just 6 wins. -Montreal...you lost to the Lightning? Really?? -Niittymaki may be the best thing the Lightning have going for them. -Not much here to recap...video is below
Recap Notes: -This was the 700th game between these two teams -Bruins almost broke their scoring draught late in the 2nd, but it was ruled that it went under the net and not between the posts. -Finally, with 51 seconds left in the 3rd, Boston DOES end the drought and avoids a 3game shutout streak...it took six Bruins to do it (Thomas was pulled). -Last time Bruins were shut out 3 consecutive games was February, 1929. Oddly, they won the Stanley Cup that year. -Lapierre is a pussy. -So is Ference. -This marks the B's 3rd Consecutive loss -Price is doing well? Come on, even for Montreal fans, that has to be surprising. -Montreal is 7-0 this season in OT/SO games.
Recap Notes: - Thrashers first win in Montreal in 5 years - Carey Price is by no means a Vezina candidate... but that D in front of him really let him down - Brian Gionta and Bryan Little got into a first period scrum over how to properly spell their first names - Both teams loved passing it to the wrong team - Apparently passing in real life was even harder than passing in NHL10 - Montreal seems to have the inability to beat the average to very good teams - Had a lot of trouble with a very average, Kovalchuk-less, Atlanta team - Canadiens meet Bruins tomorrow........
Three Stars: 1. Kris Versteeg (1 goal, 1 assist, he was everywhere!) 2. Patrick Kane ( 2 assists, 4.5 misdemeanor assault charges) 3. Michael Cammalleri (1 goal)
Final Score: chicago Blackhawk: 3 Montreal Canadiens: 2
Recap Notes: - Despite loss, Price played... well? - He was a lot busier than Huet - Price is used to balls flying at his face, not pucks - Huet on a hot streak himself it seems... - Patrick Sharp is a late bloomer, but still great - Definitely a cheap shot by Andrew Ladd... his elbow was way up. Boo. - Hal Gill continues to be a detriment to his team - Cammalleri proving he can play without Iginla - Huet let Moen score with 2.1 seconds left in the second... not cool - Andrew Ladd's idol is Randy Savage - Montreal gets a break with the Maple Leafs coming to town.
Recap Notes: The Montreal Canadiens 4 game winning streak came to a screeching halt as Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins showed Montreal how a real hockey team plays.
Fleury and the Penguins rebounded nicely from a sound drubbing by the New Jersey Trapazoids Devils and just absolutely molested the Canadiens.
Halak was pulled after two periods and 4 goals. Price went in and was... himself... and allowed 2 more on 14 shots.
Former Penguin and current Montreal road cone Hal Gill watched helplessly as his former team raped his team mates as he obstructed people in the neutral zone. Sidney Crosby scored the third hat trick of his career and is now on pace for 1,034,456 points this season. Imagine if he had real wingers playing with him.
With the victory over the Canadiens, Pittsburgh became the first team in the NHL to reach 10 wins this season.
Montreal will lick their wounds and return to action tomorrow night in Chicago against the explosive offense of the Blackhawks. Good luck Price/Halak.
Three Stars: 1. Travis Moen (1 goal, 1 assist) 2. Jeff Tambellini (2 goals) 3. Roman Hamrlik (scored the overtime winner)
Final Score: Montreal Canadiens: 3 New York Islanders: 2
Goalie Stats Jaroslav Halak: SV: 29 SV%: .935 GA: 2 Martin Biron: SV: 28 SV%: .903 GA: 3
Recap Notes: After raising their overtime record to 4-0 on the season, there's a lot of stupid head lines out there like "It's not over 'till it's overtime!" You won't get that here. Plus we didn't think of it first. And it's lame.
But the Montreal Canadiens won yet another overtime game, this time a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders as Jaroslav Halak continues to do his best to make fans forget about Carey Price. Not even Carey Price wants to be Carey Price.
John Tavares was held without a point for the fourth straight game. Rumor is that he's been distracted because he can't find a date to his middle school formal.
The two teams alternated goals right until the game winner as the Islanders gave the Canadiens a much better game than that 5-1 molesting they experienced 4 days prior. Poor Islanders keep getting close to wins but can never quite finish it in overtime.
The Canadiens try to continue their win streak tomorrow against the defending champion Penguins!
Three Stars: 1. Mike Cammalleri 2. Brian Gionta 3. Marian Gaborik
Final Score: Montreal Canadiens: 5 New York Rangers: 4
Goalie Stats Jaroslav Halak: SV: 23 SV%: .851 GA: 4 Henrik Lundqvist: SV: 26 SV%: .839 GA: 5
Recap Notes: The Montreal Canadiens let the New York Rangers go up 3-1 in the first period, but battled back to win the game 5-4 in over time off a Mike Cammalleri goal.
Cammalleri's overtime goal completed his hat trick on the night and led Montreal to their third straight victory.
Ultimately, as hard as the Canadiens fought, it was poor play, turnovers and penalties by the Rangers that helped Montreal get back into the game.
Brandon Dubinsky had a horrible turnover that lead directly to a Canadiens goal. Ex-Hab Christopher Higgins took a bad high-sticking penalty that gave the Canadiens a 5-3 that also led to a goal. Foul play?!?!
Coach Torts was not happy:
"And [Higgins] is a guy that I think we've been patient with. It's a penalty that puts us down 5-on-3, but the backcheck on the goal, we get beat up the ice -- again, if you're not helping us offensively you need to do the other things and there has to be some consequences to this."
Three Stars: 1. G. Metropolit 2. M. Pacioretty 3. M. Bergeron
Final Score: Montreal: 5 New York: 1
Goalie Stats Halak (W): SV: 21 SV%: .955 GA: 1 Biron (L): SV: 38 SV%: .884 GA: 5
Recap Notes: It's hard to say if a goalie does well when he has 38 saves yet gives up 5 goals, there are many factors at play. Maybe the defense didn't do its job? Maybe the scoring could have been better? There could be injuries, or any number of other things that can happen in hockey.
But it's Biron, so we'll just say he sucks.
Gomez and Bergeron opened up the slaughter scoring for the Canadiens in the first. Pacioretty followed the cool kids and continued the trend in the second on a Metropolit assist. The period also saw a fight between Nate Thompson and Kyle Chipchura, Thompson also earned himself a roughing penalty in the exchange.
Josh Bailey struck back for the Islanders on a shorthanded goal, but the joy was short lived as Cammalleri struck back soon after and later on Lapierre added some insult to that injury.
Montreal gets a day of rest and will face a strong Rangers team on Saturday. This will probably mark Carey Price's 100th game unless Montreal does the smart thing and keeps Halak as their starter.
Recap Notes: So...yeah. My foot is in my mouth as I am simultaneously eating my words, nice job Montreal, didn't think you had it in you. Brian Gionta opened things up late in the 1st with a goal on a Cammalleri assist. The score would remain 1-0 until the 3rd when Armstrong scored, making it a 1-1 game and ultimately sending it to a shootout where Gomez and Gionta scored, and Atlanta didn't.
Up next, Montreal hosts the winless Islanders on Thursday.
Montreal won the battle... but Colby Armstrong made Marc-Andre Bergeron forgot who he is:
Recap Notes: The Montreal crowd cheered for the crowd favorite and rained downed boos at the end…
The Montreal Canadiens crowd cheered Alex Kovalev when he scored for the Senators and booed the home team for their inability to stop him or the Senators.
"It means a lot," said Kovalev, the MVP of the 2009 All-Star Game at the Bell Centre. "It's appreciation for what I've done for the city. I really appreciate all the support the fans gave me and I'm glad I had the chance to show my appreciation for what they did in the summer."
Pascal Leclaire played another great game, out dueling Carey (is a girl’s name) Price to bring the Senators to 5-2-0 on the season.
After opening the season 2-0, the Canadiens have lost 5 straight. The fans definitely have not appreciated the slump their hometown is in.
"The fans expect us to win games so in that sense their reaction is not unexpected," Cammalleri said. "If I was a fan I wouldn't be happy either."
The Canadiens have a couple days off to think about what they’ve done! Or not done.
The Colorado Avalanche are 3-0 against Northeast Division opponents this year after defeating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 last night.
Apparent super goalie Craig Anderson had 29 saves, including holding off seven Canadiens players in the final minute.
With Colorado up 3-2 late in the third Hal Gill got a holding penalty to put Colarado on the power play. Twenty seconds later, Darcy Tucker remembered it had been awhile since he did anything stupid and got a high sticking penalty.
The Canadiens pulled price to give themselves an extra skater in an effort to score. However, when Gill's penalty expired, he jumped back on the ice and joined the attack, giving the Canadiens 7 skaters on the ice. The refs somehow missed this and play continued. They still could not get one past Craig Anderson.
Avalanche rookie Ryan O'Reilly got his first NHL goal in the third, which turned out to be the game winner.
The Canadiens are back in action tomorrow night against the Senators!
Roberto Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks were sick of losing.... and they took it out on the Montreal Canadiens in a 7-1 victory.
The Sedin twins activated their wonder powers and combined for two goals and five assists (Henrik had the two goals). At the end of the first period the Canucks had a 3-0 lead off of goals from Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond and a power play tally from Steve Bernier.
Andrei Kostitsyn would stop consoling his brother long enough to get a power play goal, but it was all Vancouver from that point on as they would go on to score 4 un-answered goals, with Mikaeal Samuelsson and Alex Burrows piling onto the score.
Montreal got the first 14 shots of the second period but for the first time this season Luongo attempted to show he is one of the best goalies in the NHL (and finally have a decent start for my fantasy team, jerk).
It was a rough night for Jim Carey Price after two great starts in his firt two games. Price was completely embarassed in front of the large number of family and friends he had in the crowd.
"It was pretty disappointing not being able to play [last year], but this is even more disappointing," said Price, with a fresh, fist-sized hole in the wall beside his locker. "I battled as hard as I could."
In an attempt to spark his team, the slow footed, lumbering, defensively liability known as Hal Gill went fisticuffs with the much smaller Rick Rypien. Gill proceeded to have his ass handed to him:
Montreal will lick their wounds and get back to action Saturday in Edmonton.
In a battle of early season unbeatens (and two teams that love to get out shot) the Calgary Flames defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 while wearing some fantastic throw back jerseys.
On a night where top defenders Robyn Regehr and Dion Phaneuf were scored on at will (each had a minus three), Calgary got a lot of help from it's fourth line.
Eric Nystrom had two goals (not a typo) and Staffan Kronwall (not the cheap hitting Kronwall) had his first NHL goal in the victory over the Canadiens.
Jarome Iginla (probably the NHL's best captain, despite how often Pierre McGuire fellates Mike Richards) got his first goal of the season on a nice back hand.
Montreal got goals from Scott Gomez and his over-sized contract, Guillaume Latendresse and Tomas Plekanec, who seems to be everywhere this season.
Montreal may want to keep getting out shot as they won both games when their oppenents had more shots, but lost tonight when they out shot Calgary 30-28 (Calgary out shot the Canadiens 16-6 in the second, while Montreal out shot the Flames 15-5 in the third).
A lot of Flames fans needlessly lost their headwear as Kronwall's goal was originally credit to Nystrom, which would've been his third goal and signal the apocalypse.
Jaroslav Halak was in net in place of Carey Price who was given a night off, and let in four goals on 28 shots.
Surprisingly, only one minor penalty was called the entire game, but we did see two fights:
In the first period Greg Stewart (Montreal Canadiens) made the mistake of taking on Brandon Prust (Calgary Flames)
In the second period Kyle Chipchura (Montreal Canadiens and fabled Mexican goat killer) took on Eric Nystrom (Calgary Flames) who should probably just stick to scoring goals.
Montreal goes back to work tonight against the Vancouver Canucks and a choking Roberto Luongo.
On a night when the greatest hockey player in history, Mario Lemieux, was in attendance the Montreal Canadiens roster was allowed to stay up past their bed times as they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime.
Montreal's favorite whipping girl boy Carey Price had an outstanding game (at least for fantasy hockey purposes), stopping 43 of 46 shots in the win. If you recall, the last time we saw Carey Price in a meaningful game the Montreal crowd were being assholes:
"Carey stood on his head," forward Mike Cammalleri said. "I just talked to him and said, 'We've got to be better for you and we will.' The truth is that we expect him to do that from time to time because that's how good he is.
"He won us the game."
The Canadiens, for the most part, were outplayed and outshot by the Maple Leafs. Each team had two power play goals. Brian Gionta opened the scoring in the first period with a power play goal, with feeds from Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec. Overtime hero Josh Gorges assisted on Glen Metropolit's power play goal in the third to time the game.
Matt Stajan scored both power play goals for the Maple Leafs, one in each of the second and third periods.
However, a former Canadien perhaps had the biggest impact on the game. Famous for being a turtle and world class wuss, Mike HomoKomisarek was in the box for both of Montreal's power play goals. The Maple Leafs were flying when this idiot took an elbowing penalty, his fifth minor of the night to go with his fighting major... which for Komisarek means throwing a punch from behind then covering his head and hitting the ice when the opponent turns around. Montreal beat Toskala on the ensuing powerplay. He also received a double high-sticking penalty in the first period after busting open the overpaid Scott Gomez.
The game also featured three fights and lot of after whistle shananagins (we'll feature each bout later today in Northeast Fight Club).
The two teams continue their rivalry on Halloween.
And on a site note.... Toronto Maple Leafs fans are fast. Check on the guy wearing a Kessel jersey at the end of this video... I bet that guy still has both his balls though.
The Buffalo Sabres blew a 2-0 lead and fell to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 last night. Clarke MacArthur opened the scoring just 55 seconds into the game to put the Sabres up 1-0 on a nice breakaway on an assist from Chris Butler. MacArthur slipped the puck past Carey Price's right pad for the goal.
Gerbe scored a short-handed goal midway through the first was he beat Price with a backhand to put the Sabres up 2-0.
Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller made 18 saves, including a nice stop on a two-mak break to deny Maxim Lapiere and stoned New York's favorite center Scott Gomez on a breakway while still protecting a 2-1 lead.
Brian Gionta opened the scoring for Montreal in the second with a power play goal on assists from from Tomas Plekanec and Jaroslav Spacek. Maxim Lapierre tied the game with less than a minute in the second. Gionta scored just 6 seconds into the powerplay after Buffalo was called for too many men on the ice, which excited the Montreal fans.
Gregory Stewart notched the game winner, beating Miller top shelf about 5 minutes into the third.
The game turned a bit ugly when Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta boarded Montreal's Tom Pyatt, receiving a boarding major and game misconduct. Montreal defenseman Ryan O'Byrne got 17 minutes in penalties for attacking Kaleta after the hit. Pyatt had to be helped off the ice and did not return. He is day to day with the famous upper body injury.
Buffalo faces off against the Toronto Maple Leafs later today.
In a game that featured a fantastic goalie duel and Lovecchio doing his best Lucic impression, the Boston Bruins pulled out a 2-1 victory over the rival Montreal Turtles (Canadiens).
After letting in 5 goals on 19 shots agains the Rangers Tim Thomas looked sharper in stopping 33 of 34 shots. "I had a rough first outing in the preseason and it's good to follow it up with a strong one," said Thomas, the Vezina Trophy winner last season as the NHL's top goalie. "It doesn't mean that everything's perfect now, but it's a step in the right direction."
Halak stopped 26 of 27 shots for the Canadiens.
The first period didn't see much action in the scoring department, but there was a spirited bought between Boston's Guillaume Lefebvre and Montreal's Greg Stewart:
Montreal pulled ahead in the second period on a goal from Sergei Kostitsyn on a rebound (assists from Plekanec and Montreal mobsters).
The Bruins tied the game in the third on a nice feed from Michael Ryder to Mark Stuart.
Mike Cammalleri didn't meet the height requirement to play left in the first period with a lower body injury and did not return.
In the shootout, Patrice Bergeron beat Halak on Boston's second attempt for the only goal in the shootout and the victory. Boston returns to action tonight against the Ottawa Senators.
Three Stars:
