Montreal Vs. Ottawa

Coming off their 5 game away game adventure, the Montreal Canadiens faced the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre last night. The Senators, sitting at fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings have only won 4 out of their last 10 games. 

• First Period
• The fans were really loud last night, as the Canadiens would finally play at home in over a week. With only 7 minutes gone by into the first, Lars Eller would crash the net and just poke the puck past Sens goaltender, Lehner. 4 minutes later, the Sens would score on the powerplay as Mika Zibanejad would wrist one past Carey Price tying this game at 1-1. 
• Montreal: 17 Shots On Goal
• Ottawa: 13 Shots On Goal
• Second Period
• 6 minutes into the second period, Gallagher would tip in the initial shot from Pacioretty taking back the lead on the powerplay. Coming to the 3 minute mark of the period, the Canadiens would yet again score on the powerplay, as a point slap shot from PK Subban goes through traffic and right past Lehner. The Sens would enjoy a powerplay for the remaining a minute and half of the period, and it would be Alfredsson who would wrist one past Price's shoulder side from the side of the net, with only 1.6 seconds left in the period.
• Montreal: 11 Shots On Goal
• Ottawa: 13 Shots On Goal
• Third Period
• Only 2 minutes into the third, Patrick Wiercioch wrists one past five hole on Carey Price tying this game at 3 a piece. Ottawa would then get a couple of opportunities, but it would be the Canadiens who would dominate the last 10 minutes of the period, having 3 powerplays, but unable to convert as Lehner would make some incredible saves. This game would need overtime.
• Montreal: 13 Shots On Goal
• Ottawa: 3 Shots On Goal
• Overtime
• With no real action in overtime, we would head into a shootout!
• Montreal: 4 Shots On Goal
• Ottawa: 3 Shots On Goal
• Shootout
• Alex Galchenyuk (MTL) - Goal
• Daniel Alfredsson (OTT) - Save
• David Desharnais (MTL) - Save
• Jakob Silfverberg (OTT) - Goal
• Lars Eller (MTL) - Goal
• Kyle Turris (OTT) - Save

With a 4-3 shootout win against the Senators, the Canadiens now have accumulated 40 points in 27 games and are number one in the Eastern Conference standings. They now face the Devils Saturday night in New Jersey.

Grabbing A Point

With a win against Toronto, the Canadiens would needed a win last night to take first place. They played the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre, the Penguins were seated at third place but could move to second with a win last night.

• First Period
• Kicking off the first period, the fans were in for an exciting game. With 6 minutes into the first Brandon Prust would pick up the rebound in front of the net, and score for one his third of the season. With a minute left in the first, the Penguins would score on the powerplay tying this game in the last minute and ending the first period.
• Montreal: 12 Shots On Goal
• Pitssburgh: 14 Shots On Goal
• Second Period
• 4 minutes into the second, Pacioretty would pick up a juicy rebound on a sprawling Vokoun and backhand it into the net making it 2-1 Canadiens. With only 4 minutes after that goal, Kunitz would surprise Price from side of the net tying this game at 2. Only 30 seconds later, Matt Cooke would just throw a puck at the net and it somehow goes past Price. With 7 minutes left, the Penguins would win a face off draw in center ice and rush right towards the Canadiens net. Matt Cooke would wrist another one for his second of the night. With 2 and a half minutes left, and the Canadiens down by 2 goals, they would put pressure on the Penguins for the last 4 minutes of the period. Brian Gionta would tip in a shot making it 4-3 Canadiens. With less than a second left, PK Subban would score on a wrap around from behind the net. The goal was reviewed and it would stand as a good goal. The crowd went wild as the Canadiens tie it right at the end of the period.
• Montreal: 15 Shots On Goal
• Pittsburgh: 12 Shots On Goal
• Third Period
• 6 minutes into the third, David Desharnais would score his fifth of the season making it 5-4 Canadiens. With only 4 minutes after, Kunitz would slap one from a pass from Crosby behind the net, as he would tie it, making it 5-5. Only 2 minutes later, Sidney Crosby would be wide open in front of the net as he slaps a pass from Kris Letang, putting the Penguins back in the lead. 30 seconds later, the Canadiens on the rush would score as Brian Gionta scores from a pass from Lars Eller. The period would end and head into overtime.
• Montreal: 9 Shots On Goal
• Pittsburgh: 12 Shots On Goal
• Overtime
• Only a minute into the overtime period, Brandon Sutter receives a pass from Despres as he would be left wide open in front of Price, he would score as the Pens took it in overtime. 7-6 the final score.
• Montreal: 0 Shots On Goal
• Pittsburgh: 1 Shots On Goal

The Canadiens do pick up a point in their effort, this game had great back and forth action. The Canadiens will play the Big Bad Bruins today in Boston, i will be expecting a few fights in this one!

Bruins @ Montreal

Last night, the Montreal Canadiens took on the number one seated division leaders, the Boston Bruins. The Bruins who have suffered only one loss in regulation with 9 games played. The Canadiens coming into this game only had 2 regulation losses in their 8 games played. If the Canadiens win, they would go on to take the number one division spot over the Bruins, which hasn't happened in 5 years!

• First Period
• The crowd in Montreal was overly excited to finally see these 2 teams play against one another. The Montreal Vs. Boston rivalry has been a overwhelming experience for fans. To kick off the first period, the Canadiens would dominate the Bruins as they took 11 shots on goal, compared to the 4 the Bruins took. It took 11 minutes for the Bruins to get their first shot on Carey Price. Although the Canadiens came hard, the score would be held at 0-0 as the first period came to an end.
• Montreal: 11 Shots On Goal
• Boston: 4 Shots On Goal
• Second Period
• Midway through the second period, Bruins aggressive forward, Milan Lucic took a high sticking penalty, resulting the Habs to go into their third powerplay of the game. As we all know, when P.K. Subban hits the ice on a Canadiens powerplay, the crowd just goes wild. With only 9 seconds left on the Habs powerplay, Markov saw an open Subban at the blue line, Subban received the pass and slapped the puck over the glove of Bruins goalie, Tuuku Rask. The period would end with Canadiens leading 1-0.
• Montreal: 5 Shots On Goal
• Boston: 11 Shots On Goal
• Third Period
• The Bruins would start the third period with a goal, with only 14 seconds into it. Tyler Seguin backhands one past Price in front of the net. 2 minutes later, David Krejci deflects a pass from Lucic right in the crease of Price, making it 2-1 Bruins. The Habs would try and press forward to score a goal and tie the game, but they could not get past Tuuku Rask. The Bruins would go on to win yet another game, leaving them in top spot.
• Montreal: 5 Shots On Goal
• Boston: 8 Shots On Goal

The Canadiens fall into 6th place in conference standings. They face off against the Sabres tonight in Buffalo. The Sabres will look to come back from their previous loss against the Canadiens, in which they had lost 6-1.

"SEN"-T Packing

The Ottawa Senators coming off a loss against the Carolina Hurricanes, looked to regain 2 points against the Montreal Canadiens today at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens who started off Superbowl weekend to a great start with a dominating win against the Sabres Saturday, looked to finish off the Senators for a perfect weekend.

• First Period
• The Canadiens began the period getting into penalty trouble, as Tomas Plekanec would get penalized for goaltender interference on Sens goalie, Craig Anderson. With a minute gone into the powerplay, Jakob Silfverberg snipes one past Carey Price over his left shoulder. The Canadiens would respond back in less than a minute, David Desharnais skates in front of the Ottawa net and tips the shot from Max Pacioretty between the legs of Anderson. Midway into the first, PK Subban receives an assist as Erik Cole picks up the lose puck in front of the net and back hands it, making it 2-1 Canadiens heading into the second.
• Montreal - 13 Shots On Goal
• Ottawa - 6 Shots On Goal
• Second Period
• The second period really showed each teams ability to handle the puck in the offensive zone. Both teams taking 3 penalties each but none could convert as the second period was all credited to the goaltenders on both sides. No goals coming in the second period.
• Montreal - 13 Shots On Goal
• Ottawa - 16 Shots On Goal
• Third Period
• The Senators really took momentum away from the Canadiens in the third period as they held the puck in the Canadiens for quite some time. The Sens were taking advantage of loose pucks and driving to the Canadiens net to create some sort of goal opportunity to tie the game. Andre Benoit did put a puck past Carey Price from the point, but it was waived off as Silfverberg was called for goaltender interference. It was really a bad call by the referee and should have counted as a goal tying the game at 2-2, but the referee made his decision final. The Canadiens would go on to win the game and move themselves up in the standings.
• Montreal - 7 Shots On Goal
• Ottawa = 11 Shots On Goal

The Canadiens take on the Boston Bruins this Wednesday, the Bruins are first in the division standings having only one regulation loss. The Canadiens and Bruins have quite the violent history among them, you wouldn't want to miss all the fights in this one!

Welcome Back P.K.!

As the Montreal Canadiens come off a victory over New Jersey Devils in 4-3 win in overtime, they also have come to a conclusion with Subban's agent agreeing on a 2 year contract term. Subban, who has not yet played a game in the 2012-13 season is going to be challenged on Tuesday night, as he faces the Winnipeg Jets in his first game of the season. The Canadiens are more than glad to welcome back their power defenseman to the roster. With Andrei Markov having already a goal in the last 3 games, Subban will look to do the same on Tuesday night, watch out for those rocket slap shots from the point line, as Subban has scored most of his career goals from the blue line.With good news, comes the bad news. Forward Max Pacioretty, will be out indefinetely for the next 3-4 weeks as he underwent emergency appendectomy on Saturday evening. 

An Upset At Home Ice

An upset on behalf of last night's game. The Montreal Canadiens just could not capitilze on their power play opportunities against the Leafs. Start up goaltender, Scrivens for Toronto made 22 saves allowing only a single goal. The Toronto defense played exceptionally well last night as they did not let the Montreal forwards produce a single goal on any of their power play opportunities. Carey Price, the Montreal goalie, made a total of 24 saves on the night. Also, allowing the first shot to go in, Carey Price quoted "It's tough to get into it when you're chasing the puck around." The Canadiens taking 2 penalties in the first six minutes of game play brought down the crowds momentum, as Toronto would take over and score the first 2 goals of the game and end off with a win at the Bell Centre.

A good game though indeed, all you Leaf fans planning celebration parties, we shall soon meet again on February 9th! Here's more of yesterday's game recap:


http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2012020005&cmpid=ggl1bx

Season Game Opener!

The Montreal Canadians open the long awaited NHL 48 game season against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. After a long wait, fans from both cities will be watching this one! Will you be watching or listening? If you’re not a hockey fan, this is your chance to join the trend! Not a fan of trends? Just enjoy the game for what it is, the passion, the integrity of the crowd, the roaring and the soaring, the “Boo’s” and the “Woo’s!” Tonight, whether the Canadiens take the win or the Maple Leafs, hockey is a way of life, to bring people together and just simply have an amazing time with those around us. So pick up your remote or radio, turn it on at 7 pm and get ready to be entertained tonight!

1)  To watch the game tune into CBC at 7:00 pm to watch the full game

2)  To listen to the game on your mobiles/radio http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/RadioPlayer.htm?id=2012020005

Puck drops at 7 EST. GO HABS GO!