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Game 19: Canadiens vs Capitals AKA That Was a Beauty! |
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Well, I'll admit that I did not see that one coming. In fact, I am somewhat flabbergasted.
The Capitals are the best team in the league, they had not lost in regulation in 11 games and tonight, the Habs rolled into town and made them bend the knee. It didn't look like that would be the outcome, in the first minutes the Canadiens looked like they were going to get their asses handed to them. Price had to be solid for the first few minutes and then, the team gave their collective head a shake, rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
The first period was a scoreless affair, Price had to work hard early on but then it was Ilya Samsonov's turn to dazzle as the Habs peppered his net with shots. At the end of the first, the Canadiens had 15 shots to the Caps' 8 and they went back to the locker room feeling in control. They might not have scored but there were dictating the play.
Early on in the second, Jonathan Drouin was rocked by an Alexander Ovechkin check and left the game immediately. It was a rather hard check, was it a hit to the head? Perhaps it wasn't, but it did look like Ovechkin's skates left the ice a little bit but one thing is for sure, when Drouin cut to the centre, he didn't see the Ovi train coming and he was vulnerable. When it happened, no one jumped on number 8 but at the next face-off, Shea Weber played his captain role to perfection and went to have a chat with the big forward.
There were no blows exchanged but it looked like he served him with a stern talking to. And then, the Habs followed Gordon Bombay's advice and they hit the Caps where it hurt, on the scoreboard (don't tell me you don't remember that speech after Adam Banks was injured in the Mighty Ducks!). Tomas "Tuna" Tatar took Drouin's spot on the first line and managed to squeeze the puck to Danault who was all alone in front of the Caps' net and made no mistake. Not even 3 minutes later, the Captain made it 2-0 with a rocket of a shot that looked like it scared Samsonov right before Jordan Weal beat him with a nice backhand to make it 3-0. Yup, the Habs scored 3 goals in just over 5 minutes...
Jonathan Drouin might have been shaken up, but the Capitals were as well. So much so that they took the first penalty of the game and while the Canadiens didn't score on the power play, they scored just as it was ending. Never mind that the Capitals player put it in his own net, Suzuki's feed was perfect and had he not touch to puck, Gallagher would have had an easy tap in. After 40, the Canadiens were rocking the red and leading 4-0.
The Caps came out to play in the 3rd though (so did Drouin who was back), Ovechkin scored on the power play from his usual office before Evgeny Kuznetsov attacked Price's net alone 10 minutes later to bring the Caps within 2. Washington pulled its goalie hoping to close the gap but the strategy backfired and Tatar scored an empty-netter, final score: 5-2.
When all is said and done, I dare say tonight was probably the Habs' best game this season. It was a real team effort and the way they reacted after Drouin left the game in the second was just perfect. They let Ovechkin know they weren't happy about the hit and just steamrolled the Caps for the rest of the period. Hopefully, tonight also gets Tatar out of Claude Julien's doghouse, Tuna took no penalty and had himself a 4 point game (1 goal and 3 assists) for the first time the NHL. Meanwhile, Philip Danault had 3 points (a goal and 2 assists) while Nate Thompson got a couple of points.
Jordan Weal didn't miss a beat even though he hadn't played for ages and boy did that fourth line look good out there! I know Julien said he was hoping that Kotkaniemi would be back in the line-up this weekend but I don't see how he could take Weal out right now... That being said, Paul Byron did look hurt at one point so perhaps he could make way for KK? We'll find out soon enough since the Canadiens will be on the Bell Centre ice tomorrow night to take on the Devils. There will be none of that "back to back game disadvantage" narrative as New Jersey was also playing tonight, collecting a rare win by beating the Sid-less Pens.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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