Montreal looks to build on it’s winning streak, and achieve it’s first four-game win streak this season as Carolina travels to the Bell Center. Yanic Perreault has played some inspired hoceky as of late, and hopes to build on that as the first-line winger for Saku Koivu, who has been hot as of late. Jose Theodore is in net and seems to have no signs of cooling off on his hot streak.
Starting Goaltenders:
MTL – Jose Theodore
CAR – Kevin Weekes
Montreal’s Lines for Tonight:
Perreault – Koivu – Zednik
Dagenais – Ribeiro – Ryder
Sundstrom – Juneau – Dackell
Langdon – Begin – Ward
Markov – Rivet
Boullion – Brisebois
Dykhuis – Quintal
Fight: Quintal and Boulerice go at it right after a faceoff. Decent fight, but the edge would have to go to Boulerice.
First Period Notes: Some good chances both ways, the best of which was a Mike Ribeiro open net chance that saw Ribeiro hit the side of the net. Lots of penalties called in the last 2 minutes, but Theo shut the door and had a strong group of Penalty Killers in front of him. Patrice Brisebois was cut in the mouth by a Carolina player’s stick. The whistle was blown as Brisebois struggled to get to the bench with a bloody hand over his cut mouth, but no penalty was called. Shots in the first were 15-6 for Montreal.
Update: Quintal injured his hand while blocking a shot and will not return tonight.
Second Period Notes: *snore* Wh..wha? There’s a hockey game? Man, they might as well just start pumping the anesthetic straight into the arena. Some chances both ways, but the shots and chances are still dominated by Montreal, and this game continues as a snore fest. This is almost as bad as watching a game between Minnesota and New Jersey. It’s gonna be interesting to see if either goalie lets up in the third, although Jose might be getting a little sleepy. Shots in the second were 9-4…exciting!
Third Period Notes: If you had any question as to why Carolina’s attendance was down, all you had to do was watch this game. Lots of powerplay opportunities both ways, but one of the most boring games I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching.
Montreal Goal (1-0, OT GWG): Ryder has the puck in the offensive zone. Cuts into the middle point and drops it off for Markov. Andrei skates along the outside and cuts close to the net. As he hits the goal line, he fires a hard pass to Ribeiro, who was driving to the net. Ribeiro redirects the pass into the net and we have ourself a wakeup to the snorefest. Ribeiro’s 17th of the campaign from Markov and Ryder at the 3:38 mark of the overtime period.
Game Notes: Theo gets his 6th shutout of the season, and Montreal scores their second overtime win in as many games.
Canadiens Best Player: Mike Ribeiro. Not a real hard decision here. Theo comes in second, but he didn’t have a terribly hard night. Nice goal. It kept the Bell Center from falling asleep.
Canadiens Worst Player: I can’t really say there was one. The team played a good game, we just weren’t lucky when it came to getting our chances in the mesh.
Shots on Goal:
Montreal 32 – Carolina 18
Three Stars (as selected by RDS):
- Kevin Weekes
- Mike Ribeiro
- Patrice Brisebois