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Theodore between the iron for Montreal, J-S Giguere protecting the twine for the Mighty Ducks. The Canadiens have been playing red-hot hockey as of late and look to go for 8 wins in 9 games and finish .750 on the road trip.
I’d like to apologize in advance to everyone who relies on the goal-by-goal provided at Habsworld.net to follow games. We were unable to get one started before the first period and thus the details might be a little lacking. I’ll try as hard as possible to watch replays and update you fine folks.
Lineup for Tonight:
Perreault – Koivu – Zednik
Dagenais – Ribeiro – Ryder
Begin – Dowd – Ward
Langdon – Juneau – Dackell
Bouillon – Brisebois
Markov – Quintal
Rivet – Komisarek
Anaheim Goal (1-0 ANA): Carney carries the puck into the zone along the boards and lets a big shot go. Theo stops it but the rebound goes straight to Niedermayer who pots it home. Niedermayer’s 12th of the campaign from Carney and Sykora at the 4:53 mark of the 1st period.
Montreal Goal (1-1): Zednik strolls into the offensive zone and goes wide on the defender. As he nears the corner, he throws the puck to an open Koivu driving to the net and tips it in. Koivu’s 14th on the season from Zednik and Quintal at the 17:14 mark of the 1st.
First Period Wrap-up: Seeing as I was at work for this period, I’m going purely off stats and highlights. Seemed that we got pretty dominated, much like the last game on Saturday against LA. Shots were 17-5 in the first in favour of LA. Thedore had some pretty tough saves, too. Lucky to come out of that period with a tie.
Montreal Goal (2-1 MTL): Koivu has the puck just past the blueline and finds Zednik with the barely legal pass. Zednik streaks in unmolested and slips it between the legs of Giguere to ripple the mesh. Zednik’s 24th of the year from Koivu and Brisebois at the 14:45 mark of the 2nd period.
Second Period Wrap-up: A much better effort into this period. It seems that the Koivu goal fired these boys up. Great goal by Zednik, and the Anaheim fans are really starting to get on their team. Shots tilted the other way in the 2nd with 11-10 in favour of Montreal. It’s going to be an interesting finish, boys and girls…
Montreal Goal (3-1 MTL): Ryder takes the puck in the corner and takes a low shot on net. Ribeiro is crashing the net trying to find the puck and it slips through his legs. Dagenais comes in and shoots it into the open side. Dagenais’ 15th on the season from Ribeiro and Ryder at the 8:36 mark of the 3rd period.
Montreal Goal (4-1 MTL): Brisebois has the puck at the right point. He lets a quick wrister go high and Ryder tips the shot perfectly out of the air and between Giguere’s legs. Ryder’s 20th of the year from Brisebois and Ribeiro at the 14:43 mark of the 3rd period. Powerplay goal.
Anaheim Goal (4-2 MTL): Markov makes the routine behind the net pass to Quintal. Quintal doesn’t get the puck and it’s picked up by Pahlsson. Pahlsson passes it through Quintal and Markov and Sykora converts it. Sykora’s 20th of the year from Pahlsson at the 16:08 mark of the 3rd period.
Montreal Goal (5-2 MTL): Ruslan Salei tries the cross ice pass in the neutral zone, which is easily picked off by Begin. Stevey wastes no time and whips it into the yawning cage. Begin’s 9th of the season was unassisted at the 19:50 mark of the 3rd period. Empty Net Goal.
Game Wrap-up: The boys came out flat in the first period but really picked it up afterwards, which is good to see coming out of a tiring west-coast road trip. Great game to watch after the 1st intermission. Shots in the 3rd were 8-11 for Anaheim, lucky for us Theo stands on his head again. Best starter-backup tandem in the league today.
Three Stars (as selected by RDS):
- Jose Theodore
- Richard Zednik
- Saku Koivu
Shots on Goal:
Montreal 23 – Anaheim 38
Spotlight Player: For the second straight game, it’s the goaltender. Jose kept up in there and let us build momentum. Another stellar performance by Theodore.
Doghouse Player: Joe Juneau. If he wasn’t on the roster sheet, I wouldn’t have even known he was playing.
