CANADIENS vs ISLANDERS – Feb 28, 2006
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
This was supposed to be a very important game for these teams if one takes Yashin’s comments about the importance of this game to the Islanders seriously. Montreal was in 8th with one-point lead on the Leafs (with a game in hand) and the Islanders were 6 points behind the Canadiens with the same number of games played. All Canadiens Olympians are playing tonight so there may have been a fatigue factor involved. Of note, the Canadiens hadn’t won in Uniondale since January 2, 2001 (when Théodore scored his goal). Was this the game to break that sad sequence?
FIRST PERIOD
*2 – Dandenault penalty
3 – great save by Huet on accidental give-away – PK successful
5 – Islanders dominating the play up to this point
8 – broken play – Canadians not making much of an impact till now
9 – Islander break-away due to miscue by defensemen – Huet clears the puck
11 – Islanders penalty – hooking
12 – Canadiens (Perezhogin) score – strong individual effort to get away from the defender on his back
13 – Islanders breakaway – Huet saves again!
16 – give-away by Canadiens defense leads to another Islanders scoring chance – Huet saves again.
19 – Islanders penalty – tripping
* the numbers are minutes indicators and are approximate.
PERIOD SUMMARY
Very quiet period. The Islanders dominated. There was more time was spent in the Canadiens half of the rink. Even though the Islanders domination was wasn’t extreme, their 12 – 4 shot advantage did show that they had more scoring chances. but, for our ‘sake’, the Canadiens were more ‘opportunistic’. Only one or two of the Islanders scoring chances were near outstanding but, still, without Huet’s focus, it might very well be 3- 1 Islanders.
OF NOTE: Mark Streit was left off the roster – interesting.
SHOTS ON GOAL
– Canadiens 4 Total 4
– Islanders 12 12
SCORING
– MTL, A. PEREZHOGIN (6) (A. KOVALEV, S. SOURAY), 11:48
SECOND PERIOD
*1- Power play continues but not results
2 – Bouillon penalty – delay of game – shooting the puck into the crowd
– Huet still solid on his positioning
3 – Islanders penalty – hitting from behind 4 on 4
4 – Islanders almost score
7 – very little skating room for Canadiens
8 – Zednik penalty – tripping
8 – Rivet penalty – hooking
8 – 12 – Super defense, Huet’s stops and some close misses by Satan – no goal
15 – nice pass by Ribeiro to Perezhogin who almost scored but forced an Islanders penalty
16 – Canadiens (Rivet) score (9th shot) (power play goal)
19 – Canadiens (Higgins) score – Koivu steals puck from Yashin
* the numbers are minutes indicators and are approximate.
SHOTS ON GOAL
– Canadiens 9 Total 13
-Islanders 15 27
SCORING
– MTL, C. RIVET (5) (A. KOVALEV, S. KOIVU), 15:55
– MTL, C. HIGGINS (8) (S. KOIVU), 19:18
PERIOD SUMMARY
Another Islanders domination for pretty well the whole period. Again, Huet kept the Canadiens in the game. His good positioning and quick hand took care of all Islanders shots. Thanks also to inaccurate shots by Satan, Asham and some others, it was still a perfect game for Huet.
Again, the number of shots on nets indicated the relative scoring chances. Again, the Canadiens were ‘opportunistic’. I didn’t see that Snow was that weak on any of them except maybe for Higgins’s goal.
THIRD PERIOD
*1 – Rivet penalty – delay of game – puck into the crowd in defensive zone
2 – Islanders (Parrish) score
5 – great pressure by Canadiens – saves by DiPietro
6 – double minor on Islanders (two players at the same time)
7 – Canadiens (Ryder) score – Koivu assists (3rd power play goal)
8 – Bouillon penalty – tripping
8 – nice PK scoring attempt by Bonk to Komisarek
9 – Canadiens (Higgins) score – short-handed
9 – Islanders break-away – Huet saves again
12 – Islanders (Satan) score on quick Islanders turn-around – miscue by Huet
13 – Islanders penalty (double penalty by Bates)
14 – Perezhogin penalty – interference
15- Islanders (Satan) score 4 on 4 goal
18 – short term pressure by the Canadiens
18 – nice play by Ryder outskating the defenseman & then shot on DiPietro
19 – Islanders double penalty – DiPietro interference and ungentlemanly conduct
* the numbers are minutes indicators and are approximate.
SHOTS ON GOAL
-Canadiens 9 Total 22
-Islanders 8 35
SCORING
– NYI, M. PARRISH (21) (A. YASHIN, B. SOPEL), 02:00
– MTL, M. RYDER (23) (S. KOIVU, S. SOURAY), 06:11
– MTL, C. HIGGINS (7) (T. PLEKANEC, S. SOURAY), 08:34
– NYI, M. SATAN (23) (T. HUNTER, B. SOPEL), 11:36
– NYI, M. SATAN (24) , 14:30
PERIOD SUMMARY
The Islanders finally cashed in on their scoring opportunities. If they came close in the 1st two periods, they finally found the back of the net. Satan was doing what he came close to doing earlier in the game. Montreal’s goals in this period were more ‘deserved’ in that they were more a result of a consistent play as compared to broken plays in the 1st and 2nd periods. The shots on goal were very indicative of the period. Close shots on goal and close scoring. Lots of penalties marred this period. Interestingly, the Islanders (Bates & DiPietro) got some double-minors (at the same time by the same player) for different reasons, the second being ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’. I’ve rarely if ever seen that before.
GAME SUMMARY
This victory wasn’t really deserved by the Canadiens. Satan scored twice against the Canadiens. He could very well have scored 2 or 3 more. Huet may have looked ‘weakish’ on one of the goals but, on the whole, he well deserved the 1st star. It was he who kept them in the game throughout it all. The young players came up with a strong effort. Perezhogin & Higgins especially but Plekanec did some fine defensive work.
With this game dealt with, they can now go on to Florida and then, later, to meet the Leafs. Most fans, in a poll taken on RDS TV predict that the Canadiens will win 3 or 4 games during this sequence. That should be very possible. Nevertheless, for the victory song to be heard, the effort has to remain the same (a small take-off on Led Zeppelin).
THREE STARS
1- Huet
2- Higgins
3- Koivu