The Habs came out with a better effort on Tuesday night but were once against
stymied as the Flyers blanked the Canadiens 3-0. In essence, Montreal got
a taste of their own medicine for at least the first two periods, outplay and
outshoot their opponent, but trail when all was said and done. Special
teams were a concern once more for the Habs as Philly scored on their first two
opportunities while Montreal’s PP continues to sputter.
Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne, and Ville Leino scored for the Flyers while
Michael Leighton stopped all 30 Montreal shots. Jaroslav Halak had his
second straight so-so game, turning aside 20 of 23 Flyer attempts.
HW 3 Stars of the Game:
1) Brian Gionta: For the second straight game, no one really stepped
up and earned 1st star (or any of the stars for that matter), but there was no
quit in Gionta tonight. He’s counted on to be a catalyst for the offence
and with a game high 8 shots on net, he at least put forth the effort.
Statline: 0 points, -1 rating, 2 PIMS, 8 shots (team high), 2 hits,
21:38 TOI
2) P.K. Subban: If there was one positive from this game, it was that
Subban had a quality bounce back game. He still picked the odd bad time to
rush but at least hustled back to negate most of the Philly chances. You
certainly don’t want to put more pressure on him, but with Marc-Andre Bergeron
looking completely lost on the PP, is he now the key on the point?
Statline: 0 points, even rating, 2 PIMS, 4 shots (as many as the rest
of the D combined), 21:33 TOI
3) Tomas Plekanec: In yet another game where it’s hard to pick 4 Habs
who positively stood out from the rest, you really have to start looking at the
"little things." Tonight, at least Plekanec was doing those – trying to
play physically, strong on the draw, decent positionally. Mind you at some
point, the soon to be UFA C needs to pot one – is everyone still on the "Let’s
pay him $5M per bandwagon"? At least he took some small steps tonight.
Statline: 0 points, even rating, 2 shots, 4 hits (tied team high),
11/20 faceoffs, 19:55 TOI
HM) Tom Pyatt: To be frank, he’s playing too much out there (does he
really need to take a shift on the PP?) but at least he’s not screwing up.
His speed has proven beneficial at times and he was for the most part solid in
his own zone tonight.
Statline: 0 points, even rating, 3 blocks (tied team high), 14:34 TOI
Stat of the Night: Say what you will about Scott Gomez in terms of
poor play and discipline, but at least he’s been strong on the draw. He
was 12/16 tonight and 16/25 in Game 1, good for a 68.3% success rate.