They left it until late but the Montreal Canadiens pulled out the overtime victory over an inspired Ray Emery and the Philadelphia Flyers
on Tuesday night. David Desharnais continued his recent hot streak as he edged the Habs to a 2-1 victory at the Bell Centre.
It was a quick start for the Flyers as Matt Read beat Carey Price 51 seconds into the
game to give Philadelphia the early lead. Montreal tried to reply but Emery, and his goalpost, kept the Canadiens at bay. Price was sharp on a Claude Giroux breakaway, and a Flyers man advantage, while Emery was up to any tests Montreal presented. Philadelphia carried a 1-0 lead into the second period, outshooting the Canadiens 9-7.
The second period was a goaltending battle, which saw the pendulum swing more and more towards Montreal, but to no avail. Aside from a few chances, and a goalpost, Price was rarely truly tested. At the other end, shades of the “Razor” Ray Emery of old was on display as he kept Montreal scoreless in the period. Montreal had a power play opportunity but failed to capitalize. Montreal led 28-19 in shots after 40 minutes as they entered the third period still trailing 1-0.
The Canadiens dominance continued in the third and they were rewarded with their second power play of the game. Philadelphia’s repeated shot blocking negated any point shot threat as it remained a one goal game. It didn’t look like much puck luck was going Montreal’s way until a few nifty moves by Alex Galchenyuk to gain the zone led to a scrappy Tomas Plekanec goal to tie it up at 1-1. That was Plekanec’s
192nd goal for the club, passing Saku Koivu for 25th all-time goals scored in a Habs uniform.
Montreal continued to pressure which eventually led to a Flyers penalty with 2:32 to play. They couldn’t find the go ahead goal as the game went into overtime with Montreal looking to continue their dominance, outshooting Philadelphia 12-4 in the period and 36-23 through three periods.
It was a bit of a back and forth affair in overtime until the NHL’s third star of the week, David Desharnais, picked up his own rebound to beat Emery in close to seal the win.
HW 3 Stars of the Night
1st Star – David Desharnais
He got himself the game winner and continued his hot streak, propelling the Canadiens to their third straight victory.
1 goal – 0 assists – +1 rating – 2 shots – 0 hits – 0 takeaways – 19:19 TOI
2nd Star – Tomas Plekanec
It wasn’t pretty but his goal pulled Montreal back into it. A pretty sweet personal milestone as he cracks the top 25 goal scorers
in franchise history as well. Good thing I said he was done at the beginning of last season, right?
1 goal – 0 assists – even rating – 3 shots – 0 hits – 2 takeaways – 17:39 TOI
3rd Star – Carey Price
He probably wants that first one back but all in all, another typical performance from the Canadiens
(and league?) MVP.
23 saves on 24 shots – .958 save percentage – 0.96 GAA
Honorable Mention – Jacob de la Rose
I’m going off the board here but I was impressed with the youngsters’ play. He was involved throughout and got a look in overtime, which is a big pat on the back from Michel Therrien.
0 goals – 0 assists – even rating – 0 shots – 0 hits – 0 takeaways – 11:49 TOI
Stat of the Night
90. Montreal put 90 shots toward the net, with 41 finding their way through. Philadelphia should be commended on not allowing more shots hit the net…and they still
allowed 41.