Montreal 2 Philadelphia 6 (Bell Centre)
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Rocket
All Habs
Winning both ends of a home-and-home series is not a simple feat in today's NHL. Parity has seen to that. But Philadelphia enjoyed a relatively easy path in skating to two wins before the Olympic break against Montreal.
On Friday night, the Canadiens were guilty of not getting their offense in gear until too late despite their goalie keeping them in the game. Tonight was a different story.
Given the way the game ended on Friday, one expected emotions to be carried over. Scott Hartnell signaled the Flyers' intentions in the pre-game warm-up he chirped at the Canadiens across the red line.
Laviolette started a forward line of Blair Betts, Darroll Powe and Ian Laperriere, who is in the top five in the league in fighting majors. Jacques Martin countered with a new line of Brian Gionta, the shortest player in the NHL, David Desharnais, a guy who looks up to Gionta, and Mathieu Darche.
The Philly game plan wasn't very well concealed as Laperriere took all of four seconds to find Ryan O'Byrne for a fight. Did coach Martin not realize that it would be a good idea to protect his defenseman given that Andrei Markov was out, and Jaroslav Spacek was ailing?
Despite the early intimidation, the period was played rather evenly with shots on goal of 9-to-7 for the Flyers. Unfortunately Jaroslav Halak gave up three goals on those nine shots. All three goals were scored from rebounds on an initial Philadelphia shot. The Flyers seemed to have the book on Halak.
Just as had happened the night before, the Canadiens scored to narrow the lead in the second period to 3-to1. But unlike Friday, goaltending did not hold them in the game. The back breaker occurred when the puck skipped over Roman Hamrlik's stick at the blueline. Halak was playing deep in the net and gave up a shorthanded goal to Blair Betts. The Flyers scored a weak short-side goal before the end of the second period making the score 5-to-1. Halak would not return for the third period.
Halak allowed five goals on 17 shots bringing his record to 1-2-0 in his last three starts. In those games, he gave up 11 goals on 65 shots for a .831 save percentage.
"We didn't have all 20 guys to chip in and play the whole 60 minutes, in Philly and today at home," said Spacek. "We gave up easy goals and didn't recover from that."
Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez and Tom Pyatt were the only effective line for the Canadiens. Gionta and Gomez each scored and combined for 15 of the Habs' 28 shots on goal.
P.K. Subban caught the attention of the Bell Centre fans. His gambling style of play is not for the faint of heart. He was fortunate that some of his AHL moves around the net didn't cost his team. But, the way he moved the puck gave the fans something to cheer about when the game was already lost.
Subban certainly was given every opportunity to prove his talents by the coaching staff with 22 minutes of ice-time including shifts on the power-play. It was there that is inexperience was evident. The Canadiens could not exploit an opportunity to take a one-time shot when Laperriere lost his stick as Subban had slid down to the side of the goal where he remained parked.
"P.K. has shown he has some nice skill, especially with the puck, and his skating is a real asset," said Habs coach Jacques Martin. "He just needs to improve his play without the puck."
While Subban was not on the ice for a goal against, his gamble in the neutral zone near the end of the second period forced his defense partner Spacek to take a tripping penalty. Philaelphia scored on the subsequent power-play.
Subban is already a fan and media favorite but he should recognize that being called "Hollywood" by some of his teammates is not a compliment.
Roman Hamrlik had two assists but didn't look comfortable playing on his wrong defensive side. Jaroslav Spacek did not have a good game but may have been suffering from the effects of Friday night's hit to the head from Powe.
"You're never satisfied with where you are, but you have to be realistic," Martin said. "Sometimes it's not the number of injuries, but who is injured. With a player like (Andrei) Markov, for instance, you just don't replace a player like him. Up front we have three forwards out of our top six out, and it's not just missing a couple of games."
Two losses to the Flyers prior to the Olympic break leave Canadiens' fans disappointed and bitter. Two weeks of Olympic hockey will help. The time will also allow the injured Habs to heal. They have been sorely missed.
A note about the broadcast
Guy Carbonneau in the Hockey Night in Canada booth took time out from bashing his regular target Carey Price to say that Spacek "has been awful all season." Spacek has not contributed on the power-play as expected but he and Hamrlik carried the team defensively many nights while Markov was out with injury.
It's only one of many bizarre things that Carbonneau has said revealing just how out of touch he is. Carbonneau also said that rookies are fortunate that the same system of play is used in Hamilton and Montreal. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In addition, Carbonneau said that Vincent Lecavalier playing in Montreal wouldn't have been as good as Maurice Richard but pretty close. This hardly deserves comment but is simply delusional.
Rocket's three stars
1. Daniel Briere
2. Scott Hartnell
3. Jeff Carter
Material from wire services was used in this report.
(photo credit: AP)
