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Sunday, November 29, 2009

CAPITALS GIVE UP 2 GOAL LEAD BUT WIN 4-3 IN THE SHOOTOUT


Last night in Montreal, the Habs took on the Capitals. It wasn't looking good for the Canadiens right from the start. As Ovechkin and Fehr scored 2 quick goals to give the Caps a 2 goal lead. But Montreal wasn't ready to give up just yet. First it was Jaroslav Spacek on the powerplay 5 minutes into the second. Then Thomas Plekanec scored late to tie it. In the third, the Canadiens went on the powerplay and Travis Moen tipped in a shot from the point to give Montreal the lead. Then with a 11 seconds to go Fehr put in his second of the game to tie it. The game went to a shootout and Backstrom scored the winner for the Capitals.

"For us, it's not good enough," Cammalleri said. "A lot of guys in here are upset. I don't really care who doesn't expect us to get the points. In this room we expect to get the points and we think that the way we've been able to play as a unit has been an effective way to get two points in a game and once again we put ourselves in position to do it tonight, so this group here is not happy with the one point." The Canadiens next game will be on Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs (who have won 3 in a row).

Shootout
Michael Cammalleri MTL Save
Tomas Fleischmann WSH Save
Maxim Lapierre MTL Save
Alex Ovechkin WSH Save
Tomas Plekanec MTL Save
Nicklas Backstrom WSH Goal


Written BY Andrew Di Pardo

Thursday, November 26, 2009

CANADIENS LOSE TO THE PENGUINS BY THE SCORE OF 3-1


Last night in Pitsburgh, the Canadiens took on the defending champs. And the result was not good. They ended up just getting 1 goal and giving up 3."They moved the puck a lot, possessed the puck a lot, especially those guys (Evgeni) Malkin and Crosby," Montreal forward Sergei Kostitsyn said. In the loss, Max Pacioretty scored the loan goal and Carey Price made 27 saves on 30 shots. As for the Penguins, Crosby, Gonchar(got the game winning goal) and Guerin all scored in the win. The goaltender (Marc Andrei Fleury) was also a big factor in the win by making 18 saves on 19 shots.

"I saw Gonch coming late and I didn't really have an angle to pass it on the forehand, so I just tried to spin there and give myself a better angle," Crosby said about the game winning goal. "It wasn't a great pass, it was in his feet, but he kicked it up to his stick and made a great move."

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

CAREY PRICE MAKES 33 SAVES TO LEAD TO A 5-3 CANADIENS VICTORY


Last night in Montreal, the Canadiens took on the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first and the last time of this season. And the Canadiens were looking to get a win out of it and they did with plenty of help from Carey Price (made 33 saves on 35 shots in the 5-3 victory)."Our guys played great," Price said. "In that second half of the game we didn't give them very much." In the win, Mike Cammalleri, Glen Metropolit, Maxim Lapierre and Marc-Andre Bergeron (who got 2 goals including the game winner) scored for Montreal.

"We're not focused in the right area," Hitchcock said. "We want to play a different game than you have to play to shut a game down. We just want to continually play in a track meet and that's exactly what we did and we got burnt. We forced pucks, we forced it into covered people, turn it over and it's in our net. Not smart."

The Canadiens next game will be tonight against the Penguins on RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

CANADIENS TRADE LATENDRESSE TO WILD FOR POULIOT; LARAQUE SUSPENDED AND KOSITSYN CALLED UP


Last night in Montreal the Canadiens announced that they have traded Guillaume Latendresse for Benoit Pouliot."The forwards are two players at the same stage in their careers who were still looking to make a place for themselves with the teams that drafted them," Canadiens GM Bob Gainey said. "Often times a different environment, new teammates and a new situation can be beneficial for a player." Pouliot is 23 and grew up watching the Canadiens as a kid.“I grew up only a half hour away. I watched the Canadiens on TV all the time and I’ve been a Habs fan my whole life,” revealed Pouliot. “Montreal is the ultimate hockey market. I know what to expect. This is going to be a lot of fun and I’m excited to be a Montreal Canadien.”Pouliot will wear number 57 on Montreal.

In other Canadiens new, Georges Laraque has been suspended for 5 games for that hit on Kronwall on Saturday."There is no ACL damage and that's good news," Red Wings' general manager Ken Holland told the Detroit News. "They are saying it's between a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 sprain; Grade 3 being the most severe. So he's out a month for sure and beyond that, it depends on how he heals."The other news is Sergei Kostitsyn has been called up from the minors.In 16 games with the Bulldogs (AHL) this season, he had four goals and nine assists and is plus- 6.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Sunday, November 22, 2009

CANADIENS COME FROM BEHIND AND LOSE IN A SHOOTOUT TO THE WINGS


Last night in Montreal, it was a original six match-up between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. It was an intense game right from the start. Georges Laraque got two penalty's on one play. 2 minutes for highsticking and 4 minutes for a knee on knee trip on Niklas Kronwall(who left the game with a knee injury). So it was a 6 minute powerplay and the Wings knew they had to score and they did by getting a goal from Brad Stuart and Pavel Datsyuk. But the game was far from over. The Habs were still down by 2 going into the third.But the Canadiens grabed a goal just 9 seconds in by Mike Cammalleri. Then 7 minutes later it was Mike Cammalleri again scoring on a beautiful pass from Andrei Kostitsyn to tie the game at 2-2. But unfortunately for the Canadiens they lost in the shootout.

"Well, he's hurt," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said about Kronwall's injury. "It's something that shouldn't happen in hockey. A guy shouldn't hang his leg out there and hurt another guy. It's unacceptable and it's disappointing, obviously we just lost a good player for a period of time. Our doctors will look at him, but he's out for a chunk for sure."Laraque said he didn't intend to hurt anyone."There were four refs on the ice and they didn't call anything," Laraque said. "If they called a match penalty it would be different. There was no intent, there was no reason why I would try to go and hurt him. It was a pure accident, that's why they called it tripping, so I'm not worried at all." The Canadiens next game will be on Tuesday against the Blue Jackets.

Shootout
Michael Cammalleri MTL Save
Pavel Datsyuk DET Goal
Tomas Plekanec MTL
Post
Henrik Zetterberg DET Goal

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Saturday, November 21, 2009

CANADIENS WIN 2 IN-A-ROW WITH A WIN AGAINST THE CAPITALS


Last night in Washington, the Canadiens were looking to grab another win to start a win streak.And they did that by beating the Capitals by the score of 3-2. In the win, Travis moen, Thomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri scored for Montreal. Carey Price also played a big part in the victory by stopping 32 of 34 shot's he faced including making several saves when the Canadiens were trapped in there zone in the last 3 minutes."It felt like we were in our own end for 10 minutes," Price said after Montreal's 3-2 victory Friday night. "There was a lot of red out there. Especially when I lost my stick. I've got six players against four with no stick. That makes it pretty tough."

"The last 3 1/2 minutes were kind of hectic," Canadiens coach Jacques Martin said. "But up to that point I felt we were managing the game well." But overall in the game the Canadiens played really well.In the loss, Eric Fehr and Brendan Morrison had the goals for the Caps.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

CAREY PRICE MAKES BIG SAVES TO LEAD TO A 3-2 SHOOTOUT VICTORY


Last night in Montreal, the Canadiens were looking to grab a win against the struggling Hurricanes.Who lost 14 of there past 15 games going into the game against Montreal and there slump continued as the Canadiens beat the Canes in a shootout. In the victory,Andrei Kostitsyn and Max Pacioretty scored in regulation and Maxim Lapierre scored the shootout winner. Carey Price also played a big part in the win by stopping 30 of 32 shots in regulation and overtime and stopped all 6 shootout attempts.

"When I was going through a hard streak I didn't know what to do," Price said of a month-long period where he lost six straight starts. "When you're going through a tough patch it's really tough, especially when you're putting in the work and you don't know what's wrong. I had a feeling like I had to change something but I didn't, I just stuck to it."

Shootout
Michael Cammalleri MTL Save
Tuomo Ruutu CA R Save
Scott Gomez MTL Save
Jussi Jokinen CAR Save
Andrei Kostitsyn MTL Save
Rod Brind'Amour CAR Miss
Tomas Plekanec MTL Save
Sergei Samsonov CAR Save
Guillaume Latendresse MTL Save
Bryan Rodney CAR Save
Maxim Lapierre MTL Goal
Matt Cullen CAR Save

Written by Andrew Di Pardo

Sunday, November 15, 2009

CANADIENS GET SHUTOUT BY THE SCORE OF 2-0


Last night in Nashville, the Canadiens were out played and outshot(55-20) which lead to a 2-0 loss."They threw a lot of pucks at the net tonight," Price said. "Records aside, we were here to get two points, not a record.He performed well, there is no doubt," Canadiens coach Jacques Martin said of his goaltender. "It's unfortunate that his teammates didn't take advantage of a performance like that." In the victory, Sullivan had 2 goals for the Predators.

"I'm not going to lie, I really feel comfortable with J.P., and I find that he really settles the play down for us in the offensive end," Sullivan said. "He's so good at puck protection and nifty little passes that when you are open, you are getting the puck."The Canadiens on Tuesday against the Hurricanes.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

P.S:Before the game the Canadiens foundout that Gionta had a lower-body injury which meant that Latendress (whos up for trade) had to take his place.

Friday, November 13, 2009

THE CANADIENS GET A WIN IN PHOENIX


Last night in Phoenix, the Canadiens were looking to snap a 2 game losing streak and they did by defeating the Coyotes by the score of 4-2."In the NHL, it's pretty much how you win games," Bergeron said. "We wanted to focus on the power play and penalty kill and they gave us the win." Cammalleri, Bergeron, Metropolit and Gionta all scored for Montreal in the 4-2 victory over the Coyotes."Usually when you make two passes of that caliber on the power play, the puck's going to end up in the back of the net," Cammalleri said.As for the Coyotes, Lang and Bissonnette scored in the loss."We gave them a few opportunities and they buried them," Lang said. The Canadiens next game will be on Saturday against the Predators in Nashville.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo



Wednesday, November 11, 2009

CANADIENS BATTLE HARD BUT FALL TO A 1-0 LOSS TO THE FLAMES


Last night in Montreal, the Canadiens were playing hard all game but Miikka Kiprusoff stood in there way as he made 25 saves to lead to a 1-0 Flames victory. "It's been better and better this season, and the guys are doing a good job on rebounds and keeping the forwards on the outside, and that makes my job easier," said Kiprusoff after he picked up the 31st shutout of his career and posted his 200th win since joining the Flames from the San Jose Sharks for the 2003-04 season."Jarome Iginla got the loan goal in the Flames victory.

In the loss, Jaroslav Halak did all he could by making made 30 saves but it wasn't enough to get Montreal the win.."We need to create more on offence, but you have to give credit to the Flames,they have one of the best defences in the league," said Martin. "We need more of a presence in front of the net, but that's something we'll have to work on." In the loss, Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves for Montreal.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Sunday, November 8, 2009

THE LIGHTNING BEAT THE CANADIENS IN TANGUAY'S RETURN TO MONTREAL


Last night in Montreal, former Hab Alex Tanguay made his returned to Montreal for the fist time since being signed by the Lightning this past off-season. And did it in the best style you can expect by getting the game-winning goal and a assist in a 3-1 victory over Montreal."It's coming around," Tanguay said. "The last five or six games I'm starting to pick up my game a little bit and starting to skate a little better, and tonight I got a couple of bounces coming my way." In the loss, the Canadiens out-played and out-shot (37-21) the lightning but they only got 1 goal (Brian Gionta on the powerplay).

"It was an inconsistent effort the first half of the game," Gionta said. "I thought our second period was good, the start of the first was all right but we've given up goals late in periods, two of them tonight. That hurts the momentum and we've got to figure out a way to play better for 60 (minutes)."

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Friday, November 6, 2009

CANADIENS BEAT BRUINS IN A SHOOTOUT


The Canadiens had not beat the Bruins in 9 straight games and were looking snap that streak going into last nights game against the Bruins. The Canadiens weren't the only team trying to snap a drought. As the Bruins had not scored in 2 games. But unfortunately for Boston they came out with a 2-1 shootout loss."We scored," Bruins forward Blake Wheeler said. "Obviously, that's a positive we can take out of the game." Glen Metropolit scored the only goal in regulation time for Montreal and Michael Cammalleri scored the shootout winner. As for the Bruins in the loss, Patrice Bergeron scored and Tim Thomas made 25 saves.

In the Canadiens victory Price kept them in the game by just giving up 1 goal, making 42 saves and becoming the first star of the game."I hadn't won in six games, and that was not the time to get upset," Carey Price said. "I had to refocus in a hurry because if I let it slip, then I lose another game."

Shootout
Blake Wheeler BOS Save
Michael Cammalleri MTL Goal
Patrice Bergeron BOS Save
Scott Gomez MTL Save
Mark Recchi BOS Save


Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Thursday, November 5, 2009

HALAK AND LATENDRESSE ON THE TRADING LIST ; GAINEY TALKS WITH CHELIOS ABOUT CONTACTS


According to sources, Habs forward Guillaume Latendresse told Bob Gainey when he was drafted:"sign me now or I will return to the draft".So the Canadiens had no choice. But the story now (according to sources) is Gainey wants to trade Latendress beacuse he's an ankle skater. In other trading news, the Canadiens are talking to the Blackhawks about trading Jaroslave Halak. What you may ask is for what? But the truth is it is unknown. If the Canadiens trade Halak it better be for something good or it would be a big mistake because he's a great goaltender and at this moment he has a better record than Carey Price.In other Canadiens news, Habs General Manager Bob Gainey is talking to Chris Chelios about contracts. Gainey thinks that he could help in the absence of Andrei Markov and Ryan O'Byrne.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

CANADIENS FALL TO THE THRASHERS 5-4


Last night in Montreal, the Canadiens suffered there first loss in 5 games at the Bell Centre by the score of 5-4 to the Thrashers."What concerns me most is our lack of effectiveness in protecting our goaltender," said Montreal coach Jacques Martin. "Part of that starts in the offensive zone with back pressure -- helping the defence -- but also in being more effective in the defensive zone.I thought Carey kept us in the game in the first period. The (last two) goals weren't his fault." Mike Cammaleri had 1 goal, Brian Gionta had 2 goals and Thomas Plekanec had 1 goal in the 5-4 loss to the Thrashers.

The goal scorers for the Thrashers in the win were B. Little, R. Peverley, M. Popovic, P. Kubina , and C. Armstrong."That was one of the greatest games I've been part of," said Peverley. "They came back and we answered."That showed a lot of character, but they showed a lot of character too." The Canadiens will try to redeem themselves on Thursday when they take on the Bruins at 7:00pm E.t on TSN and RDS (both available in HD).

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Sunday, November 1, 2009

CANADIENS BEAT THE LEAFS IN A SHOOTOUT ON HALLOWEEN


Last night in Montreal, the Canadiens blew a 2 goal lead twice but came up with a win in the shootout. This was no surprise for the Canadiens because they have played 7 games in overtime and have won all 7. "Our fans like OT and shootouts I guess," said Cammalleri. "We didn't want to give them those two goals.The fans were singing 'Na Na' Goodbye and were ready to go out and enjoy their Saturday night. We'd have liked to hold them off, but the big thing was to get the win." In the victory, Jaroslave Halak made 26 saves. As for the Leafs,Toskala made 35 saves in the lose.

Glen Metropolit,Guillaume Latendresse, Hal Gill, Roman Hamrlik scored in Regulation and Michael Cammalleri and Scott Gomez scored in the Shootout. As for the Leafs, Alexei Ponikarovsky had 2 goals in the lose."I could throw out all the cliches, but we still have to find a way to win," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. "Which cliche do you want? We never say die, blah, blah blah? We still need to win." Lee Stempniak and Thomas Kaberle also scored for the Leafs.The Canadiens next game will be on Tuesday against the Thrashers on TSN and or RDS (Both channels available in HD).

Shootout
Michael Cammalleri MTL Goal
Lee Stempniak TOR Save
Scott Gomez MTL Goal
Tomas Kaberle TOR Save

Written By Andrew Di Pardo