HABS WIN 3-1 AGAINST THE LIGHTNING

GOAL SCORERS

TBL:   V. Lecavalier (03:24 - 1st)

MTL:   M. Blunden (05:44 - 2nd) , M. Pacioretty (07:17 - 2nd) , E. Cole (PPG, 19:43 - 3rd)

GOALIES

TBL: M. Garon (L)

 MTL: C. Price (W)

          
                     After an outstanding game by Lars Eller (a 4 goal performance against the Jets) that ended the Habs losing  streak, the Habs were looking to become 2-0 in 2012. 3 minutes in, Lecavalier scored to make it 1-0 Lightning. Then with under 4 minutes to play, Eller played the puck downlow to Kostitsyn and then to Moen and his one-timer went off the post. 5 minutes into the second, Gill played the puck to Blunden at the side of the net and his backhander beat Garon to tie the game. 2 minutes later, St.Louis brought the puck up the right wing and to the slot and he fired a shot and he was stopped by Price. 1 minute later, Pacioretty had a brekaway and he scored to give the Habs a 2-1 lead. So the Habs were 20 minutes away from becoming 2-0 in 2012 going into the third.

               Lets jump to the final minute of the third. The Habs were on a powerplay. Desharnias took a shot and was stopped and shot the puck again and just as the puck was going to cross the goal line, Eric Cole tapped it in to steal the credit away from Desharnais. Both players were laughing after that one as the Habs won 3-1. In the win, Price made 23 saves on 24 shots. In the loss, Garon made 25 saves on 28 shots."That was just an honest 60 minutes of hard work," Price said. "Everybody was on the same page again tonight." Gionta made his return to the lineup in this game after missing 11 games due to a groin injury and had this to say about the win."It's a good start to the year for us," said Canadiens captain Brian Gionta."This January we knew was going to be a big swing month for us and that's the way we wanted to start. It was a pretty good effort all the way through."

                 "It seems tonight we didn't place our chips as well as we wanted," Lecavalier said. "Our forecheck wasn't as good as we wanted it to be and I think that changed it a lot because they broke out pretty easily tonight."

Written By Andrew Di Pardo