HABS FALL TO THE FLAMES 4-1 ON THEIR HOME OPENER

GOAL SCORERS

CGY:   R. Bourque (PPG, 07:15 - 1st) , N. Hagman (PPG, 11:38 - 1st) , D. Moss (14:54 - 1st) , R. Bourque (13:23 - 2nd)

MTL:   A. Kostitsyn (01:47 - 1st)

GOALIES

CGY: M. Kiprusoff (W)

 MTL: C. Price (L)

             Last night in Montreal, the Canadiens returned home for their first game at the Bell Centre this season to take on the Calgary Flames. Just 1:23 into the game Pacioretty took the puck up the ice on the left side on a 2 on 1 with Kostitsyn. Pacioretty took a shot and it went wide off the rear end boards and right to Kostitsyn who would tap it in the empty net to make it 1-0 Montreal. 2 minutes later, with the Canadiens on a powerplay,  Plekanec played the puck to Subban at the point and he shot it and it was stopped by Kiprusoft.

             Then a few minutes later, the Flames had a powerplay, Tanguay played the puck to Bourque at the top of the right circle and he fired a shot past Price to tie the game. 8 minutes to go now, Hagman got the puck in the slot and he wristed a shot past Price to give the Flames a 2-1 lead. 2 minutes later, Tanguay came in on the left side on a 2 on 1 and he played the puck to Moss and he scored to make it 3-1 Flames.  Just a few seconds later, Tanguay played the puck to Moss and he was robber of a goal by Carey Price. 3-1 in favor of the Flames would be the score after 1. The shots in the first were 13-10 in favor of the Flames.

            Early in the second, Moss had a shorthanded breakaway and Gionta dove to knock the puck off his stick to keep the score where it was. Bourque would score again to make it 4-1 Flames after 2 periods. The Habs were better in the second as they outshot the Flames 14-7. 4 minutes into the third, Eller came in the Flames zone and did a nice toe drag to get by the Flames defenseman and then he shot the puck but he was denied by Kiprusoft. That's as close as they get as the Flames take this game 4-1. The Cnadiens out-shot the Flames 12-1 in the third, and 36-21 overall but were unable to score. As the Habs sloppy defense in the first lead to a Flames win.

            “We got some shots to the net on the power play, but we have to get more of a net presence and that’s where I could have done a better job,” Max Pacioretty said. “It was very frustrating to lose this game after winning in Winnipeg.” In the loss, Price made 17 saves. In the win, Kiprusoft made 35 saves to pass Vernon for his franchise-record 263rd win."I really honestly didn't know that Kip was close to that record today but it doesn't surprise me with how good of a goalie he is and how good this team has been since he's been here," Bourque said. "He's played great and he's the reason why we're a good team most nights."

          The Canadiens next game will be Saturday night against Colorado on CBC-M and RDS-HD at 7:00 pm E.t and they will look for a better defensive effort if they are going to win.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo