Game Thread | Montreal vs. Florida | 03/02/06

SpiderManNL · Guru

Game Thread | Montreal vs. Florida | 03/02/06

SpiderManNL · Guru

SpiderManNL · Guru

SpiderManNL · Guru

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect.cfm?sectionID=habsNewsDetails.cfm&newsItemID=4828

Game Preview: Canadiens vs. Panthers

SUNRISE – After a 17-day break for the Olympics, the Canadiens picked up right where they left off in their return to action Tuesday night, holding off the Islanders for a 5-3 victory. With the win, Bob Gainey’s troops earned at least a point for a sixth straight game and currently hold a two-point lead in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Canadiens are making their second stop on their six game road trip tonight as they face Florida. The Panthers, back on home ice for the first time since Feb. 3, took a bite into their first post-Olympic matchup on Tuesday with an 8-2 rout over the Tampa Bay Lightning; they currently sit in 13th place with 54 points. Jacques Martin’s squad’s offensive outburst set a new team record for most goals on opposing ice.

Tonight is the final meeting of the season between the Canadiens and Panthers. Both clubs have won on home ice, with the Montreal recording 4-3 and 5-4 wins at the Bell Centre back in Nov. 1 and Nov. 15, respectively; Florida won the last meeting on Dec. 30 at BankAtlantic Center and has not lost to the Canadiens at home since March 12, 2003.

No rest? No problem: Following their heartbreaking loss to Sweden Sunday in Turin, Finland’s Saku Koivu and Olli Jokinen were both back in action Tuesday night, with neither showing any signs of fatigue. The Olympic teammates each registered three assists in their respective games, with Koivu earning three assists while Jokinen scored two goals and added an assist.

Recipe for success: In both of their games on Tuesday, the Canadiens and Panthers each notched three power-play goals, a factor in the wins for both clubs. Montreal has now tallied at least two goals with the man advantage in 16 games this season and has suffered just one loss in regulation in those contests, with a 14-1-1 record. Florida, for its part, has had similar success, scoring at least two power-play markers for the 11th time this season to improve to 8-0-3 in those games.

Mike Ribeiro and the Canadiens will be looking to pad their lead on the final playoff spot against the Panthers.

heet_150 · Guru

Oh, yeah. There's a game on tonight!!!!

Hey Spidey, who makes your banners? The one you are using now is very cool.

SpiderManNL · Guru

Thanks.....my wife made it for me.

SpiderManNL · Guru

AB Habman · Guru

Now we have a game on our hands!

Huet verses Luongo. We better have better defensive coverage than last game. We better charge their net with traffic.

SpiderManNL · Guru

No score after 1 period of play.

Caper_hab_fan · Veteran Member

Huet makes save of the game with about 5 mins to go in the 2nd, that was amazing. More tissues Theo....

SpiderManNL · Guru

0-0 after two periods.

Nil d · Guru

SpiderManNL wrote:

0-0 after two periods.

Shots 10-10 in the first, 9-9 in the second. Sounds like a close game!

AB Habman · Guru

How can Ribs get cross checked in the face in the crease with the Ref looking on 4 feet away and not call it? How can Markov get elbowed in the face by Gelanas behind our net and no penalty?

The problem with these new rules is that the refs forgot the old ones! How can a split second hook be 2 minutes and a purpose to injure be a no call?

plouf · Guru

End to end hockey, but not much offensive execution coming either way...

plouf · Guru

C'est le but!!!!! Kovalev!

plouf · Guru

Late in game...
Some recent mistakes by young players (Plekanec, Perezhogin)...but Souray, Koivu, Rivet making a couple key defensive plays.
Better energy from Zednik tonight. Still can't pass worth s$%t though.
Gotta love Pleks energy too.

-- Edited by plouf at 21:18, 2006-03-02

plouf · Guru

Right off the crossbar!!!!!!

Man, this team has a hard time pulling out games sometimes. Anyway, good to get the win. Good for Huet on the shutout.

AB Habman · Guru

Big league play by Kovy! probably the only guy on our team that can do that.

SpiderManNL · Guru

Habs win 1-0

Jedah · Guru

Great game by Huet. That save in the 2nd period was unbelievable! But I'm starting to become less and less surprised at what he is capable of.

And a great, timely goal by Kovalev. Good to get the win and shutout!

Caper_hab_fan · Veteran Member

And Boston defeated the Thrashers too.....thats good, cause i think Atlanta would breath on the habs neck more so then the B's.....

thompstar · Veteran Member

pretty good effort by the habs tonight.....kovalev comes through in a huge way which is what he has got to do more often.

nice game by huet, what a save in the second....made me spill my beer because i jumped out of my seat.

hopefully we can keep on rolling in tampa on saturday!

heet_150 · Guru

AB Habman wrote:

How can Ribs get cross checked in the face in the crease with the Ref looking on 4 feet away and not call it? How can Markov get elbowed in the face by Gelanas behind our net and no penalty? The problem with these new rules is that the refs forgot the old ones! How can a split second hook be 2 minutes and a purpose to injure be a no call?

I noticed that, too AB. It seemed like they were calling everything except the real penalties.

Johab · Guru

Outstanding game by both Huet and Luongo. Zednik looked a lot better out there tonight and Ribeiro is driving to the net, something i really like seeing from him, he isnt playing soft anymore!! Way to go boys!!!

P.S. If Rivet had a better shot, the cross crease save Luongo made wouold have been a goal, luongo simply slide across and the puck hit his pad, 10 inches higher you had 1/4 of the net wide open.