San Jose Musings, In-Game Scribbles
February 28, 2009, by Homme De Sept-Iles
San Jose 2 at Montreal 3
First Period
Pierre Houde and Benoit Brunet insist on calling Kovalev’s two-day a “suspension”. It goes to show that some members of the media (and society) continue to hold given points of view despite evidence to the contrary.
Stewart appears to have a great skating stride and an extra gear because of it.
Laraque is going to fight Jody Shelley. The crowd is very loud in response. Shelley’s head glances off the ice on the way down. Indirectly. He seems ok. Laraque wins. Again.
Back to the five-on-five (no on-ice man-power loss). Laraque and Shelley are smiling and chatting across the way from one another in their respective penalty boxes. All in a day’s work.
Kovalev is attacking and creating down the middle. It’s a matter of time.
Pas commode travail de Halak. Turns 180 to trap the puck bouncing off the back glass. The goalie books don’t recommend it. Saves it and holds on for the faceoff.
Montreal is starting to show a growing passion for deep control as the period continues. Koivu line is continuing their good work from last night.
Montreal will have the hottest March of all NHL teams.
Montreal goes to their first power-play. It’s a last-season feeling when we get l’attaque massive ces jours-la.
Markov! Krak-ow!
1-0, Montreal. Power-play is rolling again.
Teal ain’t good for Claude Lemieux. Colorado burgundy was best for the older assassin.
Koivu line is back on. Saku is trying to get his points total back to level. Even though nobody is complaining as in the past.
Hard work leads to a goal for Gorges. Wide-turning play by D’Agostini was very nice. Gorges swooped in.
2-0, Montreal. How much dead hockey is left in the San Jose game?
Bouillon’s absence is significant. I keep looking for him down low. He is one of the best at getting the opponent off the cycling game. His strength is missed. And his tenacity.
Kovalev stays late and creates all sorts of problems for the Sharks on the boards which results in some painful lanes for the visitors and an awkward angle chance for Kostitisyn from Hamrlik.
Now Lapierre is stopped on the doorstep. Montreal’s intensity is actually increasing. The last few players have gotten on board this vigorous wave and froth-maker.
Saku finally scores. Again, a lot of smart large circling lead to large awkward spaces for San Jose to defend. Captain K. And Montreal’s speed.
3-0, Montreal.
Koivu looks relieved. No, nobody has been after him. In the old days, this would have been double the joy for him. With other easy media targets on the team, nobody has time to evaluate the captain’s perceived shortcomings.
Suddenly the Sharks know they’re in the wrong tank. Bell Central is crackling.
They have forty-five seconds to escape to the locker room. But Koivu is back on with his buddies.
San Jose can’t establish control anymore. And after a lot of mid-ice dithering and some San Jose dump-ins, the period ends, mercifully for Team Teal.
Second Period
Komisarek. Penalized again.
First penalty-kill: Halak fails to freeze the puck. San Jose gets an ugly, undeserved goal. They have had so few scoring chances from the midway point of the first period. Crash and bang goal. Team of locals. Pavelski looks like a local particularly.
Montreal will respond.
Kovalev line is on. Right after the goal against. I like it. Kovalev will not be shaken in a situation like this.
But the Sharks score another quick goal. This is how they win, it seems. Against Ottawa they were alive for a short time only. But long enough to take the lead and coast to the win. Lazy team. Sharks only work as hard as they have to. Thornton is a big part of that mentality.
When we are suddenly and tenuously hanging on to a lead, this is when Andrei Kostitistyn often scores.
Koivu line is back on and Higgins walks in nearly uncontested. Backhand fails.
Later the K-line is back in again. Unfortunately, D’Agostini takes a hooking penalty. Brutal timing.
Penalty of frustration. Got the puck lifted from him and reacted like a 1996 player. Back when all that obfustication was legal.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic misses a wide open net. Montreal is lucky. Montreal penalty-kill continues. And looks helpless. Not the usual for the past few months. Normally Montreal are able to frustrate opponents. Not tonight.
Pacioretty works hard down low and gets rid of the last of the San Jose momentum. They are back to their dead hockey selves. They’re like Jabba the Hutt; slow to arouse, slow to move. All evil igloo inertia.
For a brief moment, Higgins looks like Smolinski. We have past players on the mind this week. Past moves, trades and departures.
Good luck, Steve Begin. Good to see Michael Ryder doing well in Boston, too.
D’Agostini shoots from a Lafleur area. Good-looking shot. Both teams are deadening. Montreal needs to stop the osmosis. Koivu and Kovalev will do it.
Higgins is hiding and giving the puck to others (like the defenceman) instead of working down low. It wasn’t the end of the shift, either. It was the beginning.
Lots of standing around at the end of the period. Kovalev watches Schneider battle alone along the middle boards in the defensive area. Results in a half-hearted scoring chance for SJ. Montreal is lucky that SJ is not interested anymore, either.
Get it together.
Third Period
Trouble again at the beginning. Letting SJ control on the boards.
SJ hits the post on a mishandled shot.
Both teams make it look like a one-goal game, at last. 15:04 left.
Stewart has great speed. But San Jose is winning the round.
Metropolit is a good stick-handler.
Canadiens hold on for the win. Halak gets first star. And for the first time since October, I strongly (as opposed to mildly in recent days) believe Montreal has a legitimate chance to advance to the Final.
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