Montreal Canadiens vs Boston Bruins
March 2, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Musings and In-Game Scribbles
My English is as good as yours, I just write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode that I insist excuses me from small things like rules of grammar or general etiquette. Let’s call it conversational English, hopped up on beans. You know what kind of beans (no, Carl Mellesmoen, not the magic ones).
Montreal Canadiens (29-28-6) visit Boston Bruins (27-22-11)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Game Sixty-Four (score posted following scribbles)
Missed it? Musings capture the game in writing. Based on the RDS telecast, Musings take about 20 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, fresher than a looping highlight and good with morning coffee.
First Period
I’m late.
It’s scoreless. Where’s my captain, where’s my captain. There he is.
Met with Randall Maggs, author of a compelling book of poems on NHL goalie and legend, Terry Sawchuk.
Dominic Moore takes a penalty.
Price loses the puck. Boston scores the first goal.
Long wrister. Hit him on the inside of the glove and trickled in. Marco Sturm gets his nineteenth of the season.
Metropolit takes the faceoff and loses it.
Spacek and Hamrlik are the defensive pairing with Darche and Pyatt on the wings.
Darche works behind the Boston net and is upended. Boston exits and then Scott Thornton’s pass attempt deflects out of play.
Gomez is on the side boards. Sends it to O’Byrne for a one-timer. Caught in the fuselage. Two on one for Boston results. Ryder. Down the left side. Michael Ryder from Newfoundland.
Sends it to the right. Sure goal. Price pushes across and foils it. Boy wonder save.
We resume and Boston gets control. Plekanec line is on now. Sergei and Maxim Lapierre are on with him. To the neutral zone and then back in Montreal ice.
Boston is able to get two long shots from either point. One is stopped and the other is wide. Houde says that the Bruins are showing more confidence on offensive ice and that the rhythm has changed.
Skating is put aside for spread em passing. Finally Markov retrieves the puck in the corner to Price’s left.
Montreal rushes. Gomez on the left. Gets close enough for a shot. Becomes harmless.
Krejci and Gill meet in the right corner and Gill comes up with it. Hal Gill.
We are corner to corner and interruptions.
Andrei Kostitsyn is back. They have him on with Plekanec and Sergei.
Moore is wasting movement and giving up space on the forecheck. Moen is on with him. They are backed up.
Boston’s Daniel Paille loses the puck to Markov behind Price.
Boston gets a nine-second possession. Pass through the slot is perfect but Boston can’t convert it.
I see a guy wearing #21 chasing on the forecheck with good speed and forget for a moment who it is. I find myself thinking of Carbonneau and Higgins. The player is Brian Gionta, of course.
Puck goes out of play and we see a quick shot of ruddy-cheeked Benoit Pouliot before a fir tree commercial. Cold weather and 2009.
Perry Pearn’s time is wasted on the bench now. RDS interviews the Montreal assistant coach. Nothing of consequence is given us.
Plekanec takes the faceoff. Montreal is on the power-play.
Vladimir Sobotka is in the box for slashing.
Spacek and Markov are the defencemen. Markov is sneaking up. Plekanec is on the hash.
Metropolit is under the end line. He comes up with it and sends it to Markov. Andrei Kostitsyn is also on. He has it low and on Plekanec’ side.
Time runs out on the period. Tuukka Rask takes a sip of water. Zdeno Chara is back in a Boston uniform. It’s warped.
Shots are 10-7 in favour of Montreal.
First Intermission
Boston 1, Montreal 0
Chronique a la Une. Crete and Gagnon are standing and they discuss the trade movements in recent times.
We see three of the available goalies; Jaroslav Halak, Thomas Vokoun and a third dude. Gagnon thinks that Halak will stay here past the trade deadline.
Second Period
Boston 1, Montreal 0
Power-play continues.
Point shot from Spacek is wide.
Gomez is in the hash. Sends it through the slot. No sticks reply.
Three on one for Boston. Pass is too late and the angle is bad. Price stops it.
Penalty ends.
Montreal gets a slot chance. Moen. Slot chance off a Rask rebound from a side-pass.
Faceoff outside the Montreal blue line soon afterward. Gomez, Gionta and Pouliot are on.
Montreal wins it. They move it down. They control on the left side.
To the point and it has to be moved quickly along the boards. Boston exit without Montreal taking a shot. And the play is stopped moments later. Faceoff will be to Price’s right.
Gill and Gorges are the defensive pairing and Plekanec wins the faceoff. The brothers are on with him.
Price plays the puck behind his net. Puts too much on it and Gill has to take an extra second to handle it and send it the other way. Boston’s required line change saves Montreal some trouble and they are able to exit. Lapierre is on now.
Moore gets on. Andre Kostitsyn is still on. Puck moves through the slot and Rask hangs onto it.
Faceoff to his left. Lapierre controls it briefly on the boards but it ends the moment he handles the puck and Boston exits.
Sturm is taken down to Price’s right by Spacek and Boston goes to another power-play.
Spacek looks like HR Giger. Taller and younger. He’s also not happy about the call. But it was legit.
One of Boston’s assistants says something intense and Julien offers an avuncular demeanour. Assistant was touching his earphone and turning backward as he made his suited remarks.
Boston sets up.
Dennis Wideman and defenceman Derek Morris are on the first wave.
Price makes a light save and holds it for a faceoff.
Ryder is on the second wave.
Montreal clears soon after the faceoff.
Dominic Moore is on with Sergei Kostitsyn as a kill pairing.
Moore is aggressive on his forecheck. He pokechecks and uses his stick high and doesn’t try and strip the puck. He concentrates on whacking guys on the gloves or the stick.
Penalty ends.
Twelve and a half minutes left in the second.
Gomez line is on.
Pouliot shows some quickness and decisions the puck to the point. Boston interrupts and moves it out.
Near three-on-two is ended by a Bruin backchecker. Markov retrieves.
Now Boston sends it in from the neutral zone.
Metropolit line is on.
Sergei has it behind the net. Moves to the hash. Fires a pass. Intercepted.
Stewart has it at the point now for Boston. Shot is wide. Puck deflects. Houde says Price was fortunate. We go quickly to the other end.
Puck is smothered and Lapierre is yapping with a Bruin and on his knees. Up now. Refs are in there. Lots of talking. And a commercial. They cool it off before the break.
Gomez wins a faceoff to Rask’s left.
Gomez stickhandles behind his net. Passes to the circle. Quick shot. Stopped.
Rask is beaten now. Gionta has it, moves, keeps, keeps moving. Can’t shoot, Momentum moves him out of the slot and to the side and behind the net. He has to pass it. Two Habs can’t control it.
What a chance missed.
More pressure as the Canadiens contain the puck.
The action remains organized and hectic. Both teams are playing with vigour and pride. Good pace.
Bruins are called for icing.
We resume and O’Byrne checks a guy cleanly behind Price. Boston retains possession nonetheless.
Krejci sends a pass from the side. Good shot is stopped by Price.
Play is whistled.
We resume. End to end in a seventy-percent way. Now Boston gets a near-breakaway. Impeded. Illegally. Penalty.
And another waste of time commercial.
Lapierre is the penalized player.
Gorges turns over the puck and a near-gasp chance for Boston is saved by … Hal Gill. Nicely done.
Boston gets set up at the one minute mark of the power-play.
Ryder shows a very nice new stick-handling move. It’s the same one he uses normally but much quicker. Two beautiful saves from Price follow the nice incursion on the off-wing by the former Hab.
Price is getting sharper as the game progresses it appears.
Penalty ends. Moore down the right side. Shot. Rebound. Lapierre can only swing and watch from the low slot.
Boston is the pendulum’s marble now. Shot. Save. Price.
Other end. Rask is sharp.
Now they are briefly snarled in the neutral zone.
Metropolit line is on.
Then Gionta. He gets some room on the right side. Shot. Nope.
We resume and we stop seconds later. Icing against Boston.
Rask’s right.
Montreal wins.
To the point. Shot from Hamrlik. Gomez line.
They are behind Rask. They work. Bruins win it. Now it’s on the blue line. Boston wins that, too. But the puck goes out of play in the neutral zone. Daniel Paille returns to the Bruin bench. Julien raises a questioning hand at the officials.
Plekanec takes a faceoff against Krejci. Sergei takes Plekanec’ place and loses the faceoff.
Sergei gets a hand up to stop a puck high. Sends it to the hash-it’s to the slot. Fanned. Oh, oh and oh. Final net. Big, anyway.
Ten seconds later or so, the period ends. Siren. Boston has the nice touches. Original Six.
Shots are in favour of Montreal 18-17 after two.
Second Intermission
Boston 1, Montreal 0
We get a quick chat with Bruin forward Steve Begin (former Hab and Flame). Always a pleasure.
Third Period
Boston 1, Montreal 0
Canadiens win the faceoff on the glistening ice. Boston’s logo at centre ice, as I’ve said often, is compelling and tonight it is nearly majestic. I’m glad to return to a traditional rivalry with the usual suspects on a Tuesday night when only those who care about and understand the teams involved are watching. More or less.
Boston Bruins. One of the great franchises in North American sports history. And when we play them on the road, the uniforms of both teams contrast so well. Boston’s dark and gold and Montreal’s white with red and blue trim.
A few whistles and stoppages in play keep us from getting to the two minutes elapsed point and the teams are playing along the boards and with caution.
Rask can really get low in crouch. He’s like a crab.
Speed goes up. Montreal swoops in. Pyatt. Left side. Perfect pass to the slot. Metropolit puts it in off the pass; one-timer. Scores.
Montreal 1, Boston 1
Boston wins the ensuing faceoff.
They control. Lucic gets a puck above Price’s left circle and lofts it through the slot. Now they are in the corner. Houde says that the Bruins are trying to intimidate the Canadiens after being score on.
They control for more than fifteen seconds. Thornton sends it to the slot. Price gets over. Brunet says that after giving a gift to Boston in the first period, Price has since closed the door.
But the Theory of Strand is being violated by Boston who control the puck well again after this faceoff. Strand’s texts state that the scoring team often gets the lift and jump following a goal.
Boston shows its business side by defying the tenet.
Now Ryder goes to the box. I feel bad for him. He has that same expression he got in Montreal days. Now he shakes his head in the box. It was an accidental hooking.
Early shot by Montreal and then Chara whips it out. The puck.
Gionta is down the left side. Out again.
Gionta from the neutral zone. Pouliot on the side. Still outside the Bruin blue. And he loses it.
Plekanec line hops on. They can’t get it in either. Finally Metropolit moves it down. Plekanec has it behind the net. Perfect pass. How did Rask make me scream like a plant? Oy. Metropolit, point blank.
What a save.
The rest of the penalty is spent chasing Boston around and eventually picking up the puck in our zone for one last segment.
Slot shot. Rebound. Gionta. Gets it. Stopped.
Penalty ends.
Gomez line stays on.
Gomez enters. Moving in that Ribeiro way. Uses a screen. Shoots. He has long rubber arms and Reed Richards legs. But it doesn’t work this time. He is very dangerous at creating odd rebounds. Oblique pucks and stretched goalies, the crease tilts when he is at his best.
Commie. I mean commercial. The jingo echo.
We’re back. Thirteen minutes left.
Replay shows the spider-strong Gomez’ hands. He can pass with velocity with his hands very high on the stick. That’s agility and strength, both. And experience. I hope he finds his game before the season is out.
Satan is on Boston and I chuckle. I’ve been imprinted by the Industrial Games and I need to get back to the original prints.
Canadiens score. There’s that rambling goal again.
Moen a tire et Moen a pris le rondelle. So Moen’s work and Lapierre’s rebound whack.
Montreal 2, Boston 1
Darche is on. Markov joins the rush. Four men. Pass. Up. Back. Shot. Stopped. Teeth and jaw. A wish and a save.
Plekanec takes the faceoff to Rask’s left. Wins it.
On the boards. Sergei hesitates. I don’t like it and my television set pretends to listen to me yet again.
To the neutral zone. And then the puck is iced by Montreal.
Faceoff to Price’s left. Plekanec remains on the ice. Andrei (K) needs to get going a bit.
It’s his first game back after a long injury absence.
We see a shot of Halak. It’s hard to believe we have both of them. Houde and Brunet discuss his possible continued stay in Montreal.
Price makes a good save from the circle. On Mark Recchi. Another former Hab. He’s 42 we are reminded and then Houde mentions Chelios’ return. Chelios is 48 and was signed yesterday to another pro contract.
I think Montreal should have signed him. Hey, y’all laughed when I suggested Mathieu Schneider prior to the Centennial Season.
Moore’s stick is broken. Boston makes it looks like a power-play. Shot is stopped in the slot. Stick and player are replaced.
Montreal has it. Moen battles high on the boards near the Montreal blue line.
Pyatt exits. Right side, cuts left. Good acceleration. Shot off a screen. Rask holds it.
Pause.
We see a quick shot of the goal and Moen’s joy is rapturous.
We resume. Markov touches his helmet and holds his stick at his waist. Metropolit wins the deep faceoff with nine and a half minutes left in the game.
Metropolit smartly resumes puck control inside the Montreal line. Houde says that Metropolit is playing a good game tonight.
Gill has it. Left side and circle. Up for AK. Stopped at the blue line. Back to Gill behind his net. He takes a quarterback’s thud-brush from a forechecker but moves it back up and out.
Boston’s Mark Stuart sends it up for Wheeler. Turnover.
AK shoots coming back the other way. Off-wing shot. Houde says it’s a good one. Big rebound but Bruins are there.
Another stoppage.
Thursday is San Jose we are told. And Kings on Saturday. There is also a Sunday game.
Puck is in the crease. Whistle. Puck is still free. Chara and Gomez discuss it. The aggression levels drop as Gomez’ point is made. He thought the puck was still in play.
Chara has a good attitude.
Down in the corner by Price as we resume.
Pouliot line exits as Pouliot bumps the puck down into Boston territory.
Lapierre is on.
O’Byrne turns it over low. Montreal escapes that moment.
Puck is up for Moore at centre ice but the play is whistled. Puck went out of play, I think.
I still haven’t seen Muller behind the bench.
Lapierre wins the faceoff to Price’s right with six and a half minutes left in the game. Approx.
Markov retrieves a puck behind Price. But Ryder has it on the side boards now.
Chara advances to keep the possession.
Lapierre sticks it out. Metropolit catches up to it. Sends it for Pyatt. He’s taken down. No call. Houde and Brunet don’t back me up.
Now the puck is stopped by Rask and Houde makes a comment regarding what Pyatt needs to do to stay in the NHL. He implies that it won’t be easy for him.
Uh. Yup.
Break.
Replay and we see Pyatt’s second shot and Rask made a good save. On his knees and right pad flat and flayed.
It’s odd to be all Canadiens again. Canadian. Canadien. Kanadian.
The word Canadian has a good sonic imprint. I like it. I also like Vindicator’s costume. Or is it outfit. Or uniform. Costume. And Vindicator was his original name. Not Guardian.
Montreal steps it up. Lapierre’s line. Houde says that the third and fourth lines have done very well tonight and that’s what Montreal wanted from them.
Metropolit. That should be –scores- a penalty. Geez.
Houde says cancel the penalty. Metropolit was taken down and got a one-handed backhand shot from the slot as he splashed. Darche baseballed it in.
Montreal 3, Boston 1
Just over two minutes left.
Ok, then.
Pouliot line.
Ryder and Krejci are on for Boston.
Rask leaves the net.
Some bungling by Boston. A bad pass. Pouliot intercepted the blue line pass. Up. Clear. Shoots. Empty net. In.
Montreal 4, Boston 1
Just over a minute.
Moore keeps playing like a child. Hack, hack, hack. And he’s called. Learn or go home. Floor hockey blister.
Plekanec wins the faceoff and clears from Price’s left. Rask is back in net.
Forty-five seconds left.
Boston gets control. Ference and Chara work it along the blue line. Shot. Price got across.
Houde says he likes what he sees from the BC goalie. Great positioning. He cares right to the end. As he has since early November. So what’s new. How about some new stats.
Icing against Montreal.
Faceoff outside the Montreal blue line. Ambiguous result. Siren goes.
Montreal 4
Boston 1
HDS Stars: Mathieu Darche, Glen Metropolit, Carey Price
RDS Stars: Glen Metropolit, Mathieu Darche, Tuukka Rask
Post-Game Thoughts (comments I can’t help adding while I edit the main body)
The Boston rink is empty and two Zambonis crawl on the ice on the same end, one orange and one red. Real Zambonis are huge. Just huge. Get one for your kid today!
I’m just starting to enjoy the season. It’s almost over. Jeez, eh? Rough year, rough year.
It’s such a relief to think and listen in French again. Ante-Chambre features Jacques and les boys and les manchettes son interessant. The Olympics talk isn’t over but it’s from a point of view far more journalistic than emotional. Remind me never to watch international events again. (Like I’ll listen)
As I’m editing, I marvel at the comfort level I have with French again. When I was five, I thought and spoke in three languages simultaneously. I doubt I will ever have that fluidity again but for moments, I remember the snow and my truck-carabines friends from Sept-Iles. And a blue license plate inscription.
It wasn’t clear but I got the sense that Tim Thomas was in net early and then Tuukka Rask took over. Thomas has an injured groin and wasn’t expected to start. I’m guessing he did start, tweaked the injury and made way for Rask. Currently, that information isn’t available to me.
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