Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning
March 9, 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 (32-29-6) host Tampa Bay Lightning (27-26-11)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Game Sixty-Eight (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.
After four games on the road (three wins) the team is back in Bell Central. Lightning’s Steven Stamkos has 40 goals and 36 assists in 64 games; the number two point-getter on his team behind Martin St. Louis.
Charles Prevost-Linton is always emotionally prepared for his rendition of the anthems.
Molson Cup is presented to Jaroslav Halak. The presenter struts and smiles like Sylvester the Cat. Molson Cup is awarded the player who gets the most three-star selections in a given month. There’s a points system.
Goalies tonight are Halak and Antero Niittymaki. Bless my sugar.
First Period
Eric Furlatt and Frederick L’Ecuyer are the refs.
Early advance off the faceoff by Pouliot is whistled for offside. Faceoff is outside the Tampa Blue line and Gomez loses it.
Canadiens take back the puck in the neutral zone. Canadiens attack. Early. About three shots.
Stamkos takes it against Thomas Plekanec. Pyatt and Andrei Kostitsyn are with him.
O’Byrne goes back to retrieve it and a whistle goes. Lightning preceded the puck into the zone.
Crowd settles into a wait and see mode.
Moen, Sergei Kostitsyn, Gorges and Gill are on. Icing against Tampa.
Nate Thompson takes the faceoff against Dominic Moore. Moore wins and Gorges gets a shot. And another Tampa icing.
Canadiens want to avenge their previous game against Tampa Bay.
Metropolit takes this faceoff against Thompson. Thompson wins it. Lightning move it along the bowl. Markov picks it up in the neutral zone. Whistle.
Too many men. Against the Lightning.
Brunet says the Lightning seem very nervous. He says it’s an important game for them.
Tocchet has a blame-it-on-someone-else expression on his face. It’s as if he was played by a different person in his playing days. I remember him in a much better light as a Flyer. One of my favourite non-Montreal players in the eighties. Disappointing.
Canadiens enter offside. Houde says they weren’t coordinated.
Shot of the bench. Mouthguards and void ten-year old dental visit expressions.
Gomez enters down the left. Down. Around. Looking all the while. Skates spread in that Ribeiro way. Passes. Hands high on the stick. To Metropolit. Scores.
Montreal 1, Tampa Bay 0
It’s Metropolit’s 15th goal.
Gomez is in again. Two-on-one. Waits to the nail-peel point. Gives it. Thubbed. Gionta was there but the pass was intercepted.
Pyatt sends it from the corner. Niittymaki gets a stick on it.
On the other end Halak saves our eggs on a swerve and sweep shot.
Canadiens are playing with speed, precision and some flair on this shift. Andrei Kostitsyn is a part of it.
Now he continues a twenty-second ontreal possession by pivoting 180 behind the Tampa net. To Markov at the hash.
Brunet compliments AK.
Whistle.
Lightning move it down. They have their longest possession, a meager five seconds on the end boards.
Pouliot is on. He skates up to interrupt a Tampa breakout.
Puck is in the corner. Spacek shovels it up and out. Gomez is leading yet another rush. Pass and shot is stopped by Nittymaki. Houde says “what a beginning to this game by Gomez”.
That confidence is rising. Earlier Brunet said that Gomez seems faster than usual tonight and wondered whether the two-week break was a factor.
Faceoff is to Antero’s left.
Canadiens win it. They stay ahead of the puck. AK46. Takes it along a circle up toward the blue line. Curling over the top of the zone on one of his common trajectories. Can’t generate a shot off the pass.
Moore takes a faceoff to Halak’s right.
Lightning win it and have to retreat with it.
St. Louis enters and has a shot deflect. They are out and back in. St. Louis drops it for Kurtis Foster who shoots a quick, hard slapshot. Stopped.
The other way now. Darche. Near two-on-one. He keeps and shoots. Rush came off a Tampa turnover at mid-ice.
Faceoff to Antero’s left results in a Lightning exit. Spacek and Hamrlik need some help getting the puck out and they get it.
Now Darche is in the corner.
Pouliot joins them in support as the lines change. Puck is sent back out.
Pouliot reminds me of Cristobal Huet somehow. His demeanour. Something humble and conscientious there.
Markov takes it from behind the net. Long pass. Finds Plekanec.
Kostitsyn takes it in the corner. Has pep and zip in his stick-handling. He’s present tonight. Just stick around. We miss Cammalleri for more than one reason. He has a positive impact on Andrei.
Canadiens are behind their net and ending any suggestions of a Tampa possession.
Moore has it behind the Tampa net seconds later. Play stays on the boards. Stamkos is working hard to make something happen. Tampa skaters seem to increase in speed and urgency. Puck goes out of play as Stamkos leans left and into the high slot with a backhand carry.
Commercial.
Stamkos has the presence of a solid, slugging veteran scorer. More than a cash register crony. He’s got some substance to him.
Faceoff to Halak’s right results in a puck push-out and a Montreal retrieval behind the net. Gomez takes it from Hamrlik. Hamrlik sent a dangerously angled pass across Halak but nothing.
Now Gomez is in at high speed. Viva-voom.
Just picked it up from the corner, went to the net and shot it between the pads. He’s here at last.
Montreal 2, Tampa Bay 0
He’s starting to get that facial expression as he sits back down. Behind the relief is the New Jersey hit-man the Canadiens once feared. A few more games and weeks of this and he will be firing slugs.
Action continues and blends into Montreal ice. Subtle danger.
Lightning are being given space they weren’t getting earlier. Moore line is on. Puck goes out of play after another Lightning entry with a fissure down the middle for a shot.
The puck is in the Lightning zone. It’s pushed out. And then back in. Long passes are becoming more prevalent. Gomez steps in front of a pass and nearly creates a rush.
Line change.
Veilleux is creating now. Results in a shot and save. Halak.
Stoppage.
We see some more of Gomez on the bench and he is smiling. Enjoying himself. Finding himself in the game. And the game is new again.
He is chatting with Pouliot.
Just over four minutes left in the first period.
Plekanec tries a fancy move and takes a knee. Ohlund. Plekanec’ move was a bit risky. Plekanec is down and stays down.
Ohlund tried to avoid him. He wasn’t expecting Plekanec to make that move.
Plekanec skates off the ice on his own but limps slightly with some assistance to the dressing room to be examined.
Gionta line s on.
Lightning try a long pass from behind their blue line which goes untouched and is called for icing.
Replay of Plekanec’ take-down is shown and Joel Bouchard at ice level says that it was accidental.
Spacek digs it backhanded to the opposite side behind Halak.
Canadiens stay barely ahead of the forechecking visitors. Brief possession behind the Lightning net.
Out and back in.
Moore works the boards and retains it for a Zednik length of time. About six seconds. Moore uses speed, not strength and keeps both hands on his stick. Unlike our Slovakian pal.
Just under a minute.
Gomez is on now. Hustle of a Ranger, tail of a Devil. Flying.
Period ends with the Lightning moving up into the neutral zone and firing long. St. Louis. Wide.
Siren goes.
Shots on goal are in favour of Montreal 10-7.
Tocchet walks off the ice evincing the disposition of an imposter.
First Intermission
Montreal 2, Tampa Bay 0
Francois Gagnon discusses the recent Boca Raton meeting. He suggests that a shot to the head should be five minutes, ejection and a meeting with the Commissioner. He says that this would be too simple for the NHL powers-that-be and that they have to needlessly complicate things.
Of course. The obstructionists’ adams apples are lurching. Necks grow red and collars grow tight. The league has reached a critical mass on traditionalism. Yet again.
Kudos to anyone fighting it.
Yes. The word kudos must be used here. It’s all memo-blank and misfired stone pen amongst the cracked Norris battlements.
Woe to thee Copernicans of curved stick and forward passes.
Now we hear from Marc Denis and Alain Crete. Crete listens with interest to what Denis has to say. I get the sense that Crete is evaluating Denis’ analysis. So am I.
He speaks quickly and informatively. His conviction level reminds me of Carbonneau. Intense yet balanced. Denis is a former Montreal backup goaltender who played a small role in the Canadiens narrative. One game. But his NHL experience is significant; 349 games played, most with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche.
Another commercial.
Scott Gomez is interviewed by Joel Bouchard. Bouchard asks if the team might slack off. He uses those words. I have to smile. I think he meant to ask the question more delicately. And his translation to French confirms that.
I’m waiting to hear about Plekanec.
Second Period
Montreal 2, Tampa Bay 0
Gomez line starts. Lecavalier is against him.
Gomez wins it.
Hamrlik has it under the blue. Up for Pouliot. Pucks is lost outside the Tampa blue.
Canadiens regroup. Pouliot enters. Backhand pass, turning by Pouliot.
Fritters away. Now Lecavalier and Tanguay enter. Lecavalier tries to beat his man on the left while Tanguay drives the net.
Offside now as the puck leaves the Montreal zone.
St. Louis has an taxi-cab pirate’s beard going on.
Lightning must be struggling to make the top eight. It’s a qualification beard, I’d say. (the team is in eleventh or so and within five or less points. But so is the rest of the Eastern Conference. Tight shells on your peanuts.
St. Louis beats Markov to the puck but Markov has position and regains it.
Moen line is on.
Lightning are offside. Veilleux.
Just how much gambling do our former star players engage in? How about the current ones? Can you tell a poker player by the way he talks to a ref? How about the way he chews his tobacco.
Canadiens go offside this time. Darche is pushed into the zone by two Lightning. He was carried on the shoulders of an electric current. Two players.
We go the other way. Halak makes a mild save on a long undeflected shot. Holds it.
Darche has to take the faceoff for Metropolit.
Loses it.
Lightning send it in.
Lightning forward Todd Fedoruk plays it behind the net. Whistle. O’Byrne is called. Martin is not happy.
Call is charging against the Montreal defenceman.
Not just charging but leaving his skates. Two minutes. Leaving your skates should be four minutes.
Lightning’s first wave is St. Louis, Downie, Foster, Stamkos and Lecavalier. They work it well.
Sharp. Two keep-ins.
No direct shots yet. Cross-ice. Now a shot. And a rebound. And another rebound. Stamkos. Sweeps it in. Too many pucks.
Montreal 2, Tampa Bay 1
Halak didn’t get up quickly enough. He perhaps thought that with the amount of time his defenders had that the puck might go sooner. But no. Stamkos looks like Bird a bit. His eyes. Admiral Bird? Admiral Byrd, actually.
No. Larry.
Gionta line is on. Gomez is leading the forecheck. He bumps someone in that bumper-car stick way.
They chase. Gionta. In the corner. Retrieves. Gomez gets it and backhands it right away. Pouliot fires it in.
Forty-one seconds after the Tampa goal.
Montreal 3, Tampa 1
Veilleux’ line is on. Thompson and Mark Parrish are on with him.
They work the deep ice and boards. Now a pass from the corner goes to the slot. Canadiens are standing around.
Plekanec is ok and on the ice.
He gets a pass from Markov.
Pyatt up the left side. To Plekanec in the slot, skating, shot. Just off the outside of the post.
Sergei is on. Takes it from Hedman. Just comes up and takes it off his stick. Hedman responds by butterflying the smaller forward to the boards. No shots result.
Darche line is on.
Lightning enter offside.
Break.
Faceoff is outside the Montreal zone.
Breakout. Pass. Entry. Swoop. Stuff.
Darche in the crease from Metropolit on the side boards skating down. Markov started it with a space-using long pass. All right, I guess Molotov can keep making those long passes that I disdain. Just Markov.
Montreal 4, Tampa Bay 1
Mike Smith enters to replace Antero Nittymaki. Could be worse. They could put Lecavalier in net.
Hedman wrapped an arm around Gomez’ head. Gomez is in furry form. But he’s bald. He grins like Ken Linseman and Houde says there’s more to this story.
We resume.
Plekanec has it in the high corner. Under. Back. Canadiens keep it in on the other side now.
Smith makes his first save. Pyatt deflected it off a Hamrlik set-up.
Meszaros’ long pass fails.
Thompson works behind the Montreal net.
Shot from the point now.
Veilleux continues the possession.
Montreal is behind the play. Shot. In.
Short side goal off a long wrister. Deflected. Matt Walker. He had zero goals coming in.
Great.
Montreal 4, Tampa Bay 2
Tanguay is in. Over the blue line. Lecavalier is going to the net. Tanguay sends in a light shot hoping for a bounce-back. Halak contains it.
The Gomez-Hedman storyline is examined. There has been additional friction between the two. Hedman is huge, six-six and two hundred and thirty. Nineteen years old.
Faceoff. Veilleux takes a puck to the face. Up along his midsection and into his jaw area. He’s ok.
Ben Maxwell is called for interference on the short sequence.
Tampa has their first unit on again.
This time Montreal is interrupting and filling lanes. Gionta goes up high to take away the point pass. Gomez is circling like a vulture. Tampa can only get a side shot which Halak has, paddle down. Two shots.
Lightning exit and re-enter. Gomez stays on. Sergei takes Gionta’s place.
St. Louis hits the post. Pass from Stamkos. Halak smothers it.
Puck could easily have gone in. It bounced off Halak’s butt and off a pad or two and stayed in the crease.
Penalty expires with the Canadiens sending the disc to Smith’s left. Just over six minutes left in the second period.
I have placed an order with my live-in affiliate for chocolate. She’ll be back in about 40 minutes. Crispy Crunch, I’m hoping.
Faceoff is to Halak’s right.
Around the net. Kept in. Shot from the blue line. Halak stops it and retains it for a faceoff. Shot was a slapper by Walker. He of the zero goals. Oh. I mean one. Zero goals, Two assists. Minus two. Fifty-one games played. Thirty-nine shots on goal. Those were his simple numbers coming in.
Pinto beans really need a lot of softening. An overnight soak is not enough. The recommendation is ninety minutes in a boil to simmer situation following the over-nighter. I’m learning the hard way.
Pouliot line is on.
Montreal exits. Pouliot has it. IN the corner. Tampa applies a check and a supporting pick-up and they exit themselves.
Canadiens stop that possession before it can get hold and start their own rush. Pouliot puts himself offside.
Moore and Stamkos face off outside the Tampa zone.
Sergei and Moen are on with Moore.
Kostitsyn cuts to the slot. Falls. Moore tries to keep it alive by closing both skates and falling upright. No shot results.
Tampa gets a possession.
Two on two in the corner. It stays on the boards. Sergei is muscled down by Tampa winger Brandon Bochenski. Bochenski is taken down in his turn. By Hamrlik.
We’re on the Tampa boards now.
Montreal can’t emulate the eight-second possession demonstrated by Tampa.
Lines change.
O’Byrne sends a pass up for Maxwell. Turnover.
Tampa tries a dump and chase. Veilleux. He’s working very hard. But Montreal stays ahead of the play. Suddenly Thompson has it behind the net. Slot pass. Fanned on. Likely a goal. Halak and the defensive were fortunate.
Whistle.
Faceoff is to Halak’s left.
Martin calls a timeout. Houde says it’s to secure some rest time for the on-ice players. Line changes aren’t permitted after an icing.
Martin is nearly exasperated about something. Nearly. About something. Coaching in Montreal?
We resume with Montreal dropping the puck into the Tampa zone. Nobody can retrieve. It was for a line change. Plekanec’ line leaves for Gionta’s trio. Gomez’ trio tonight, really.
A trio should be referred to by its centreman, I know, but I …… I …… don’t have time to explain; Moore lofts a backhander into chaos from the low slot. Goalie is down, a leg (or limb) in the air. A defenseman is in similar position. A stick is up. The puck hits something.
And about ten seconds later, a whistle.
Replay shows that Smith made the save stick-less with his blocker.
Hamrlik was called for cross-checking. Brunet calls it a stupid penalty since the instigator was on there specifically to do incite the old bus driver. I mean defenceman.
Siren goes.
Brunet says that Halak has regained his groove. Gomez talks with the ref. Canadiens are behind 22-18 on shots after a 15-8 deficit in the second.
Second Intermission
Montreal 4, Tampa 2
Eric Fichaud gives us some Gomez analysis. I forgot his name, ok.
Olivier Fortin?
Joel interviews Glenn Metropolit. Two good guys discussing the game.
Yep.
Raise ya three. Tom Cochrane, Murray McLauchlan and Paul Hyde.
Third Period
Montreal 4, Tampa 2
Quick whistle after the faceoff. Puck went more than two lines. Or something
Tampa resumes their power-play.
Foster chases. Halak gets it from behind the net and moves it up.
Gomez and Gionta nearly create a two-on-two shot. They leave the ice and Moen and Plekanec are on next.
Lightning’s first wave is on.
St. Louis runs things from the hash.
Looking. Looking. Short pass is deflected by Moen. St. Louis regains it.
Downie hacks Moen right in the mid-section. Replay shows how deliberate and iron-hawk it was. Man. Sticks are like email. They make people brave.
We go to four-o-four. Sergei is on early. Seconds later it’s a five-on-four for Montreal. Gomez line enters.
Around the boards. Gomez is controlling from the side.
Tries a pass but nobody is in front. He goes with a shot and hopes that Gionta will do something from the side.
Nothing. Puck stays in Montreal’s control.
Gomez is working things. No shots.
Penalty is fading out. Pouliot is on.
Hamrlik receives it on the blue line and shoots low along the ice. Smith stops it.
Action moves along in five-on-five.
Plekanec and Darche are placed in a line down the middle. Plekanec shoots. Rebound. Darche puts it in.
Huite ailes gratuite.
Montreal 5, Tampa Bay 2
Just over sixteen minutes left in the third period.
Moen line follows.
Puck goes out of play.
We resume and Halak handles a long shot from the point. Cradles it against his chest.
Faceoff is to his left.
Moore’s line. Moore’s speed is really impressive. He’s got both quickness and speed. (Quickness is acceleration and speed is flat-out top gear; just some sports vernacular)
O’Byrne picks it up behind the Montreal blue line. Sends it around the boards opposite. To the neutral zone.
Lightning aren’t giving up. This Fedoruk guy just won’t go away. Great effort.
Just under thirteen minutes left. Break.
We are shown the Eastern Conference standings and I’m reminded that the Western Conference is much improved. Yes. Phoenix, LA and Chicago are all teams that are new on the scene, more or less. Chicago was good last season, as well.
Tampa creates good pressure. Lecavalier is creating. Sends a puck to the slot. Halak stays sharp. Makes the save. Pokes a rebound out of the crease area. Hard.
Stoppage in play soon after the puck moves up and out of the zone.
Faceoff is to Smith’s left.
Metropolit wins it. To the point. Markov advances. Looking to pass or shoot. He stays low and then sends a puck into the traffic. Muffled vector.
Stoppage again.
Metropolit works the corner. Supported by Darche. They are a great pairing. They’re all Caterpillar and Thermos. And not the Suncor Union kind. More like Lech Walesa.
Canadiens and Jaroslav Halak. A team for the times. The two combine for some glittering battery work. Econoline smush.
Faceoff is to Smith’s right.
Canadiens win it but lose the puck. Darche, Maxwell and Metropolit are still on.
Puck is behind Smith. Icing.
Tampa is getting some pressure. One shot from wide. Another from the opposite side. Next time the puck re-enters, Spacek and Hamrlik stay ahead of the Lightning forecheck.
Next sequence sees Lecavalier controlling in the corner. He turns back against Moore and then streaks to the front. Halak stops it. Holds it. Brunet remarks on Lecavalier’s strength.
Regardless, Vinnie Vincent has been seated, contained and short-haired tonight.
Action continues with the Lightning looking for something, anything. Long shots off the glass, skating with intensity but weak direction and all in the vain hope that they might please their pseudo-boss.
Three and a half minutes left in the game.
Canadiens are repelled twice exiting their zone. They get it going finally. Maxwell, Metropolit and Sergei Kostitsyn are working together.
Darche hops on to replace Sergei.
Lecavalier leaves the ice slowly and in pain.
Action stays on the boards. Until Martin St. Louis moves to the middle, down the slot for a bit and then curves to his right and backhands it over Halak’s glove, short side.
Montreal 5, Tampa Bay 3
Brunet wonders about Lecavalier’s potential injury.
Smith leaves the net. Under a minute.
Lightning control it. Foster gets two shots from the point. Second shot goes up and out of play.
Plekanec is called for slashing with 12 seconds left in the game.
Lecavalier is turned but using his strength wins the faceoff against Gomez to Halak’s left. Puck goes to the point. But it’s back out seconds later and down the ice.
Siren goes.
Montreal 5
Tampa Bay 3
HDS Stars: Scott Gomez, Mathieu Darche, Glenn Metropolit
RDS Stars: Scott Gomez, Mathieu Darche, Glenn Metropolit
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