sleddy2008
04-16-2010, 02:37 AM
C/P from TSN.ca
WASHINGTON -- Tomas Plekanec scored on a slapshot at 13:19 of overtime as the Montreal Canadiens stole home ice advantage away from the Washington Capitals with a 3-2 win Thursday night.
Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez scored in regulation for the Canadiens while Nicklas Backstrom and Joe Corvo replied for the Capitals.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven Easter Conference quarter-final is Saturday in Washington, where the regular season's top team will try to salvage a split at home before the series shifts to Montreal.
Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin was a non-factor, failing to register a single shot on goal for only the second time this season, and getting undressed on the Canadiens tying goal in the third period.
Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak shook off a shaky finish to the regular season and shined in only his second career playoff start. He made 39 saves on 41 shots through regulation and stopped all six shots he saw in overtime.
Halak improved to 8-0-1 this year when facing 40 shots or more.
In the Capitals net, former Canadien Jose Theodore wasn't nearly as busy but was sharp with 35 stops.
Plekanec had created some controversy earlier in the week when he said the Capitals goalies weren't as good as Buffalo's Ryan Miller or New Jersey's Martin Brodeur. But he backed the trash talking up with his overtime winner on a laser from the high slot for his fifth career playoff goal in his 22nd game.
Capitals defenceman Mike Green was spared the indignity of watching the Canadiens win from the penalty box after taking a delay of game penalty at 19:33 of the third period. The Caps bailed their teammate out by killing the penalty to start the overtime period.
With the game tied 1-1 in the third, the Capitals killed off 19 seconds of a penalty that carried over from the second before taking the lead.
Rookie defenceman John Carlson took a soft wrist shot from the point that was blocked by Hal Gill, but the puck bounced right to Mike Knuble who fed Backstrom in the slot.
He made no mistake, firing a wrist shot high on Halak's glove side 47 second into the third.
But Gomez got the Canadiens back in the game with a great end-to-end play, single-handedly breaking the Capitals trap with a deke around Ovechkin, handing the puck off and driving the net to tap in a feed from Brian Gionta at 7:34 of the third to make it 2-2.
The Canadiens were overwhelmed at the start by the electricity of the sellout Verizon Center crowd of 18,277 and the relentless Capitals attack. Montreal was outshot 9-2 through the opening 10 minutes and gave up two nervy giveaways in their own end that led to quality scoring chances for Brooks Laich and Tomas Fleischmann.
But Halak was up to the task and allowed the Canadiens to break the ice at 12:36 on the power play when Cammalleri wired a wrist shot under the crossbar off a nice feed from Andrei Markov.
The Capitals struck back when Corvo's floater from the point sailed through a crowd in front and past an unsuspecting Halak at 15:33 to make it 1-1.
Montreal came out for the second much more composed, taking the play to Washington and controlling the puck for the better part of the second half of the period.
The Capitals nearly went ahead about five minutes in when Backstrom's wrist shot from the slot went off Halak's glove and landed behind him, only to trickle past the goal post.
But after killing off a too many men on the ice penalty midway through the second the Canadiens dominated, testing Theodore repeatedly.
Theodore robbed Plekanec twice in a span of a few seconds immediately after that penalty expired.
Notes: C Glen Metropolit remained out with a shoulder injury for Montreal, while D Ryan O'Byrne and C Ben Maxwell were scratched...The Capitals were missing D Mila Jurcina (hernia) and scratched W Scott Walker, C Brendan Morrison, W Quentin Laing, D Tyler Sloan and D John Erskine...Canadiens winger Mathieu Darche, 33, made his NHL playoff debut...
WASHINGTON -- Tomas Plekanec scored on a slapshot at 13:19 of overtime as the Montreal Canadiens stole home ice advantage away from the Washington Capitals with a 3-2 win Thursday night.
Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez scored in regulation for the Canadiens while Nicklas Backstrom and Joe Corvo replied for the Capitals.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven Easter Conference quarter-final is Saturday in Washington, where the regular season's top team will try to salvage a split at home before the series shifts to Montreal.
Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin was a non-factor, failing to register a single shot on goal for only the second time this season, and getting undressed on the Canadiens tying goal in the third period.
Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak shook off a shaky finish to the regular season and shined in only his second career playoff start. He made 39 saves on 41 shots through regulation and stopped all six shots he saw in overtime.
Halak improved to 8-0-1 this year when facing 40 shots or more.
In the Capitals net, former Canadien Jose Theodore wasn't nearly as busy but was sharp with 35 stops.
Plekanec had created some controversy earlier in the week when he said the Capitals goalies weren't as good as Buffalo's Ryan Miller or New Jersey's Martin Brodeur. But he backed the trash talking up with his overtime winner on a laser from the high slot for his fifth career playoff goal in his 22nd game.
Capitals defenceman Mike Green was spared the indignity of watching the Canadiens win from the penalty box after taking a delay of game penalty at 19:33 of the third period. The Caps bailed their teammate out by killing the penalty to start the overtime period.
With the game tied 1-1 in the third, the Capitals killed off 19 seconds of a penalty that carried over from the second before taking the lead.
Rookie defenceman John Carlson took a soft wrist shot from the point that was blocked by Hal Gill, but the puck bounced right to Mike Knuble who fed Backstrom in the slot.
He made no mistake, firing a wrist shot high on Halak's glove side 47 second into the third.
But Gomez got the Canadiens back in the game with a great end-to-end play, single-handedly breaking the Capitals trap with a deke around Ovechkin, handing the puck off and driving the net to tap in a feed from Brian Gionta at 7:34 of the third to make it 2-2.
The Canadiens were overwhelmed at the start by the electricity of the sellout Verizon Center crowd of 18,277 and the relentless Capitals attack. Montreal was outshot 9-2 through the opening 10 minutes and gave up two nervy giveaways in their own end that led to quality scoring chances for Brooks Laich and Tomas Fleischmann.
But Halak was up to the task and allowed the Canadiens to break the ice at 12:36 on the power play when Cammalleri wired a wrist shot under the crossbar off a nice feed from Andrei Markov.
The Capitals struck back when Corvo's floater from the point sailed through a crowd in front and past an unsuspecting Halak at 15:33 to make it 1-1.
Montreal came out for the second much more composed, taking the play to Washington and controlling the puck for the better part of the second half of the period.
The Capitals nearly went ahead about five minutes in when Backstrom's wrist shot from the slot went off Halak's glove and landed behind him, only to trickle past the goal post.
But after killing off a too many men on the ice penalty midway through the second the Canadiens dominated, testing Theodore repeatedly.
Theodore robbed Plekanec twice in a span of a few seconds immediately after that penalty expired.
Notes: C Glen Metropolit remained out with a shoulder injury for Montreal, while D Ryan O'Byrne and C Ben Maxwell were scratched...The Capitals were missing D Mila Jurcina (hernia) and scratched W Scott Walker, C Brendan Morrison, W Quentin Laing, D Tyler Sloan and D John Erskine...Canadiens winger Mathieu Darche, 33, made his NHL playoff debut...