Centrerion Canadian Politics: Une Clac: Habs Win 6-1 Over HarriedCanes !

Canadian Politics from Canada's Centre

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Une Clac: Habs Win 6-1 Over HarriedCanes !

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The Montreal Canadiens (the Habs) won 6-1 over the Carolina Hurricanes, who looked like Harried Canes on this night. I could only watch the 3rd period, but here's what I saw:

Three men were almost always back at the Habs' blue line, when Carolina had the puck. The only exceptions were when it was actually 4 men at the blue line, or when, on a bad pass across the point, a Carolina player got somewhat of a breakaway (the Habs player was a foot or two behind him n using his stick to harass him).

The Habs forecheck was constant, and harried the Canes constantly. I even saw all-star Oleg Tverdovsky lose the puck in his skates as the result of a particularly energetic Montreal forecheck.

Most of the action was in the HarriedCanes zone. It was absolute beauty to see the Habs dominating the Canes in 5 on 5 play. During one of these stints, Russian Alexei Kovalev, the Habs' most talented forward, deked a HarriedCane with a move that made him look like a statue, and then got off a rapid shot: top-corner dominance!

Sheldon Sourary trashed HarriedCane goalie Martin Gerber with another top-corner goal, this one coming from Souray's blistering slap shot. I felt bad for the top-right netting by that point. Other scorers for the Habs were Stephane Bouillon, Radek Bonk, an earlier one from Kovalev, and youth Chris Higgins, whose constant improvements are probably the sidestory of the year for the Habs (the main story being Cristobal Huet's season-rescuing goaltending).