Hamilton Canadiens Stun Cup Champs-Habs 5, Pens 3

In what can only be described as a massive upset, the Montreal Canadiens dominated from the opening face off and defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 in front of another sell out crowd at the Bell Centre. Brian Gionta scored a pair of goals, while Mathieu Darche, Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec added singles for the winners. Plekanec and Gionta each had 3 point nights, while Gomez had 2 points. The injury bug continued to bite the Habs who played without Benoit Pouliot and MA Bergeron who were both injured in the Bruins game. They joined Mike Cammalleri, Andrei Kostitsyn and Paul Mara in the infirmary. In their place, the Canadiens played a trio of Hamilton Bulldogs, Brock Trotter, David Desharnais and Ryan White on the 4th line, bringing the total number of forwards on the current Canadiens roster that started the year in Hamilton to 6. That 4th line provided a spark everytime they were out there, creating numerous scoring chances along with drawing 4 penalties through hard work. Jaroslav Halak picked up another victory, making 18 saves, a far cry from the 40+ shots he is used to facing. MA Fleury started, but was pulled in the 3rd in favour of Brent Johnson. The Canadiens power play went 1/7, with most of those chances coming late in the 3rd as the Pens totally lost their cool. The PK was perfect in 3 Pens chances. The Pens goalies combined for 27 saves. Some other observations from a fantastic effort:

>The story of the game was the 4th line. These kids were amazing all afternoon bringing a ton of energy to the crowd and the team. Nothing to show for it on the scoresheet, but a huge effort nevertheless. They had me smiling everytime they were out there.

>The defence was very good, minus O'Byrne falling on goal #1 and a couple of giveaways. Hamrlik and Spacek did a good job on the Pens top line.

>The only real bad part of the day was the last Pens goal. The Canadiens had a 5 on 3 and tried desperatly to set up Gionta for the hat trick. They forgot about Malkin jumping out of the box who waltzed in to make it a 2 goal game. I cursed and got yelled at by the wife.

Very nice effort all around. The Pens have pretty much a full lineup, so for the Canadiens to be able to dominate them with so many regulars out speaks volumes about the job Guy Boucher is doing in Hamilton. For once Halak didn't need to make a ton of saves to get the win. The Silver Wolf Whiskey Hab of the Game tonight goes to Brian Gionta. Hard to argue with a 2 point night, but Trotter and White both recieved a lot of consideration. Even as I type this a part of me wants to give it to Trotter who drew 3 penalties. But Gionta deserves it too. No rest for the Canadiens as next action is Sunday afternoon against the Bruins.