Quick Strike Offence Leads To Comeback Win-Habs 3- Bruins 2 (SO)

Maybe it wasn't the Canadiens best effort of the year, but in the end they came away with a big 2 points. The Montreal Canadiens scored twice in 39 seconds to overcome a 2 goal deficit and used the shootout to pick up a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins. Glen Metroploit and Roman Hamrlik scored the Canadiens goals in the 2nd period before Brian Gionta scored the lone goal in the shootout. The Canadiens continued to ride Jaroslav Halak who made 45 saves and another 3 in the shootout to pick up the victory. Tuukka Rask took the loss for the Bruins making 23 saves. The Habs got into penalty trouble early and late, giving the Bruins 3 power plays in the 1st, another with just over 3 minutes to go in the 3rd, followed by yet another in overtime. The penalty kill and Halak held the fort though. The Canadiens went 1/2 with the man advantage and the PK ended the night allowing a single goal in 6 Bruins chances. Of note, the Bruins maintenance crew needed to repair a pane of glass in overtime which led to a delay. The puck dropped and play resumed before anyone noticed that the idiots in maintenance had left a large jagged piece of glass laying on the ice. No danger in that I'm sure. Some other thoughts:

>Jaroslav Spacek returned to the lineup and looked decent other than a dumb penalty in the 1st. The defence as a whole allowed too many quality chances again.

>Darche started the game on the 4th line, but by the end was playing alongside Gomez and Gionta. He had a nice screen on goal #2 as well, great hockey sense.

>Pleks, Pouliot and S. Kostitsyn were the most dangerous line, but the Bruins did a pretty good job (minus 39 seconds) of holding the Canadiens offence in check.

In a race this tight, it is important to pick up wins over those close to you. The Canadiens did just that tonight to keep hold of a playoff spot. The Silver Wolf Whiskey Hab of the Game tonight goes to Andrei Markov. Saved couple of goals and had some quality chances. Halak and Gomez also got consideration. In fact, Halak was probably the reason for the win, but I felt obligated t give Markov some props after he had a few rough games. Pens on Saturday afternoon is the next one.