Habs Fail To Clinch A Playoff Spot-Isles 4, Habs 3 (SO)

The Montreal Canadiens picked up a point, but failed to punch their ticket to the postseason by dropping a 4-3 game to the New York Islanders in a shootout. With the Rangers losing, the Canadiens could have secured their spot in the top 8 with a win. They came within 2:01 of doing so, but gave up a goal to send the game into extra time. Tomas Plekanec, Maxime Lapierre and Brian Gionta scored for the Canadiens, who could not solve Martin Biron in the shootout, going 0/2. Jaroslav Halak made 40 saves for the Habs, but allowed a pair of goals in two chances in the shootout. Biron ended the night with 28 saves for the Islanders. The Canadiens also had to kill a penalty in the extra frame, when Andrei Kostitsyn was called for a hook with just under 2 minutes to play. The Canadiens were perfect on the penalty kill, going 3 for 3, while the power play was 1/2. Jaroslav Spacek missed another game with an illness. Some other thoughts:

>Some quesitonable coaching tonight left me with a bad taste in my mouth. First, having Pleks, Pyatt and Gionta on the ice late in the game, which eventually led to the tieing goal. I have no problem with these 3, but none of them play regularly on the same line. Also, putting Lapierre in the shootout was a dumb move in my opinion.

>The defence didn't play particularly well. Outside of O'Byrne and Gorges, the rest struggled. Too many turnovers, although I will give the Isles credit for working hard and being pretty quick.

>Cammalleri hasn't scored since he returned from injury. Seems to be a little off still. I'd like to see him fire some more pucks on net. I think if he gets one, he'll start to score in bunches.

Tough game against a determined Islander team. The Isles are playing loose, with nothing to play for and it showed tonight. The Canadiens missed an opportunity to clinch, but are still in fairly good shape in terms of getting into the playoffs. I won't even try to figure out the various scenarios. The Silver Wolf Whiskey Hab of the Game on this night goes to Tomas Plekanec. Pleks had a goal and was solid all over the ice as usual, including part of the penalty kill in overtime. Consideration also given to O'Byrne and Lapierre. Next action is Thursday in Carolina.