Montreal Canadiens 4-0 Ottawa ‘Who the fuck names their team the SENATORS?’ Senators
TopShelf’s Completely professional GameReport:
Chris Higgins scored his first career NHL hattrick and Carey Price posted his first shutout of the season as the Montreal Canadiens rolled over the Ottawa Senators tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
The Habs had the better start in a game where perhaps both teams had something to prove. Since their loss in Toronto on the weekend, head-coach Guy Carbonneau had criticized his team repeatedly in the media, and it seemed to work.
Montreal wasted no time going ahead in the game, and with a man down no less. Chris Higgins received a pass from Saku Koivu and went in on the breakaway on Alex Auld beating the Ottawa netminder with a neat snapshot to the top corner.
The Senators tried to gain control of the game in the second period after chasing Montreal for most of the first, but apart from a couple of minutes early on, the Habs had them on their heels once again. The habs’ dominance was showcased on one particular play when they were shorthanded but still managed to stay and apply pressure in the Ottawa zone for almost 30 seconds. It seemed like a 4 on 5 powerplay for the Canadiens.
Chris Higgins then doubled his team’s tally when he accepted a beautiful feed across the crease from Sergei Kostitsyn and the Smithtown native had no trouble putting the puck past a sprawling Alex Auld to put his team two goals to the good.
And moments later, Guillaume Latendresse took some pressure off his shoulders when he netted his second of the season off a Robert Lang faceoff win against Dean McAmmond. It was the Quebec native’s first goal in 11 contests.
The third period started off with Jarkko Ruutu’s elbow introducing itself to Maxim Lapierre’s teeth. The action drew a 2 minute minor for charging and a 5 minute major for fighting with Fracis Bouillon who came to his teammate’s defense. Ruutu was later also given a 10 minute misconduct which eventually ended his involvment in the game.
Chris Higgins, Auld’s main enemy on the night, didn’t help his cause for a friendship with the Alberta native when he buried his third of the night due to another breakaway with 3 minutes and a half to go in the game. Price also made a series of important and impressive saves towards the end to conserve his shutout and ensure his team got the two points.
As the capacity crowd of 21,273 at the Bell Centre stood and clapped at the end of the night, you got the feeling this was the kind of game Montreal needed to play since the beginning of the season.
TopShelf’s notes o’ da day:
-We should clone Josh Gorges. But make one that’s slightly bigger and has a better haircut.
-HEY CHRIS NEIL! MEET GEORGES LARAQUE! GEORGES! MEET CHRIS NEIL! WHAT? YOU DON’T WANT TO FIGHT MY MAN GEORGES!? NOOOOO!
-Francis Bouillon is awesome.
-This is the Chris Higgins I want to see. Not the “Ohhhh New York I miss you I’m homesick Let’s go Broadway ya!” Higgins but the “OH BABY I LOVE FUCKING MONTREAL STRIPPERS AT 9:00 AM IN THE MORNING” Higgins.
-Sergei Kostitsyn is a really good player. BUT DUH!
-My biggest issue: Jarkko ‘My name sounds like a Pokemon’ Ruutu’s hit on Lapierre. Why would it only be a 2 minute for charging? Did they not see the elbows? I’m telling you right now! If Lapierre hadn’t gotten up right away, it would have been a game misconduct. But because he got up, Ruutu got away with a 2 minute minor. Again, why would you punish the consequences and not the actual act? It’s just so stupid. It was dirty! It was intentional! It doesn’t have a place in the game! And what pisses me off even more is that he probably won’t even get a one game suspension, just because Lapierre is ‘okay’. Bullshit.
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