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The Bruins came into Montreal with a roar but left the Bell Centre with barley a whimper. After a rocky first ten minutes the Habs started to use their speed and took the lead. Saku Koivu won an offensive zone face-off back to Mike Komisarek who launched a low shot at Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez who left a juicy rebound for Chris Higgins who buried his 3rd of the year.
The second period begun with the Canadiens on the power play and then even a 5 on 3 but they could barley keep the puck in the zone. It looked as though the Bruins had swung momentum in their favour until they were burned again on another defensive zone face-off. This time is was Tomas Plekanec with the perfect win to Alex Kovalev. Kovalev unleashed his deadly wrist shot off the far post and in to extend the lead to 2-0.
Cristobal Huet then put on a show making a big stop on Marco Sturm despite Francis Bouillon taking a holding penalty on the play. On the ensuing power play Huet was relied on to make a few more big saves keeping the Canadiens on top by 2.
With a little over 2 minutes left in the period Tom Kostopoulos and Steve Begin were sent in on a two on one courtesy of Roman Hamrlik. Kostopoulos showed excellent patience in waiting to slide the puck to the net driving Begin who scored the 2nd goal for the fourth line in as many games.
In the dying minutes of the second period Mike Komisarek laid out Marco Sturm which did not impress Zdeno Chara who responded by cross checking Mike Komisarek in the back earning himself 2 minutes for cross checking.
Once again the Habs begun the period with the power play but this time the result was much better. Patrice Brisebois pointed to Plekanec so that Kovalev would pass him the puck and he did just that Plekanec then fed Brisebois a perfect cross crease pass which Brisebois lifted home for his first goal since returning to the Canadiens. Brisebois must have been relieved after having two terrible give always’ early in the game.
Boston broke the shutout while Mark Streit was in the box for holding. Dennis Wideman scored his first of the season with a slap shot, no fault to Huet was screened by many players on both teams.
Montreal closed the game out with 2 more goals. The first was another 2 on 1 goal with Bryan Smolinski faking a slap shot and passing to Mikhail Grabovski who waited just a moment and scored his first career NHL goal. The final goal was another power play goal, it started with an excellent play by Streit to keep the puck in the zone and finished with Andrei Markov picking the top left corner in a goal that was reminiscent of last seasons first game against the Bruins.
Three Stars
1. Cristobal Huet – a little luck and some excellent goaltending. His save on Murray in the first was very lucky but his play in the 2nd period was wonderful.
2. Tomas Plekanec – picked up two beautiful assists. I guess one forward had to get a star.
3. Mike Komisarek – rebounded with his best game of the season 4 hits and 5 blocked shots along with sending the Bruins captain to the box.
Fun Facts< p>
1. This is the first time the Canadiens beat the Bruins by 5 or more goals since December 4th 1993 a span of 92 games. The final in that game was 8-1.
2. Fourteen different Canadiens ended up recording a point.
3. Patrice Brisebois was the only Canadiens player not in the + column.
