HabsWorld.net --
The Habs came out with lots of energy early on in Tuesday’s game but were
unable to capitalize then or at any other point in the game, falling 2-0 to
Pittsburgh in Game 3. The game was scoreless until the 3rd when Evgeni
Malkin scored a PPG, Pascal Dupuis added an empty netter late. Marc-Andre
Fleury had by far his best game of the series, making the key saves when he
needed to while Jaroslav Halak was once again solid for the Habs.
HW 3 Stars of the Night:
1) Brian Gionta: He was the one player who seemed to be able to make
things happen offensively on a regular basis in this one. Nearly 40% of
Montreal’s shots came from him tonight, almost 30% of shot attempts were from
#21.
Statline: 0 points, -2 rating, 7 shots (10 attempts – both team
highs), 2 hits, 21:28 TOI
2) P.K. Subban: This was the first time since his recall that he
started to tire towards the end of the game, but a solid effort nonetheless.
His poise with the puck proved handy several times, though the forwards didn’t
do much of a job taking advantage unfortunately.
Statline: 0 points, -2 rating, 1 shots, 2 hits, 22:09 TOI (defence
high)
3) Maxim Lapierre: If it weren’t for the penalties, I’d have put him
2nd tonight. I liked the physical presence and the hustle, especially
early on; I think it led to the early momentum in the 1st period. However,
it seemed to disappear towards the end of the game, he’ll need to sustain it for
Game 4.
Statline: 0 points, even rating, 6 PIMS, 1 shot, 2 hits, 2/7 faceoffs,
13:44 TOI
HM) Andrei Kostitsyn: When you’re benched, you need to keep things
simple when you get your chance and earn your ice time. Tonight, he did
that and as a result will probably be on the top-2 lines for Thursday’s game 4.
A quality bounce back effort.
Statline: 0 points, even rating, 4 hits (tied team high), 2 takeaways
(tied team high), 11:16 TOI
Stat of the Night: A lot of fans were upset that Ben Maxwell played in
Game 2 and were happy to see Glen Metropolit return for tonight’s game.
However, when that position (4th line C) is only playing a handful of minutes
per game, you better be winning your faceoffs. Metropolit, to put it
gently, isn’t. He was 0/2 tonight and now 3/19 in the playoffs, a whopping
15.8%.