. .
After going 5-2-1 so far this month , the Washington Capitals seemed ready to claim a couple more points before the Christmas break. Tonight, they hosted the Montreal Canadiens in their first meeting this season.
.
The Capitals' forward Donald Brashear had the first scoring chance of the game, but didn't get it past goaltender Cristobal Huet. Although, he may have been trying to pass at the time. No luck either way. At the 10:00 mark, Alexander Semin got hooked, putting the Caps on the Power Play. Less than a minute and a half later, Semin was called for hooking. So we had a little 4 on 4 hockey. Throughout the period, Washington had plenty of chances, but were unable to score. At 18:15, Montreal's Guillaume Latendresse took a pass from Saku Koivu and put the puck in the net. The Capital's had pretty much dominated the period. But at the end of the first, the Habs were ahead 1-0.
.
At about six minutes into the second period, Tomas Plekanec bounced the puck off Olie Kolzig and into the net for his eleventh of the season. The Canadiens had a two goal lead. About three minutes later, Washington was on the PP when Nicklas Backstrom backhanded his sixth goal past Huet from a sharp angle. With less than three minutes left, Latendresse got his second of the game when he took a pass from Mathieu Dandenault who received the puck directly from a faceoff in Washington's end. Before the period was over, Christopher Higgins drove to the net and rolled over Kolzig. While they were still down on the ice, Olie gave Higgins a little whack on the helmet. At the end of two, Montreal led 3-1.
.
About three or four minutes into the third period, the camera found Condaliza Rice in Ted Leonsis' suite, eating popcorn. What an ugly woman. Does she ever smile? Back on the ice, Cap's Alexander Ovechkin whiffed on a layup. Then Viktor Kozlov had Huet beat, but hit the inside of a post with his shot. With a hook by Shaone Morrisonn and Tom Poti sending the puck over the glass, the Canadiens had a 5 on 3 PP. About one minute later, Montreal's Sergei Kostitsyn deflected a Alex Kovalev shot for his first NHL goal. The Habs were ahead 4-1. Thirty-four seconds later, Semin got his fourth goal of the season, when he sent the puck in top shelf from the faceoff circle. All four of his goals have been scored in the third period. Shortly after, Huet made a nice save on an Ovechkin shot, keeping it at 4-2. Later on, Cap's David Steckel and Canadien's Francis Bouillon did a little pushing and shoving, but didn't get around to dropping the gloves. Near the end of the period, Washington defenceman Mike Green drove through the crease with the puck and ended up on top of the net. This really seemed to excite Green's fans, who were wearing their Gang Green t-shirts. However, Huet wasn't happy about it. With just over a minute left in the third, Montreal's Mark Streit put a Kyle Chipchura rebound past Olie. The Canadiens won 5-2.
.
The Capitals outshot the Canadiens 37-21. They had plenty of good chances. But, they couldn't stay out of the penalty box and they just couldn't capitalise on their scoring chances. Another two points left behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment