Lrd Vdr
10-02-2009, 04:06 AM
TORONTO -- Josh Gorges and Carey Price helped the Montreal Canadiens steal two points from their oldest rivals.
The defenceman scored the winner with 12.8 seconds left in overtime Thursday and Price made 43 saves as the Canadiens stunned the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 4-3 victory.
The Habs were badly outshot and thoroughly outplayed through two periods, but found a way to hang around and pull out the victory. They got some help from former teammate Mike Komisarek, who was in the penalty box for two Montreal goals.
Brian Gionta, Travis Moen and Glen Metropolit also scored for the Canadiens.
Matt Stajan, with two, and Alexei Ponikarovsky replied for Toronto.
Gorges went to the net and batted a rebound over Vesa Toskala after Mike Cammalleri had taken the puck hard to the goal. He was quickly mobbed by his teammates.
The teams made it an entertaining opening to the season with a fast game that was much better than the plodding hockey of the pre-season.
It's clear that the Habs-Leafs rivalry runs deeper than just history, with three fights, several scrums after the whistle and plenty of jawing back and forth. Much of it centred around Komisarek, the Leafs defenceman who bolted Montreal over the summer to sign a US$22.5-million, five-year deal.
Prior to the game, Leafs coach Ron Wilson expressed some concern that Komisarek might get a little too worked up while facing his former team _ a concern that looked valid when he received a double high-sticking penalty in the first period for cutting open Scott Gomez.
Gionta quickly opened the scoring after the next faceoff, taking a nice pass from Cammalleri and beating Toskala at 11:05. It was the first points in a Habs uniform for the two big summer free-agent signings.
Toronto had controlled much of the play until that point and soon regained the momentum. Ponikarovsky tied the game 1-1 just over three minutes later, one-timing a Mikhail Grabovski pass behind Price.
The second period looked a lot like the opening 20 minutes, with the Maple Leafs hammering shots at Price while the Habs sat back.
However, Montreal again demonstrated its ability to manufacture quick goals as Glen Metropolit beat Francois Beauchemin to the puck and fed it out front to Moen, who slid it through Toskala's legs at 6:38.
The Maple Leafs tied the score on a two-man advantage with Matt D'Agostini and Paul Mara both in the penalty box. The extra space allowed Stajan to get open at the side of the goal, where he tipped Tomas Kaberle's point shot past Price.
The Montreal goalie is looking to rebound from a tough end to last season and couldn't be faulted for either of the first two goals. He was plenty busy, too _ when the horn sounded to end the second period, Toronto was outshooting the Habs 30-13.
The game was still tied 2-2 and Montreal manufactured the best chances early in the third period. Gionta had Toskala beat, only to have his hard shot ring off the post.
But the Canadiens ended up taking a pair of goaltender interference penalties and Stajan put the Leafs ahead for the first time while Moen was serving the second one. He had a wide open net at 9:09 after Jason Blake made a nifty move to kick the puck up to his stick and slide it in front.
The Maple Leafs appeared to have the game in hand until Komisarek took a late elbowing penalty _ his fifth minor of the night to go with a fighting major. On the power play, Metropolit tipped home a point shot at 15:50 that appeared to go in and out of Toskala's catching glove.
Notes: Komisarek took five minor penalties and a fighting major ... Roman Hamrlik and Gregory Stewart were scratched for Montreal ... Jeff Finger (oblique), Jamal Mayers (suspected concussion) and Nikolai Kulemin sat out for the Leafs ... The teams split six regular-season meetings a year ago ... Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux was among six former Team Canada members to perform the ceremonial faceoff ... The 48th Highlanders performed before the game _ an opening night tradition in Toronto ... Announced attendance was 19,617.
http://i33.tinypic.com/j5ugr6.jpg
The defenceman scored the winner with 12.8 seconds left in overtime Thursday and Price made 43 saves as the Canadiens stunned the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 4-3 victory.
The Habs were badly outshot and thoroughly outplayed through two periods, but found a way to hang around and pull out the victory. They got some help from former teammate Mike Komisarek, who was in the penalty box for two Montreal goals.
Brian Gionta, Travis Moen and Glen Metropolit also scored for the Canadiens.
Matt Stajan, with two, and Alexei Ponikarovsky replied for Toronto.
Gorges went to the net and batted a rebound over Vesa Toskala after Mike Cammalleri had taken the puck hard to the goal. He was quickly mobbed by his teammates.
The teams made it an entertaining opening to the season with a fast game that was much better than the plodding hockey of the pre-season.
It's clear that the Habs-Leafs rivalry runs deeper than just history, with three fights, several scrums after the whistle and plenty of jawing back and forth. Much of it centred around Komisarek, the Leafs defenceman who bolted Montreal over the summer to sign a US$22.5-million, five-year deal.
Prior to the game, Leafs coach Ron Wilson expressed some concern that Komisarek might get a little too worked up while facing his former team _ a concern that looked valid when he received a double high-sticking penalty in the first period for cutting open Scott Gomez.
Gionta quickly opened the scoring after the next faceoff, taking a nice pass from Cammalleri and beating Toskala at 11:05. It was the first points in a Habs uniform for the two big summer free-agent signings.
Toronto had controlled much of the play until that point and soon regained the momentum. Ponikarovsky tied the game 1-1 just over three minutes later, one-timing a Mikhail Grabovski pass behind Price.
The second period looked a lot like the opening 20 minutes, with the Maple Leafs hammering shots at Price while the Habs sat back.
However, Montreal again demonstrated its ability to manufacture quick goals as Glen Metropolit beat Francois Beauchemin to the puck and fed it out front to Moen, who slid it through Toskala's legs at 6:38.
The Maple Leafs tied the score on a two-man advantage with Matt D'Agostini and Paul Mara both in the penalty box. The extra space allowed Stajan to get open at the side of the goal, where he tipped Tomas Kaberle's point shot past Price.
The Montreal goalie is looking to rebound from a tough end to last season and couldn't be faulted for either of the first two goals. He was plenty busy, too _ when the horn sounded to end the second period, Toronto was outshooting the Habs 30-13.
The game was still tied 2-2 and Montreal manufactured the best chances early in the third period. Gionta had Toskala beat, only to have his hard shot ring off the post.
But the Canadiens ended up taking a pair of goaltender interference penalties and Stajan put the Leafs ahead for the first time while Moen was serving the second one. He had a wide open net at 9:09 after Jason Blake made a nifty move to kick the puck up to his stick and slide it in front.
The Maple Leafs appeared to have the game in hand until Komisarek took a late elbowing penalty _ his fifth minor of the night to go with a fighting major. On the power play, Metropolit tipped home a point shot at 15:50 that appeared to go in and out of Toskala's catching glove.
Notes: Komisarek took five minor penalties and a fighting major ... Roman Hamrlik and Gregory Stewart were scratched for Montreal ... Jeff Finger (oblique), Jamal Mayers (suspected concussion) and Nikolai Kulemin sat out for the Leafs ... The teams split six regular-season meetings a year ago ... Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux was among six former Team Canada members to perform the ceremonial faceoff ... The 48th Highlanders performed before the game _ an opening night tradition in Toronto ... Announced attendance was 19,617.
http://i33.tinypic.com/j5ugr6.jpg