Halak, Habs pull off playoff miracle

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This article was published 29/04/2010 (5650 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON — If you can believe Montreal Canadiens forward Brian Gionta and his teammates, there was never any doubt about the outcome of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Washington Capitals.

“We knew right away,” Gionta said after the Canadiens completed their comeback from a 3-1 deficit with a 2-1 win in Wednesday night’s deciding game at the Verizon Center. “We played them hard the first four games. Even though we weren’t up in the series, we were happy with how we played them. We knew that we could do some things better and really bring it to them. And that’s what we did the last three.”

It could be argued that it was the Capitals who brought it to the Canadiens, but Montreal was able to absorb every blow which came their way. Washington outshot Montreal 134-66 over the final three games, but Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak and the players in front of him made the difference.

“That’s playoff hockey,” Montreal coach Jacques Martin said after he watched Halak make 41 saves.

“I think it’s a commitment by the players. I think they know at this time of year you’ve got to do everything in your power to win games. It means sometimes taking hits to make plays. It means blocking shots.”

The Canadiens won’t have much time to savour the win because they meet another high-powered team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the conference semifinal beginning Friday in the Steel City. Dominic Moore provided the winning goal when he took a lead pass from defenceman Hal Gill and scored at 16:24 of the third period to give Montreal a 2-0 lead.

The Capitals pulled out all the stops and were rewarded when Brooks Laich scored on a goalmouth scramble at with 2:16 left in the third period. Washington had a 6-on-4 advantage for the final 1:44 after they pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov after Canadiens defenceman Ryan O’Byrne was sent off for high-sticking.

But the Canadiens held on.

Alex Ovechkin, the Washington superstar, thought he had tied the game when he beat Halak with a shot from the point 24 seconds into the third period. But referee Brad Watson immediately waved off the goal, ruling that Capitals forward Mike Knuble interfered with Halak.

“That’s a violation that hasn’t been called all year,” said Knuble. “I felt all night that I wasn’t a crease presence as far as being in the blue paint.”

The Canadiens also had a goal called back later in the period. On this occasion, Maxim Lapierre pushed the puck past Varlamov, but referee Dan O’Halloran ruled that Lapierre interfered with the goalie and the call was confirmed by video replay.

The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead with 29.1 seconds remaining in the first period when Marc-Andre Bergeron took advantage of the game’s first power play.

With Capitals defenceman Mike Green flagged for a cross-checking penalty, Bergeron scored on a shot from the top of the faceoff circle to the left of Varlamov. The goal gave the Canadiens a power-play marker in six of the seven games in this series.

Washington came out with a strong effort to start the game and was outshooting Montreal 4-0 after 2:45. The Canadiens, however, settled in and provided Halak with better support, and the Capitals went more than 13 minutes before Knuble tested Halak with four minutes remaining in the period.

Washington outshot Montreal 11-8 in the first period and the Canadiens blocked 12 shots.

Montreal slipped into its prevent defence in the second period and was outshot 13-3. At one point, the Canadiens went more than 16 minutes between shots.

— Canwest News Service