Feb 27 Montreal Canadiens Defeat League's Best San Jose Sharks 3-2, Unbeaten Streak Grows to 4

After having battled to a 4-3 overtime victory in Philadelphia last night, who would have thought the Montreal Canadiens would have ended the 1st period against the San Jose Sharks with a 3-0 lead? Well, apparently, the sold out crowd in attendance did. The fans greeted the Habs with a standing ovation from the moment the first skate touched the freshly cleaned ice. The Habs would need all 3 goals as the Sharks bore down in the ensuing periods, using their relatively fresher legs and size advantage to wear down the Habs' defence as they targeted Jaroslav Halak with 48 shots before going down to the Habs 3-2.

In a lucky break for the Habs, Brian Boucher was given the duties in net for the Sharks as Evgeni Nabakov was under the weather and could not play. A power-play goal by Andrei Markov and even strength goals by Saku Koivu, 10th overall in Habs all time scoring leaders, and Josh Gorges, chipping in on a Matt D'Agostini end to end effort were the pure result of a team playing with passion and with a jump to their step. And if the three goals were not enough for the already elated fans, BGL, Big Georges Laraque, tee'd off with the Sharks' Jody Kelly and won an unanimous takedown decision, setting the tone for the rest of the period. "It was such a rush to feel the energy of the crowd after the fight" Georges would say, after the game.

San Jose would remind everyone including their on ice opponents why they are the best team in the NHL, scoring twice before the second period was even 2 minutes old with goals by Joe Pavelski on the power play and then Joe Thornton stuffing a puck in the crease past Jaroslav Halak who was kept busy during the period. While the Sharks did capitalize on their first power-play opportunity, the Canadiens thwarted the Sharks' second and only other chance and the 2nd period ended mercifully for the Habs as they left the ice up by a goal, having been outshot by the Sharks 14-4.

San Jose would really pour it on in the third, trying for the equaliser that would never come, despite outshooting Montreal 20-7. Alex Kovalev had the Montreal fans out if their seats with a "Kovalesque" spin-a-rama move in the San Jose zone that almost ended up beating Boucher. But While San Jose tried everything to get that equalizing goal, even yanking Boucher for the extra attacker, Jaroslav Halak was up to the task, earning himself the game's 1st star of the game.

For all the notes and anecdotes, see the NHL game recap .

pic from habsinsideout.com

Tags: February 28 2009 \ Georges Laraque \ habs \ Joe Thorton \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL \ Saku Koivu \ San Jose Sharks \ score