Jan 10 NHL - Montreal Canadiens Defeat Washington Capitals 5-4, Carbonneau to Assist Julien at Allstar Game

It was perhaps not clear at which point Coach Carbonneau was more disappointed in Sergei Kostitsyn. When he was in the penalty box which allowed the Washington Capitals to tie the game at 4 at the 12 minute mark of the 3rd, or when he scored with 21 seconds left to give Montreal a regulation win over the Capitals!

All jokes aside, with this win, Carbonneau became the official assistant coach to the Bruins' Claude Julien in this Month's All-star game at the Bell Centre, beating out none other than Washington's benchmaster Bruce Boudreau, who could be seen covering his face at the moment of the goal. "I was going to go to Florida, lie on a beach and enjoy it," Carbonneau said. "I never had a chance as a player to go to the All-Star game. Even if it's a game that doesn't have a lot of intensity, it will still be special."

It was a back and forth affair all night with the lead changing hands and every time the team behind rallying back to tie it up. Well, every time but one.

Tomas Plekanec tied up the game for the Habs in the first with a short handed slapshot that beat Brent Johnson cleanly after Washington's Alexander Semin had the Caps on the board first. In the second period, Montreal never trailed as Robert Lang and Andrei Kostitsyn tallied for the Habs on the power-play and Tomas Plekanec, breaking out of his funk with his second of the night.

The Caps however, really made a game of it as it seemed like both teams really played to get their coach a ticket to the Allstar weekend. Semin potted his second of the game and Tomas Fleischmann's goals kept the game close all along and Michael Nylander's skate deflected goal off an Alexander Ovechkin shot from the point while Sergei Kostitsyn was in the box for hooking made it a 4-4 game and as the game wore on to the final seconds of regulation time, Carbonneau might have phoned his wife to tell her to go ahead and book that trip to Florida. Sergei Kostitsyn changed those plans with 21 seconds left in the game as he pounced on a puck that got lost in the Capitals' defenseman's skates and took a shot at Johnson, using the defenseman as a screen which resulted in the puck dribbling through Johnson's pads. Montreal wins 5-4 and the Habs will have 5 representatives at this year's All-star game.

Read on for the full NHL  game recap .

Tags: Alexander Ovechkin \ Alexander Semin \ Guy Carbonneau \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL \ Sergei Kostitsyn \ Tomas Plekanec \ Washington Capitals