Ovechkin, Capitals Roll While Montreal Needs OT To Beat Maple Leafs
The first night of games brought a lot of excitement and showed that the level of play is not disappointing anyone. Alex Ovechkin, the two-time defending NHL Most Valuable Player had two goals and an assist to help the Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins for their 1st win of the season. Ovie looked really good, I wouldn’t be surprised if he betters his goal and point output by 10 and 20 respectively. The Caps totally dominated the Bruins scoring four times putting the game well in hand before Boston even got on the board with a third period goal by Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron beat Caps netminder Jose Theodore at the 7:56 mark. Theodore stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced. Both teams won their division last season before being dumped out of the playoffs in the second round: Boston by the Carolina Hurricanes, and Washington by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Ovechkin has the most multi-goal games in the NHL (14) since the start of the 2008-09 season.
The new look Montreal Canadiens took to the ice at the Air Canada Center in downtown Toronto to take on the Maple leafs in their season opener, and what an opener it was. The Canadiens came from behind in the third period to tie the game sending it to overtime where the Habs took control and scored the winning goal with just under 13 seconds showing on the clock. The Canadiens looked impressive in their first game playing as a team. So far the changes GM Bob Gainey made in the offseason are paying dividends, he just hopes they can continue to match tonight’s effort and intensity.
Mike Cammaelleri played a great game tonight that was just full of speed and energy collecting two assists. He made an incredible pass on our first PP goal to forward Brian Gionta and finished with setting up the game winner. Gionta showed tonight how fast he is, how good his positioning is and my, oh my, just how good his hands are. He managed to score only once, but his hands and offensive positioning gave him at least two other glorious chances. He worked well with Scott Gomez as they always seemed to know where the other one was on the ice. It was like the old days for the two players when they played together in New Jersey. Defenseman Andrei Markov went down with what appeared to be a laceration (from Price’s skate) to the leg.
The real story may be though the solid play of goaltender Carey Price. He stopped 43 shots en-route to the OT win. Price has faced all kinds of criticism in this past off season due to his collapse after the all-star game and then especially for his performance in the playoffs losing to Boston in 4 straight games in the first round. However last night Price flashed the talent and performance that management and the fans are looking for. If Price continues this level of play ( and yes I know it’s only been one game ) then the Canadiens will be in the thick of the race for the Stanley Cup Trophy.
Check back later for late scores and updates.
Oct 2nd, 2009 at 5:55 am
Alex Ovechkin is a class player . The Washington Capitals will finish atop their division as long as he stays healthy. He can surely put the puck into the net, as well, if an opposing player has his head down ,he will send him into space with the thunder of a hit.
The Montreal Canadiens got the better of the Toronto Maple Leafs ,thanks to a superb goal tending effort from Carey Price as well as some aggressive play by former Canadien defense man Mike Komisarek who took 14 minutes of penalties and Montreal connected for 2 power play goals while he was sitting in the dust bin.