|
 On Friday night, the Canadiens blue-liner did some talking of his
own -- through his play on the ice.
Subban collected a pair of assists and left winger Paul Byron scored
the shootout winner to lift Montreal to 3-2 victory over the
Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre.
Subban was a hot topic after Canadiens coach Michel Therrien
highlighted his turnover that led to the game-winning goal in a loss
to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.
"I'm prime every game," said Subban, named the game's first star.
"That's the way I prepare for every game. I really don't care what
people think about me or about this team. It's about what goes on in
this dressing room. Me, I prepare to be the best player on the ice
every night and be the best that I can be every night."
With the win, Montreal (28-27-4) kept its faint playoff hopes alive
as it is six points out of the final wild card berth.
"We haven't written it off," said captain Max Pacioretty, who scored
the tying goal in the third period. "There's a lot to play for.
There's still playoff hopes. We're professionals in this room. We
come to the rink every day and we're not going to give up until the
very end."
The Flyers, meanwhile, lost a chance to gain ground on the final
spot in the East and sit just a point up on the Canadiens.
"It's tough to lose points like that, especially at a key time in
the year like that for us," left winger Scott Laughton said. "Tough
way to lose when I think we played some pretty decent hockey
tonight."
Right winger Dale Weise also scored in regulation for Montreal.
Center Nick Cousins and left winger Michael Raffl connected for the
Flyers (25-21-11).
Goaltender Mike Condon stopped 35 shots for the Canadiens. Michal
Neuvirth made 30 saves for Philadelphia.
"It seemed like a battle between the goalies," Pacioretty said.
"There were good chances going at both ends. He played great. It's
great to see him get rewarded with some great saves and some great
saves in the shootout, as well."
Weise opened the scoring 2:56 into the first period with his 14th of
the season. Defenseman Andrei Markov rimmed the puck around the
boards and Weise picked it up to the left of the trapezoid, with an
eye on a pass to his linemates in front of the net. The intended
feed hit defenseman Nick Schultz, redirecting the puck past
Neuvirth.
The lead, though, would be short-lived. Cousins took a quick pass
from winger Jakub Voracek and drove in along the left side before
firing top shelf on Condon from the left circle a mere 10 seconds
later.
Both teams had their chances in the second, each with a pair of
power-play opportunities. The offensively-challenged teams couldn't
capitalize, though.
Montreal had one of its best chances while short-handed as Markov
and center Lars Eller created a give-and-go on a 2-on-1, but
Markov's final pass to Eller missed. Back at even strength, right
winger Brendan Gallagher couldn't pounce on a rebound off Alex
Galchenyuk's shot.
[to top of second column] |
Shortly thereafter, Voracek nearly took advantage of a Canadiens
turnover to put the Flyers ahead when he tried to poke it in through
Condon at the side of the net but couldn't squeak it through.
The Flyers wouldn't waste another Montreal turnover. Raffl picked
the puck off center Tomas Plekanec and dished off to left winger
Scott Laughton, who fed rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere with a
drop pass along the right wall. Gostisbehere, from the circle, sent
a quick pass to Raffl at the side of the net for the easy tip-in at
3:15 of the third period.
With the assist, Gostisbehere extended his point streak to 14 games,
recording 17 points in that stretch.
"He made a great play on that particular play," coach Dave Hakstol
said of his young defenseman. "The kid's done a good job for us. He
goes out and in those situations, that's an instinctual kind of
play. He's done it for us consistently."
Struggling to generate much with the man advantage, the Canadiens
finally converted to tie the game at 8:35.
Subban found Pacioretty along the right wall and the Canadiens
captain showed some patience before firing a wrister at the top of
the circle.
Montreal defenseman Tom Gilbert left late in the second after
suffering a lower-body injury and did not return.
Brayden Schenn had a chance to end the game on a breakaway early in
overtime but was denied by Condon's outstretched leg.
The Canadiens came close to finishing it off with several
opportunities in tight late in the extra frame, but couldn't put the
puck into an open net.
"It was crazy," Byron said of the overtime period. "Up and down, up
and down, some great chances by both teams. I think that's what the
league wanted when they implemented the 3-on-3; they wanted more
excitement. You could tell the fans were really into it. It was a
lot of fun."
NOTES: Montreal went with the same lineup as Wednesday night,
leaving LW Tomas Fleischmann and D Mark Barberio as healthy
scratches for a second and third straight game, respectively. ...
The Flyers scratched C Sam Gagner and D Brandon Manning. ... The
Canadiens announced that C David Desharnais will be out for three
weeks with a broken foot suffered Monday against the Arizona
Coyotes. ... The game opened the third set of back-to-back games in
February for Philadelphia, which will visit the Toronto Maple Leafs
on Saturday.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
