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Craig Anderson? Who's that guy? Oh yeah, starting goalie for the Ottawa Senators. You know, best goalie so far in the league this season; went down with an ankle sprain last week. Yeah yeah.
Hey, he played a heck of a game, that Ben Bishop goalie person. AP
Ben Bishop? Who is that guy? Isn't he the Canadian candidate for the papacy?
Not even close.
Unfortunately for the Habs, they probably wished they faced Craig Anderson in Ottawa Monday night, and that the 6"7 Ben Bishop was the papal candidate, because he was the difference maker in stealing the two points for the Senators, stopping 44 shots in regulation and OT, then 3 of 4 shooters to win the shootout.
He was very good on this night, and also very lucky. Hey when you're good, you get the luck. The Habs hit five posts in total and Bishop made more than one save with the butt of his goal stick.
As a goalie myself, I love those saves. Not just when they go against the Habs. Sometimes that's just the way it goes.
But the eternal truth is, if the Habs play like this consistently, they're going to win a hell of a lot more games than they are going to lose. The team dictated the play and all four lines really had good chances.
Carey Price looked a bit uneasy from the beginning and unfortunately he whiffed on the Sens' only goal in regulation -- a low slapshot that normally the goalie would have sucked up in his sleep.
After big time saves on Brandon Prust and Tomas Plekanec, Ben Bishop finally let one by when Andrei Markov blasted one from the point on the power play with four seconds remaining in the second period. It was the Habs' 30th shot at that point. Ultimately they won on the shot clock 45-24 but the Sens won the shootout on a goal by Peter Regin.
In the end, it was a pretty entertaining game filled with sharp passing from the Canadiens and good plays. But the Sens' backstop was the better player on this night. And so was the butt of his stick. Nobody on the Habs tried to put it top shelf on the big goalie in the shootout -- they might want to practice that because a guy like that covers a lot of net along the ice.
Nevertheless the Habs still technically hold the top spot in the East with the point but the Bruins still have games in hand. Wednesday night they roll into LeafLand to face the Leafs and hopefully looking for revenge from that 6-0 drubbing of a few weeks ago.
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Tha HABS have come a long way since the Leafs game. The loss to the Senators is disappointing but sometimes a hot goaltender can steal any game, you know that very well!
ReplyDeleteI was at the Hawks game and every so often would look up to see the scoreboard; when I saw the Senators won I was like "Gosh darn Senators" but now I that realize a modern day Ken Dryden stole the show, the pain is a little less.
Hawks are just a great team this year, never give up and outskate their competition regularly. Good recipe for winning. Let's see if the HABS can sweep the Leafs under the rug and leave them there...
Yeah what are you going to do? If Habs play like that consistently they have nothing to worry about. Better for it to happen now than in the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteThat said, wow the Hawks are on a one of a kind roll. But I'm afraid that the bubble will burst at the wrong time for this team... I'm not convinced their goaltending no matter their numbers this year can take them all the way. They are bound to start losing some games... let's see. Then again, I did say the same thing about Niemi back in 2010... and we know what happened.