|
Montreal can be one of
the toughest places to play hockey. But if the home
team wins, the fans will be happy and very
appreciative.
Montreal fans gave
Team Canada a magical au revoir, obviously pleased
with the two victories at the Bell Center. Canada,
who will play the remainder of their games in
Toronto, posted a second exciting victory in as many
nights.
A night after beating
arch rival Team USA, Canada continued its' exuberant
play against a banged up Slovakian squad. Slovakia,
already without Peter Bondra, Ziggy Palffy and
Michal Handzus, lost Richard Zednik just hours
before the game due to food poisoning.
The teams played a
fairly equal first period. The teams exchanged eight
shots a piece, with the difference being Martin
Brodeur out-goaltending Rostislav Stana.
Canada jumped out to
an early 2-0 lead. Joe Thornton picked Zdeno Chara's
pocket and beat Stana with a perfect shot at 3:02.
Just 1:41 later Ryan Smyth skated out from behind
the net and buried the puck to give Canada a
commanding and early lead.
The Slovaks came on
strong towards the end of the first period. Marian
Gaborik and Miroslav Satan had back to back scoring
chances but Brodeur came up big.
Canada put the game
out of reach in the second period. Quebec born stars
Martin St. Louis and Simon Gagne teamed up on a
2-on-1, much to the Montreal fans delight. Gagne
showed great hand-eye coordination to tip the puck
over a sprawled-out Stana.
Canada opened the
third with a power play goal just 58 seconds into
the period. Brad Richards, another Quebec graduate,
stickhandled his way from one side of the ice to the
other before feeding Martin St. Louis with a
spectacular cross ice pass. St. Louis made no
mistake for his second goal of the tournament.
Canada's only mistake
came at 4:53 when Martin Cibak was left all alone to
bang home a Lubos Bartecko rebound. Canada answered
back at 7:11. Vincent Lecavalier, another hometown
boy, flew down the right wing and rang a shot off
the far goal post. The friendly puck bounced right
into the slot where a streaking Ryan Smyth was able
to drill home his second goal of the game.
While the Montreal
fans were noticeably appreciative of Team Canada's
efforts and of the hometown boys, the crowd saved
the most stirring moment until the end. The crowd
chanted "Mario, Mario, Mario" in tribute
to the greatest Quebec player of the generation.
All four of Canada's
lines are looking extremely strong, although the top
line of Lemieux-Joe Sakic-Jarome Iginla hasn't been
finding the scoresheet as of yet. Martin Brodeur
looks to be in mid-season form, and the Canadian
defense has looked solid.
However Canada does
have injury concerns on their blue line. Defenseman
Wade Redden left the game in the second period with
an "upper body injury" and his status
won't be diagnosed until Thursday. Canada has
already lost Rob Blake, Chris Pronger and Ed
Jovanovski to injury, so a lengthy loss of Redden,
who is Canada's power play quarterback, could be
costly.
|
