WASHINGTON - It was only one minute and 52 seconds, but it seemed much longer to Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price.

Previous

Next

View Large

Montreal Canadiens players celebrate a goal by Michael Cammalleri (13) during their NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals in Washington November 20, 2009.

Photograph by : Reuters

ARTICLE TOOLS

• Printer friendly
• E-mail

Font:

• *
• *
• *
• *

The Canadiens were protecting a 3-2 lead over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night when Maxim Lapierre took a hooking penalty at 18:08 of the third period. The Capitals pulled their goalie and had a six-on-four advantage to finish the game.

"It felt like we were in our for 10 minutes right at the end of the game," Price said. "There was a lot of red out there.

"It was pretty wild, especially when I lost my stick," added Price, who played with a teammate's regular stick for about 20 seconds after his stick was knocked out of his hands. "It was six against four with no stick and it was pretty tough."

But Price managed to shut the door and preserve the win. He stopped Mike Green twice during the final power play and made one save on Alexander Ovechkin, who was held pointless on the night.

"Our guys did a great job," said Price, who was beaten only by Eric Fehr in the first period and Brendan Morrison in the third. "I thought we protected our zone really well, especially our house, right in the slot."

The Capitals outshot the Canadiens 34-22 with a 27-8 edge during the final two periods but Price noted that many of the shots came from the outside.

The win gave Price a 4-2 record in his last six starts. During that span, he has a 1.95 goals-against average and .941 save percentage.

Price isn't the only player who has picked up his game in the past two weeks. Andrei Kostitsyn has shown flashes of his talent and the line of Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Kostitsyn earned praise from coach Jacques Martin, who described it as "our best line tonight."

Kostitsyn was the workhorse on a second-period goal which gave the Canadiens their first lead at 2-1. He kept the puck in the Capitals' zone and found Plekanec alone in the slot.

"He dominated that shift and made everything happen," Plekanec said of Kostitsyn. "He kept the puck alive and then he made a one-touch pass and I shot a one-timer."

Plekanec also picked up an assist on Mike Cammalleri's winner and leads the Canadiens in scoring with 21 points. But offence is only one part of his game.

The Canadiens blocked 26 shots and Plekanec led the way with four of them. And he picked up the slack in the third period after Scott Gomez left the game.

"It's a lower-body injury," was all Gomez said as he dug into a post-game buffet. The Canadiens' medical staff will check him out Saturday.

"I played a lot there at the end," said Plekanec, who was also a big reason why the Capitals went 0-for-3 on the power play.

Cammalleri, who connected on a third-period power play, said the Canadiens had a good feeling about the game during the morning skate.

"There was an overall sense of urgency and desperation from our group to win a game," said Cammalleri. "Much didn't have to be said. It was a feeling that this is a really good team and it's time for us to get a win."

Both clubs are back in action Saturday night. The Canadiens host the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre, while the Capitals are in Toronto to face the struggling Maple Leafs.

Montreal Gazette

phickey@thegazette.canwest.com