Game 40: Canadiens can thank Halak, again
Canadiens’ Glen Metropolit collides with Maple Leafs
goalie Jonas Gustavsson during the first period Saturday night. Mike Cassese, Reuters
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• At a Glance: The Canadiens continue to give up way too many shots, but once again, they managed to come out on top, this time a 3-2 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Jaroslav Halak, making his fourth straight start, faced 49 shots and allowed only two goals. He has faced 186 shots in his four starts, stopping 180 of them. The Canadiens had jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period when Scott Gomez beat Jonas Gustavsson on the power play. Then, less than a minute later, Andrei Markov sent Tomas Plekanec into the clear and he beat Gustavsson with a chip shot over the shoulder. But the Leafs didn’t back down and dominated the second and third periods, getting goals from Ian White in the second and Jason Blake early in the third to tie the game 2-2. Only 34 seconds into overtime, Andrei Kostitsyn fired a wrist shot past the Maple Leafs goaltender to salvage what was a weak overall effort. It was Kostitsyn’s 12th goal of the season and he has been on fire as of late.
• Key Moments: With only seconds to go in the third period, Phil Kessel missed a golden chance to give the Maple Leafs the win, but fanned on his shot on a perfect pass from behind the net by Matt Stajan.
• What It Means: The Canadiens have won four straight games and improved to 19-18-3 and 41 points. Montreal is now a perfect 4-0 on their seven-game road trip. The Canadiens have moved into seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
• What’s Next: The Canadiens are in Ottawa on Monday and then head to Florida to play the Lightning on Wednesday and the Panthers to wrap up 2009 with a New Year’s Eve game.