Habs Govern Sens

The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-0 tonight, by doing so, the Habs clinched the Northeast division, and have assured themselves of at least second spot in the Eastern Conference.

Alex Kovalev opened the scoring, assisted by, Michael Ryder, and Patrice Brisebois, then it was Mathieu Dandenault, from Guillaume Latendresse, and Maxim Lapierre, and finally, Andrei Kostitsyn, from Kovalev, and Mark Streit. Carey Price made 32 saves for the shut-out, and some fantastic saves at that, especially in the third period.

The Habs kept Ottawa off balance for the whole game, late in the third, Price was Priceless. The Canadiens now have won the Northeast division, a feat which has not been done in Montreal for 16 years. The Canadiens now have 100 points, and can finish no lower than second place in the Eastern Conference, which means they will play either the seventh, or eighth place teams.

Alex Kovalev showed fans that this year, he is the Habs impact player, now with 83 points for the season, he will have been more than a point per game player for the Canadiens by years’ end. Now with two games remaining, the Canadiens have a choice, either they rest some players and have them fresh for the play-offs, or try to win the conference. The Habs haven’t had that choice for a long time, and everyone in the organization has to be feeling happy about what transpired tonight in Ottawa.

The Habs proved again faced with adversity, they are a deep enough team to win, not only that, they also proved that they can beat a team which had a hold on them previously. The Senators need three points to make the play-offs, and they have only 2 games in which to get them, what a free-fall.

Price also had something to prove as the last meeting against the Sens, Price had let in 5 goals, well, that wasn’t the case tonight. The Habs now have the liberty to relax for two games, sure they want to win them, but there’s no panic anymore. Even with the Habs most physical defense-man injured, and their captain, no.1 face-off guy, and good centre injured, they still found a way to beat a talented team.

The Habs have achieved more than any forecaster thought they would, and they are still going strong, Chris Higgins needs one more point for the Canadiens to have 7 players with 50 points or over. The Canadiens are surprising more and more the skeptical people of the hockey world.

The Canadiens next opponent are the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday at the Bell Centre, for the fans, let’s hope they keep winning, for the team, let’s hope no-one else gets injured. Could the Habs be gunning for the Eastern Conference title as well, is it too much to ask?