GAME SUMMARY: CANADIENS 8 – WILD 1
In what was a rare offensive explosion by the Montreal Canadiens, it all began with just :51 gone in the first period. Benoit Pouliot spun off a check at the Minnesota Wild’ blue line and fed a perfect pass to Ryan White. For White, it was his first NHL goal, and one of many firsts for the Habs on this night. With a fight in the same period against Minnesota D Clayton Stoner, and 2 assists later in the game, he also registered his 1st career “Goldie Howe” hat trick, which incorporates a fight, a goal and an assist.
Andrei Kostitsyn continued his torid pace of late, scoring at 6:47 of the 1st period, again assisted by Benoit Pouliot.Pouliot wasn’t done yet, as at :51 seconds of the second period, he got an another assist on P.K. Subban’s goal. The goal was the rookie defenseman’s 9th of the season, after he skated around the Wild’ zone and banked it in off of a defenseman. Pouliot, who has been under tremendous scrutiny of late because of his lack-luster effort and selfish penalties, certain made up for them with 3 points tonight.
As for Subban, he added 2 more goals. One at 16:23 on the power play, assisted by James Wisniewski and Michael Cammalleri. The other, on passes for Ryan White and David Desharnais, came at the 1:27 mark of the final frame. Not only was this P.K. Subban’s first career NHL hat trick , it was also the first hat trick ever registered by a Canadiens’ rookie defenseman. Considering over 100 years of history, that in itself is quite a feat.
James Wisniewski, Travis Moen and Tom Pyatt were the other scorers for the Canadiens on this night.
On Minnesota’s end, they were stymied by the goaltending of Alex Auld early in the first period, and it seemed to take the wind out of their sails. Their only goal came on a penalty shot that was awarded to Wild’ Captain Mikko Koivu, after a scrum in the Canadiens’ crease that saw the puck get immobilized under the body of Habs’ D-man Alexandre Picard. Koivu beat Auld with a nifty move to the backhand.
GAME POINTS
- The only forwards on the Canadiens without a point were Lars Eller, Aaron Palushaj and Nigel Dawes.
- Aaron Palushaj left the game briefly, in accordance with the NHL’s new concussion protocol, when he took a high hit from Clayton Stoner of the Wild. Stoner left his feet on the hit, which went unpenalized.
- The only time we noticed Martin Havlat in the game was when he took a penalty in the 3rd period
- Cal Clutterbuck and Paul Mara were ejected late in the game, after some pushing and shoving occurred in the neutral zone late in the game. Excellent job by the referees in maintaining control of a volatile situation.
THREE STARS:
- P.K. Subban
- Ryan White
- Alex Auld
NEXT GAME:
Tuesday, March 22nd vs. the Buffalo Sabres at the Bell Centre