CANADIENS WIN AGAIN!
For the second straight game the Canadiens win by a 4-2 score. After relying on Thomas Vokoun to carry the load against Leafs on Wednesday night, the rest of the team came together to play better team defence. "We we're outshot 33-19 and we're out worked in every period. If it wasn't for a couple breaks we wouldn't have had such a favorable result. Tonight we wanted to play better in front of Thomas Vokoun. We accomplished that allowing only 19 shots." Said Bob Gainey during the press conferance followign the game.
The Habs also fired 28 shots at Mikka Kiprusoff, finding the back of the net 4 times. Jovanovski was named the games first star as he blasted the eventual game winner and the insurance goal in the second period. Jovo also added an assist. As important was Jovo's strong defensive effort. The entire team held the Flames to just 2 shots in the final frame. The newly formed checking line of Modano, Kozlov and White had a strong game. A few eyebrows were raised in the press box when Modano was seen skating on the 3rd line. When questioned about the line-up bob Gainey replied "we have alot of talent on our club, we need all of our guys to play defence. We've been trying to get Modano going all season, by spreading out our offense even more it gives the other teams too much to try and match up against. With Tkachuk and Alfredsson on the top line, St.Louis and Shannahan on the second line and Modano on our third line we're able to spread around the scoring. It worked tonight. Guys like White, Kozlov Reinprecht and Madden are all versitile as well, they are comfortable playing on any line, it really gives us a lot of options to compete against the strengths of different team. "
Will the Canadiens continue to use Modano on the third line? Not likely, Gainey really likes to move around his players and try different combinations. Look for Stlouis, Reinprecht and Tkachuk to be reunited soon. The line was hot for the first few games and preseason. They had a couple poor showings and were split up the last couple games.
next up: Nordiques and the Battle of Quebec
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