Canadiens upset Penguins to win series

PITTSBURGH, Penn – The NHL play-offs are littered with fairytale stories of triumph against the odds, but surely few can match the Montreal Canadiens 2010 campaign. After scraping in to the post season by a single point on the last day of the regular season, the Habs knocked out top seed Washington in a seventh game decider in round 1 only to face the defending champion Penguins and then take them to a seventh game as well.
 
Few would have predicted the Canadiens would have come this far – in fact at the start of the play-offs few gave them a hope against the Capitals. But come this far they have……..and onward they still march after a stunning 5-2 win over a lacklustre Penguins to send the 2009 Cup winners home.
 
Montreal was presented with a golden opportunity to silence the Mellon Arena crowd early on when Pens Captain Sidney Crosby was called for boarding almost straight from the opening face-off.
 
The Habs wasted little time capitalising on the situation. Rookie sensation PK Subban threw a speculative back hand shot on goal from just inside the boards, only for Brian Gionta to get a decisive touch to deflect the puck past Pens netminder Marc Andre Fleury.
 
Dominic Moore heaped further misery on Fleury and the Pens when he scored late in the period, and Mike Cammalleri scored his seventh goal of the series less than four minutes into the 2^nd period to open up a 3-0 lead. Pittsburgh’s night was probably best summed up by Travis Moen’s shorthanded marker just moments after Cammalleri had scored. Moen raced past Sergei Gonchar, who made little attempt to stop the former Anaheim and San Jose grinder, and sent what seemed a pedestrian effort flying past Fleury to give the Habs a 4-0 lead.
 
Fleury, the 1^st overall pick in the 2003 draft, was to watch the rest of the game from the bench as Brent Johnson was sent in to relieve him. Just under 12 months after being the game 7 hero against Detroit to help Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup, Fleury could only watch as Jaroslav Halak, a man drafted a whopping 270 places below him in 2003, stopped 37 of 39 shots to back stop his team to a famous win.
 
Chris Kunitz and Jordan Staal grabbed late markers for the Pens to cut Montreal’s lead to 4-2 going in to the final period. Pittsburgh forced Montreal on to the back foot, with Halak making a string of top draw saves to keep the Canadiens ahead. Brian Gionta’s second powerplay goal of the night, with 10 minutes to go, proved decisive as Montreal was able to hold on to its three goal cushion and seal a huge victory to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
 
It was a disappointing exit for the Penguins, especially as the game would also mark the final encounter at the Mellon Arena, with the Pens due to move to the Consol Energy Centre next season. Ironically it was the Canadiens who were the visitors, and winners, on opening night way back in October 1967 but this win may be far more significant for the Quebec franchise.
 
Montreal will now face the winners of the Philadelphia and Boston series, which is also heading for a seventh game showdown. The Habs welcomed back defenceman Hal Gill after he missed 1 game with a cut to the back of his knee. Gill was pivotal in shutting down superstar Crosby throughout the series, the young Pens Captain only scored 1 goal in the 7 game series – and that was during the game Gill missed!
 
Contact the author: rob.mcgregor@prohockeynews.com