Montreal Canadiens defeat the Boston Bruins 2-0 in Game 1 – NHL Play-offs Update
The combination of Brian Gionta and Carey Price proved to be too much for the Boston Bruins to handle as they were shut-out by the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 in game one of the conference semi-finals at the sold out TD Garden Arena in Boston on Thursday.
Price started the play-offs as Montreal’s main goalie and proved his worthiness after appearing in only one post-season matchup last year. It showed that he can see the puck much better as compared to him being sent to the benches previously.
It was the perfect way to play as described by Price, "If we were able to write down on paper how we would have wanted to start the series this would have been it," the 23-year-old goalie said. Jaroslav Halak led the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference finals
last time, but since being traded to St. Louis in June, the position opened up for Carey Price.
Tim Thomas, who is the leagues’ leading goalie, faced nearly half as many shots as Price did. He managed to ward off 18 attempts, letting two slip in, while the Canadiens defender who is ranked two places below Thomas, blocked all 31.
The Canadiens’ offence adapted a clever strategy to mesmerise the opposition goalie and trick him into thinking the puck was somewhere else. Centre Scott Gomez fired the puck to the left boards while remaining in front of Thomas, fooling him to believe he
passed it to Mathieu Darche who let it slide to Brian Gionta while charging at the defensemen, allowing him to tip it in from behind the net. Their trick shot was successful 2:44 into the first period to give them an early lead.
To everyone’s surprise, both teams remained clean and did not fight for even a split second. It came as a shock to the audience who was sure that Montreal would try anything to get back at their Captain Zdeno Chara for severely injuring Max Pacioretty back
in March.
"Who said it was frustrating?" Chara said talking about his rumoured holding back in playing like he usually does. "I think we did a lot of good things. We just couldn't score a goal."
After a scoreless second and nearly third period, Gionta scored his second goal of the night to become the first player in the current play-offs to score more than once. Gomez earned his second assist of the post-season while replaying their fooling tactic.
A few Montreal forwards blocked Thomas’s view as Gionta sneaked another one past him to gain the series advantage for his team.
The Eastern Conference rivals meet up again on Saturday in Boston to play the second game of the quarter-finals.
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