Habs, Panthers hold serve

March 31, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

The pressure remains the same for the Rangers. Win in April and they’ll be fine. That much we know with the eighth seeded Canadiens and ninth place Panthers each posting home wins tonight to hold serve in the Eastern playoff race.

Montreal had its way with the Original Six Blackhawks getting the first three on former goalie Cristobal Huet in a 4-1 win at Bell Centre. Alex Kovalev and leading point getter Andrei Markov (2nd among D in NHL scoring) each chipped in a goal and an assist while teammates Guillaume Latendresse and Mathieu Schneider added markers. Carey Price was sharp making 28 saves as the Habs improved to 3-0-1 in their last four pulling within a point of the idle Blueshirts.

While their opponent seemed confused playing listless hockey, the Habs stuck together with older brother Andrei Kostitsyn sticking up for younger sibling Sergei Kostitsyn after the latter was crushed by a clean hit from Chicago defenseman Aaron Johnson against the glass. Johnson came from the side and finished his check ending the youngest Kostitsyn’s night. Andrei quickly stepped in and instigated a fight earning a double minor (instigator/unsportsmanlike conduct) along with a misconduct getting 19 penalty minutes. If the four seemed excessive, these are the kind of fights the league wants to put an end to. The Habs killed it with the help of a Patrick Sharp interference minor when he kicked away Price’s goalie stick.

Latendresse increased the lead to two by staying with a rebound after Huet made a good initial stop chipping it over the top to sarcastic chants of, “Hu—et, Hu—et, Hu—et” from the home crowd. Markov put it out of reach when he was left all alone to bang home his 11th on the doorstep converting on the man-advantage.

Sharp broke the shutout with under eight minutes left firing his 26th upstairs but Schneider concluded the scoring 4:25 later as Montreal earned a huge win on home ice. They next visit the last overall Islanders this Thursday.

The Panthers meanwhile got a big ‘W’ of their own scoring three times in the second on their way to a 5-2 win in Sunrise over Ottawa, who was eliminated from playoff contention meaning it will be the first time since 1995-96 that they failed to qualify. They had made it 11 consecutive seasons.

Nathan Horton scored for the second straight game getting it started when he one-timed home a Cory Stillman backhand feed off a two-on-one. The Sens would comeback to tie when Chris Kelly buried his 10th off a nice setup from improving sophomore Nick Foligno.

However, a huge high sticking double minor on Ottawa defender Brendan Bell played a pivotal role in Florida’s victory. He accidentally caught Horton dangerously close to the eye just above preventing the Panther from getting a shot on a three-on-one. The Cats made him pay by connecting on both ends. First, veteran leader Richard Zednik stuffed home his 17th from rookie Michael Frolik and Bryan McCabe. It was the 200th of his career. Not bad for a guy who almost died on the ice over a year ago when he was accidentally cut by then teammate Olli Jokinen’s skate before having his life saved by paramedics. Amazing comeback story which has to be nominated for the Bill Masterton Trophy.

Over a minute later, McCabe took a David Booth feed and was able to beat Brian Elliott with his 13th at 18:24. The Panthers chased Elliott early in the third when a Booth turnaround shot was deflected home by leading scorer Stephen Weiss increasing to 4-1.

Former Islander Chris Campoli cut it to two with 6:33 remaining but the Sens couldn’t get any closer as backup Craig Anderson turned aside 30 of 32 shots to post his third straight win in place of veteran No.1 Tomas Vokoun.

Frolik notched his third point of the game when he hit the open net with 1:32 to go becoming just the fifth Panther rookie to reach the 20 goal barrier.

The Panthers have five games remaining with three of those at home including Ilya Kovalchuk and the Thrashers this Friday. The Pens will also pay a visit this Sunday. They finish at Philadelphia, at Atlanta and with the division leading Caps on April 11.

The other Eastern game saw the Bruins inch closer to wrapping up the East’s top seed with a 3-1 home win over Tampa Bay. Norris candidate Zdeno Chara had a power play goal and assist and David Krejci notched two helpers as the B’s have rediscovered the winning formula posting a fourth consecutive win. Their 108 points are nine more than Washington and 10 better than New Jersey.

Wild West Even Nuttier: Anyone that’s followed the wild and wacky Western race knows that much is undecided with over a week remaining. The Blue Jackets picked up a huge one-goal home win over the seventh seeded Predators edging them 2-1. Rookie Steve Mason made 21 saves including a big glove stop late in the third to preserve the one-goal triumph inching the Jackets closer to a first ever postseason.

It allowed Raffi Torres’ third period tally to hold up in which the odd trio of him, vet Mike Peca and tough guy Jared Boll combined for the winner.They won because they were able to kill off a 28-second five-on-three. They also won because of some strong shifts from the line of Manny Malhotra, Jakub Voracek and Kristian Huselius who pinned Nashville in for 70 seconds with two minutes left.

The Preds, who are a bit of a miracle themselves thanks to outstanding Jack Adams candidate Barry Trotz are trying to make it for a fifth straight despite injuries to Jason Arnott (concussion), Martin Erat (broken leg) and David Legwand (facial). There’s also no Alexander Radulov with the gifted Russian playing instead back home for the KHL’s Ufa Salavat Yulayev.

Yet here are the Predators with talented Finn rookie goalie Pekka Rinne trying to claw their way into another second season with the inspiring return of veteran Steve Sullivan after nearly two years off due to injury. He assisted on their lone goal for his seventh point in the last four. He has 27 points in 36 games. A blueline led by stud Shea Weber helps along with improving Ryan Suter. They also get scoring from unexpected sources such as Joel Ward.

Will it be enough to squeak in? Who knows? The loss was costly as the Ducks are currently whipping the Oilers 4-1 getting three goals in the second. Anaheim and Edmonton are on the outside at the moment. But if the Ducks win, they’ll have the same amount of points (84) as Nashville leapfrogging another great story the Blues for eighth. St. Louis has played great hockey miraculously getting back in it with five straight wins and six in their last eight. They’re 8-2-1 in the last 11. Not bad for an Andy Murray coached club which once was dead last in the West.

They do it minus Paul Kariya and Eric Brewer getting remarkable netminding from ex-Pred Chris Mason. They don’t score a ton as evidenced by leading scorer Brad Boyes’ 53 points. However, it really is a total team effort with help coming from David Perron, David Backes, rookie Patrik Berglund along with vets Andy McDonald and Keith Tkachuk.

Meanwhile, the Oilers if they don’t rally will remain on the outside tied for 10th with the Wild, who somehow fell 2-1 in overtime to the Canucks despite holding them without a shot the final 24 minutes of regulation. Henrik Sedin got the winner suddenly putting Vancouver into third a point ahead of slumping Calgary for the Northwest.

It really is anybody’s guess who will get the final couple of spots. The Blue Jackets are now at 88 points currently sixth three behind Chicago. Then it gets crazy:

7.Preds 84 38 Wins

8.Blues 83 37 W

9.Ducks 82 38 W

10.Oilers 81 36 W

11.Wild 81 36 W

12.Stars 76 33 W

Assuming the Ducks win, they’ll move up making the race even more unpredictable. It makes the East race seem pretty tame by comparison. Who wants it? We’ll find out soon enough.