By Rodger M. Wood
It was a great team effort, Canadiens goalie, Jaroslav Halak, and veteran defensemen, Roman Hamrlik, Josh Gorges, Hal Gill and youngster, Ryan O’Byrne playing together to beat the #1 seeded Washington Capitals 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup quarterfinals.Montreal scored first on an offensive zone penalty power play in the last 1 minute of the first period, and second at the 3:15 mark of the third period on a giveaway in the right corner of the Caps end to make the score 2-0 with 3 minutes left in game time.Brooks Laich scored in the last 2 minutes making the score 2-1, but our Caps ran out of gas and time before they could score the game tying goal again.At the beginning of the third period Alex O. had scored what appeared to be the tying goal, which was disallowed on a call of goalie interference on Caps forward Mike Knuble, which nobody saw except the refs who were faked out by goalie Halak’s dive to the ice when he saw the puck went in for a goal.Montreal defenders blocked 25 shots compared to 8 for the Caps. The Capitals’ vaulted offense, great in the regular season, could not beat a torrid goaltender, a tough veterandefense, and an underrated coach, Jacques Martin’s game plan. Give the Canadiens credit, for as hard as it feels now, they deserved to win. I hope they play as well in the semifinals against Crosby and the Penguins.This is the story of 36 years of my life with our loved Capitals – I was hoping they would go deep in the playoffs but they didn’t. I’ll just have to get sentimental, returning to my youth and hometown team again, the Detroit Red Wings. They beat the upstart Phoenix Coyotes last night and will play San Jose in the semifinals.
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