Canadien' Max Pacioretty scores his second goal of the game against the Flyers on Wednesday night.
MONTREAL - When Max Pacioretty finished the morning skate Wednesday, he didn’t think he would be in the lineup against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“The strength didn’t seem to be there, but I stayed around the rink and the medical staff did a lot of different things,” Pacioretty said. “I took the warmup and I felt that I was ready to play.”
Pacioretty, who has a history of coming back strong after injuries, scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Canadiens to a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre.
“(Aaron) Palushaj was saying that it was the same way after injuries in college,” Pacioretty said. “I don’t know why, but I seem to play well. But if you look around, you’ll see that 90 per cent of the players in this league play hurt.”
Pacioretty downplayed his own performance by saying that he was part of a team effort.
“We knew we had to do something to get out of this funk,” he said after the Canadiens snapped a six-game winless streak and gave the fans at the Bell Centre their first look at a winning team this season.
Pacioretty said the turning point in the game may have been a power-play goal by Yannick Weber that tied the game at 1-1 with less than three seconds remaining in the first period.
“I didn’t know how much time was left, but I knew it was getting close,” Weber said. “I’m a shooter and when Davey (Desharnais) got the puck back to me, I shot it.
“It was a total team effort tonight,” Weber added. “We did a good job forechecking. People talk about how small we are, but we have some big guys and we put a lot of pressure on their defence and that resulted in some turnovers, and we took advantage of them.”
Weber started the season as a fourth-line forward but has emerged as a solid defenceman who has been used in all situations. He’s averaging better than 20 minutes a game and has the best plus/minus numbers on the team at plus-5.
Head coach Jacques Martin said that special teams played a role in the game and there was a touch of irony there because assistant coach Perry Pearn, the man responsible for the special teams, was relieved of his duties earlier in the day.
“Teams make changes and it doesn’t mean that Perry wasn’t a good coach,” Martin said. “He’s been offered another job helping (general manager Pierre Gauthier) and we hope he takes it because he’s a good hockey man.”
The game also produced one of Carey Price’s strongest performances of the season as he stopped 21 of 22 shots to register his 100th career NHL regular-season victory.
“It seems as if it came quickly, but I also feel that I’ve been around for a long time,” Price said.
The Canadiens appeared to have the edge in physical play and Martin attributed that to the Canadiens balancing their lines so that each line includes a player with some size. The Canadiens also benefitted from the absence of Flyers’ defenceman Chris Pronger, who is out with an eye injury.
Martin singled out Erik Cole as a player who used his size to take the puck to the net and suggested this was Cole’s best performance since joining the Canadiens. Cole had a game-high six shots on net, was credited with an assist and drew two penalties.
The Canadiens will need more physical play over the coming days as they face the Boston Bruins Thursday in Boston and Saturday back at the Bell Centre.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Montreal+Canadiens+Pacioretty+leads+team+funk/5612532/story.html#ixzz1bzbFshfr
“The strength didn’t seem to be there, but I stayed around the rink and the medical staff did a lot of different things,” Pacioretty said. “I took the warmup and I felt that I was ready to play.”
Pacioretty, who has a history of coming back strong after injuries, scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Canadiens to a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre.
“(Aaron) Palushaj was saying that it was the same way after injuries in college,” Pacioretty said. “I don’t know why, but I seem to play well. But if you look around, you’ll see that 90 per cent of the players in this league play hurt.”
Pacioretty downplayed his own performance by saying that he was part of a team effort.
“We knew we had to do something to get out of this funk,” he said after the Canadiens snapped a six-game winless streak and gave the fans at the Bell Centre their first look at a winning team this season.
Pacioretty said the turning point in the game may have been a power-play goal by Yannick Weber that tied the game at 1-1 with less than three seconds remaining in the first period.
“I didn’t know how much time was left, but I knew it was getting close,” Weber said. “I’m a shooter and when Davey (Desharnais) got the puck back to me, I shot it.
“It was a total team effort tonight,” Weber added. “We did a good job forechecking. People talk about how small we are, but we have some big guys and we put a lot of pressure on their defence and that resulted in some turnovers, and we took advantage of them.”
Weber started the season as a fourth-line forward but has emerged as a solid defenceman who has been used in all situations. He’s averaging better than 20 minutes a game and has the best plus/minus numbers on the team at plus-5.
Head coach Jacques Martin said that special teams played a role in the game and there was a touch of irony there because assistant coach Perry Pearn, the man responsible for the special teams, was relieved of his duties earlier in the day.
“Teams make changes and it doesn’t mean that Perry wasn’t a good coach,” Martin said. “He’s been offered another job helping (general manager Pierre Gauthier) and we hope he takes it because he’s a good hockey man.”
The game also produced one of Carey Price’s strongest performances of the season as he stopped 21 of 22 shots to register his 100th career NHL regular-season victory.
“It seems as if it came quickly, but I also feel that I’ve been around for a long time,” Price said.
The Canadiens appeared to have the edge in physical play and Martin attributed that to the Canadiens balancing their lines so that each line includes a player with some size. The Canadiens also benefitted from the absence of Flyers’ defenceman Chris Pronger, who is out with an eye injury.
Martin singled out Erik Cole as a player who used his size to take the puck to the net and suggested this was Cole’s best performance since joining the Canadiens. Cole had a game-high six shots on net, was credited with an assist and drew two penalties.
The Canadiens will need more physical play over the coming days as they face the Boston Bruins Thursday in Boston and Saturday back at the Bell Centre.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Montreal+Canadiens+Pacioretty+leads+team+funk/5612532/story.html#ixzz1bzbFshfr
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