Montreal 2 @ San Jose 3 (F)

Montreal's offense comes alive

In their previous meeting the Habs were shutout, so they knew they would have to make some changes if they wanted to get their first win of the season. But only a few minutes into the game the Habs went a man down and San Jose got the PP. Only a seconds later Cheechoo made them pay when he ripped one top shelf to take the early lead. The lead would not last though. A little halfway through the period Montreal was able to get their first goal of the season. Ryder put the puck top shelf with a laser wrist shot to get the Habs back in the game. With the momentum shifted Montreal took on new life. On the powerplay the Sharks had a tough time getting it out of their zone and they would pay for it. Only a couple mintues after the first goal they took the lead with a shorthanded goal by Mike Johnson.

It seemed that the Habs used all their energy up in the first though. Early in the second Goc was able to steal the puck from Higgins in the slot and put it 5-hole to tie up the game. Then in the 3rd Hannan completed a Bobby Orr-esk type goal, when he went end to end and deked out Huet to get the lead goal. The Habs would have their chances by ringing pucks off the post and getting multiple breakaways, but they were unable to another one by Toskala.

Stats:
Mtl - SJ
16 shots 20
45 hits 17

3 Stars:
Hannan 1 0
Johnson 1 0
Goc 1 0

Scoring:
1st:
SJ: Cheechoo - Thornton, Marleau (PP)
Mtl: Ryder - Koivu, Higgins
Mtl: Johnson - Souray (SH)
2nd:
SJ: Goc
3rd:
SJ: Hannan

Good luck the rest of the way Frankididuo!