Montreal 3 - Atlanta 2 (SO)

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The Canadiens came on strong from the first puck drop tonight but the high-flying Atlanta Thrashers have been strong at home and are leading their division for the first time this season. The Thrashers poured on equal pressure and it paid off with Marian Hossa throwing a pass through the crease that went off of the arm of Christobal Huet and in to put Atlanta up 1-0. The period continued with strong pressure and outstanding goaltending from both teams and there were no more goals.

The second period opened with Atlanta forcing the Canadiens onto their heels a bit before Andrei Kostitsyn made a beautiful move to circumvent two Atlanta defensemen and puck a backhander over the shoulder of Kari Lhetonen, tying the game 1-1. The second period ended with the same ferocious pressure but Huet and Lhetonen kept the game scoreless going into the third period.

Michael Ryder put the Canadiens up 2-1 6:03 into the period, chipping a puck into the Atlanta net after a long series of perfect passes from his teammates. Atlanta poured it on and were finally rewarded midway through the period when Eric Perrin capitalized on a puckhandling error by Huet, throwing the puck into an empty net to tie the game again, 2-2. With the impending overtime, both teams were creating great chances but neither were able to capitalize.

The 4-on-4 overtime opened at a great pace with the Thrashers dominating early and Christobal Huet making up for his earlier mistake with several great saves. Kari Lehtonen was on top of his game at the other hand and the overtime made way for a shootout.

Now, we all know that the Canadiens in general and Huet in particular aren’t posting admirable numbers after regulation and especially in a shootout (2-5 as a team this season). Slava Kozlov shot first for Atlanta and Huet shut the door, making way for Montreal’s first shooter: Andrei Kostitsyn. Andrei performed his second beautiful deke of the night and put the puck through the legs of Lehtonen. Huet followed with another big save on Hossa and Koivu sealed things for the Habs with a second shootout goal, leading the Canadiens to a rare shootout win.

GAME NOTES: Despite the glaring third period error, Huet was very sharp and kept the Canadiens in the game on more then one occasion. Montreal has officially retaken 4th place in the Eastern Conference with this win.