Posse81
October-15th-2003, 10:30 AM
Rough one last night...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26978-2003Oct14.html
Capitals Crack In Montreal
Canadiens 5, Capitals 1
By Jason La Canfora
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 15, 2003; Page D03
MONTREAL, Oct. 14 -- The province of Quebec produces goalies in the same way that Texas spawns flame-throwing pitchers, and hordes of youngsters in this region dream of one day standing between the pipes at Bell Centre for the Montreal Canadiens' home opener. The goaltending tradition goes back to 1917, with the advent of the National Hockey League, and was heightened 18 years ago when Patrick Roy rose to stardom.
Washington Capitals backup goalie Sebastien Charpentier was steeped in that lore growing up in Drummondville, Quebec, and Tuesday night found himself playing in the Canadiens' first home game of the season, but suffered a 5-1 beating before a sellout crowd. Charpentier, 26, who plays sparingly behind starter Olaf Kolzig, yielded five goals on 21 shots through two periods, with the fifth -- a routine wrist shot that slipped between his legs -- the most inglorious of the bunch.
"It was a tough night," Charpentier said. "I was a little more nervous than I thought I would be. At the beginning I was like, 'Woo, this is pretty big coming back home.' Things didn't turn out the way we wanted them to, or the way I wanted them to. There were a few shots I'd like to see back."
The Capitals (1-2-1) did little to help their goalie tonight. They fell behind six minutes in when defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Joel Kwiatkowski were too careless with the puck, allowing Andreas Dackell enough time to flub a shot and still roof a snap shot past Charpentier's glove, almost immediately spoiling his first career game against Montreal.
The lead doubled on the power play. Jason Doig's clearing attempt was held in at the blue line, then Doig collided with an official, giving the Canadiens too much space around the net. Rookie Michael Ryder wiggled into the slot and fed Yanic Perreault, who finished the play by beating Charpentier (6-9-1 in his NHL career).
"I'm not going to sit here and blame Charpy," Coach Bruce Cassidy said. "The first two goals were scored from point blank at the top of the slot. . . . We weren't very good as a team."
Center Robert Lang granted the defense a speedy -- if only fleeting -- reprieve. Lang, who has points in all four games thus far, took a pass from 19-year-old rookie Alexander Semin, who became the team's second teenage forward to score his first NHL point in his first NHL game this season (Boyd Gordon), and flicked it past goalie Jose Theodore 40 seconds after Perreault had scored.
Perreault's rebuttal came 19 seconds into the second period. He eluded Kwiatkowski with a sharp cut inside and blistered a shot into the net; Perreault's line combined for seven points in the first two periods alone.
Cassidy altered his defensive pairs following that goal, but had few sound options given the overall inexperience of the unit and recent injuries to veterans Brendan Witt and John Gruden. Rookie Steve Eminger played considerably less than half as much he did Monday in Toronto and J.F. Fortin was effectively benched for the second straight game.
The defensive changes had little impact. Montreal (53-19-15 in home openers) went ahead 4-1 midway though the game. Former Capital Jan Bulis got free from Gordon (minus-3 Tuesday night) and headed to the net as defenseman Stephane Quintal fired from the point. Quintal's shot changed directions, defenseman Josef Boumedienne was unable to intervene and the puck trickled into the net.
"Our 'D' is going to struggle for a while, that's just reality," Cassidy said. "So special teams is going to have to come through for us and obviously it didn't."
Washington mustered all of nine shots through 40 minutes, stifled at even strength for the second straight game, and faces four more difficult tests before this road trip is complete.
"As a five-man unit we haven't been in sync," team captain Steve Konowalchuk said. "I think that's been pretty obvious."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26978-2003Oct14.html
Capitals Crack In Montreal
Canadiens 5, Capitals 1
By Jason La Canfora
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 15, 2003; Page D03
MONTREAL, Oct. 14 -- The province of Quebec produces goalies in the same way that Texas spawns flame-throwing pitchers, and hordes of youngsters in this region dream of one day standing between the pipes at Bell Centre for the Montreal Canadiens' home opener. The goaltending tradition goes back to 1917, with the advent of the National Hockey League, and was heightened 18 years ago when Patrick Roy rose to stardom.
Washington Capitals backup goalie Sebastien Charpentier was steeped in that lore growing up in Drummondville, Quebec, and Tuesday night found himself playing in the Canadiens' first home game of the season, but suffered a 5-1 beating before a sellout crowd. Charpentier, 26, who plays sparingly behind starter Olaf Kolzig, yielded five goals on 21 shots through two periods, with the fifth -- a routine wrist shot that slipped between his legs -- the most inglorious of the bunch.
"It was a tough night," Charpentier said. "I was a little more nervous than I thought I would be. At the beginning I was like, 'Woo, this is pretty big coming back home.' Things didn't turn out the way we wanted them to, or the way I wanted them to. There were a few shots I'd like to see back."
The Capitals (1-2-1) did little to help their goalie tonight. They fell behind six minutes in when defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Joel Kwiatkowski were too careless with the puck, allowing Andreas Dackell enough time to flub a shot and still roof a snap shot past Charpentier's glove, almost immediately spoiling his first career game against Montreal.
The lead doubled on the power play. Jason Doig's clearing attempt was held in at the blue line, then Doig collided with an official, giving the Canadiens too much space around the net. Rookie Michael Ryder wiggled into the slot and fed Yanic Perreault, who finished the play by beating Charpentier (6-9-1 in his NHL career).
"I'm not going to sit here and blame Charpy," Coach Bruce Cassidy said. "The first two goals were scored from point blank at the top of the slot. . . . We weren't very good as a team."
Center Robert Lang granted the defense a speedy -- if only fleeting -- reprieve. Lang, who has points in all four games thus far, took a pass from 19-year-old rookie Alexander Semin, who became the team's second teenage forward to score his first NHL point in his first NHL game this season (Boyd Gordon), and flicked it past goalie Jose Theodore 40 seconds after Perreault had scored.
Perreault's rebuttal came 19 seconds into the second period. He eluded Kwiatkowski with a sharp cut inside and blistered a shot into the net; Perreault's line combined for seven points in the first two periods alone.
Cassidy altered his defensive pairs following that goal, but had few sound options given the overall inexperience of the unit and recent injuries to veterans Brendan Witt and John Gruden. Rookie Steve Eminger played considerably less than half as much he did Monday in Toronto and J.F. Fortin was effectively benched for the second straight game.
The defensive changes had little impact. Montreal (53-19-15 in home openers) went ahead 4-1 midway though the game. Former Capital Jan Bulis got free from Gordon (minus-3 Tuesday night) and headed to the net as defenseman Stephane Quintal fired from the point. Quintal's shot changed directions, defenseman Josef Boumedienne was unable to intervene and the puck trickled into the net.
"Our 'D' is going to struggle for a while, that's just reality," Cassidy said. "So special teams is going to have to come through for us and obviously it didn't."
Washington mustered all of nine shots through 40 minutes, stifled at even strength for the second straight game, and faces four more difficult tests before this road trip is complete.
"As a five-man unit we haven't been in sync," team captain Steve Konowalchuk said. "I think that's been pretty obvious."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company