January 2nd, 2005
The
Toronto Maple Leafs (11-27-2) are at the Bell Center to face the
Montreal Canadiens (18-17-5) Montreal has won 3 of the 4 meetings this season but lost 2-0 the last time they teams met in Montreal.
Montreal C
Dean Casey gets into a fight at 18:11 of the 1st period, Montreal was outshooting Toronto 14-7 at the time. The period ends with the teams on a 4 on 4 for 11 more seconds then the Leafs will have a 1:47 PP. The final shots in the 1st are 17-7 for Montreal.
Montreal finally takes advantage of their dominance in the game so far as C
Dean Casey gets his 12th of the season at 19:11 of the 2nd period. Casey out muscled a Leaf player for the puck and scored from the slot. RW
Joey Mariani and LW
Eric Brenner both got assists. The shots at the end of the 2nd period favor Montreal 30-9.
Montreal RW
Petr Klusacek leaves the game with an apparent upper body injury at about the 11 minute mark. Montreal goes up 2-0 at 13:59 of the 3rd period with C
Dean Casey's 2nd goal of the night and 13th of the year.
Casey deflected RW
Joey Mariani's shot, LW
Emile Boudreau got the 2nd assist. Montreal shuts down the Leafs in the 3rd and the final shots are 45-11 for the Canadiens.
Montreal 2 Toronto 0
Despite the loss, Toronto G
Brent Wiwcharuk was the 1st star with his 43 saves. The 37 year old has 6 wins with 3 SO's, a 2.18 GAA and a .927 Sv% in 23 games this season. Wiwcharuk had a career high 25 wins in 55 games for the Bruins in the 2000-01 season.
The Montreal Canadiens will be with out the services of RW
Petr Klusacek for 2-3 weeks as he has been diagnosed with a strained Pectoral muscle. The 22 year old now has 5 goals and 11 points with 16 PIMs and a +12 rating in 41 games. Klusacek had a career high 20 points in 47 games for Montreal during the 2002-03 season.
Vegas Golden Knights RD
Robert Petty was diagnosed with a strained back after a fall at home. The 34 year old is expected to miss up to 2-3 weeks. Petty has 8 goals and 29 points with 34 PIMs and a +1 rating in 39 games. Petty had a career high 41 points during the 2001-02 season in 48 games for the Golden Knights.