Ilya Kovalchuk scores his 1st as a Hab in overtime and ends the losing streak!

Kovalchuk comes up huge!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Ilya Kovalchuk scores his 1st as a Hab in overtime and ends the losing streak!

The Montreal Canadiens have looked like a bad team as of late and as a result their team has been on a fairly significant losing streak. The Habs simply have not been able to put it together due in part to some significant injuries to their lineup as well as an overall poor season from star goaltender Carey Price and have been playing themselves well out of a playoff spot at this stage of the season. 

As a result of his teams recent slump general manager Marc Bergevin was left scrambling for potential moves that he could make in order to breathe some life into his team, and Bergevin surprised many a few short days ago when he pulled the trigger. It was not some blockbuster trade on the part of Bergevin but instead a gamble on former Los Angeles Kings forward Ilya Kovalchuk, a player that had just agreed to walk away from millions of dollars purely on the basis of the fact that he no longer wanted to play for the Kings. To be fair it was a low risk gamble for Bergevin who signed Kovalchuk to a league minimum salary on a one year contract, and whatever happens from here on out there's no question that the gamble has paid off big time in the short term. 

On Saturday night the Canadiens faced off against the Ottawa Senators, their closest geographical rival, and it was a hotly contested gamer all the way through. Regulation was not enough to settle this one between the Sens and the Habs and as a result the two sides were forced to head into the extra frame. The Canadiens were desperate for a win here due to the aforementioned factors and to their credit it seemed as though they entered the overtime frame with some determination behind them. The Habs controlled most of the overtime frame but in spite of the fact that they put up 8 shots on goal they were unable to find the back of the net, that is until their gamble paid off. 

I will let the broadcast crew do the rest of the talking for me, but what a moment this must be for both Kovalchuk and Bergevin.


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