Five Post Game Takeaways for Habs: Canadiens vs. Sabers

Five takeaways from the Habs and Sabers game which will help set the tone for the team for this upcoming season.

With the Habs starting the year on the road missing Carey Price and Jeff Petry this proved to be an interesting game to gain insight on the Habs character. Last season the team struggled mightily without Price and Petry. So seeing how the Canadiens would preform minus a couple key players would help to judge the character of the team.

The Habs seemed to be okay and were in control from start to finish. They beat their division rivals 4-1. The Canadiens came out flying and took the lead early in the game, controlled the flow of the game looking confident throughout.

I thought there were five takeaways from the game that will important to the team as they continue the season. Here are the five takeaways:

Shea Weber

After the biggest blockbuster trade in years for the Habs, all eyes would be on Shea Weber. Especially after a fan of the team took out a full page in the Montreal Gazette to express how he felt betrayed by the habs management for the trade.

Weber was up to the challenge and he played an excellent game for the Habs. Weber displayed his cannon of a shot several times throughout the night. One of Weber’s shots led to the Canadiens 3rd goal of the game when Brendan Gallagher was able to redirect the shot for his 2nd goal of the game.

Weber was also able to play physically and play defensively sound all game. He seemed to play very well with Nathan Beaulieu on the top pairing as they were both a plus 3 rating on the night. This is good news for the Habs as the P.K Subban for Shea Weber trade grumblings may quiet down.

Top Line

One area of the Habs that I wanted to see preform well was the teams first line. Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk, and Brendan Gallagher continued their excellent play over from last season. Near the end of last season this trio played terrific and ended up having Pacioretty and Galchenyuk both reach the 30 goal plateau.

The Canadiens top line was buzzing all night long creating a few odd man rushes by using their speed. The group was also able to control the play the majority of the night when they were on the ice. Brendan Gallagher was able to come away with two goals on the night, as Pacioretty and Galchenyuk each added an assist.

With the top line playing well and generating offense the Habs will be more likely to improve their woeful scoring from last year. This line will be important to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

Mikhail Sergachev

Mikhail Sergachev made his NHL debut last night entering the game as the youngest player in the league. For the most part Sergachev looked like the youngest player in the league.

Mikhail Sergachev will have to impress in his next 8 games. Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /

Several times the young defencemen seemed to struggle in his own end moving the puck out of the zone. Sergachev was also used very sparingly by the Habs as he only played just under 12 minutes in the game.

Sergachev will have eight more games to show that he belongs with the club before the Habs will have to decide whether or not to send the rookie back to his OHL team the Windsor Spitfires. The Habs have a history with being conservative with young players so Sergachev will have to impress.

Al Montoya

Last season the Habs struggled without Carey Price between the pipes. So the Canadiens needed to find an upgrade over their former backup goaltender Mike Condon. Montoya was able to beat out Condon through training camp and tonight was Montoya’s official debut as Carey Price was out with the flu.

Montoya looked very confident and composed throughout the night. He made a few very difficult and timely saves to keep the Habs in front for good. Montoya made 30 saves on 31 shots.

Montoya’s solid preformance in net should give the Habs more confidence as an insurance policy in case something major were to happen to Carey Price’s health again. Hopefully this won’t happen and Carey will be healthy all year.

Playing with Toughness

Last year the Habs lacked mental and physical toughness and Marc Bergevin made move in the off season to try and fix the problem. The new additions certainly played the part in Buffalo.

Shea Weber had a couple of big hits in the game. Andrew Shaw did some pestering and even was able to draw a penalty. The rest of the team followed their lead and played a very tough game on the road.

The Sabres had many injuries heading into the game and even lost Evander Kane to injury during the game. These types of games last year, were the games that the Canadiens just couldn’t find a way to win. This was a great test for the Habs to see if they could go out, play their style of game, and win without some of their own key players.

The win will do wonders for the team in building confidence as the season continues. The Canadiens next game will be on October 15th as they battle the Senators.

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Five Post Game Takeaways for Habs: Canadiens vs. Sabres

By Kenric Mannette | Oct 14, 2016