Montreal Canadiens Game Reactions: Lords Byron and Shaw

The Montreal Canadiens took the preseason monkey off their back by getting a win against the Florida Panthers on Friday night.

Better late than never right? After posting an 0-6-0 preseason record, the Montreal Canadiens got their first win against the Florida Panthers. I guess Marc Bergevin and Claude Julien can keep their jobs now.

Tonight’s line-up had a couple of experiments that seemed to work. One of them in particular led to more goal scoring. Additionally, players that knew this would be their last chance to impress the coaching staff stepped up. Not so much for Michael McNiven though. He was called up before the game on an emergency basis just in case one of Montreal’s two goaltenders got hurt.

After the Montreal Canadiens take on the Ottawa Senators Saturday night, the preseason will be over. By then management would’ve seen all they needed to see. Friday’s game may not have gotten someone on the team, but it definitely gave Julien more to consider moving forward.

Thoughts and Observations

The Montreal Canadiens made two changes to their line-up. Alex Galchenyuk was seperated from Phillip Danault and instead played with Peter Holland and Nikita Scherbak, who had just been recalled from the Laval Rocket. Julien decided to try out Andrew Shaw and Paul Byron on that Danault line instead. The Habs coach has had success with line scrambling so far, and now it looks like he’s 3/3.

Scherbak had his best performance all training camp during this game. What stood out was how engaged he was from start to finish. Obviously this one performance wouldn’t give Scherbak a spot on the team. He along with Zachary Fucale and McNiven were sent down to the AHL after the game.

Apparently chemistry was the reason why he was lined up with Galchenyuk and we got to see that first hand. It was a two-way street as the 2013 1st round pick had a great game as well. This just hammers home the point that Galchenyuk is at his best when playing with other skilled forwards (no offence to Holland or Danault).

Speaking of Danault, all the offence came from that line. I don’t know what Shaw did this summer, but he’s looking more offensive in each game he plays in. His 3-1 breakaway goal was a great display of his hands and who doesn’t love a backhand?

It was a hard pill to swallow imagining Byron on the fourth line. After his two goal performance, he may not land there. This line could very well be used in the regular season. They’re gritty, responsible, but have enough skill to score goals.

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You can’t talk impressive without brining up Victor Mete. He continues to answer and live up to every challenge given to him by the team. Julien wanted to see Mete used in different situations, and in different situations he was seen. The downside is that Jordie Benn‘s play made Mete stand out more.

Besides the stretch pass to Shaw for his goal, Benn didn’t play too well. This isn’t the first time, the veteran defenceman has been making a handful of mistakes lately. Not as many as Brandon Davidson or Mark Streit, and they didn’t play well (again), but enough to raise an eyebrow. Don’t get me wrong, Benn is going to be on the opening night roster. However if he wants to continue to have the coach’s trust, he’ll need to be better.

The Habs may be making a mistake if they don’t try Charlie Lindgren as their back up this season. The 23-year-old played the full 60 and looked phenomenal. One thing a team wants their NHL goaltenders to do is to bail out their players at the times a mistake is made. Davidson had another one of his patented turnovers, but Lindgren made the save.

This game goes to show what determination and a high-paced practice can do. Now it’s time to see what the other group will do. Eric Gelinas, all eyes are on you.

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