Shea Weber hasn’t lost his Man Mountain title on the Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens finally got their captain back as Shea Weber made his way into the lineup for the first time in almost a year.

Shea Weber received a standing ovation from Montreal Canadiens fans in the Bell Centre when he took to the ice. It was a special moment to see the 33-year-old playing and with a ‘C’ on his sweater. He, as long as the rest of the team, would’ve hoped for a better result as they lost the game 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes, but there were still some good things to take away from Weber’s performance.

Many assumed Claude Julien would ease the veteran back into the lineup. He’s no spring chicken and knows how to come back from an injury, but with 49 weeks off, walking before running seemed to be the safer option. But Julien fed off how Weber looked on the ice and chose to open the door for him and let him run.

The veteran saw a total of 25:19 including 3:44 on the power play and 1:26 shorthanded. Julien also stood true to his pregame comments and had Weber with David Schlemko for the majority of the night (60.14% of the time at even strength). He also made use of that shot with the first one coming in his first shift to the roar and excitement of the crowd.

What was also interesting was Weber’s spot on the power play. He initially started on the left circle leading Jonathan Drouin at the point, something the Montreal Canadiens have made use of in the last few weeks. The rationale for it makes sense. A passing play finished with a Weber slapper from that distance could be very deadly, and it’s not as obvious to defending players.

The Habs did go back to having Weber at the point later on in the game, but it’s nice to see Julien experimenting with other methods instead of sticking to previous regiments.

Another positive was Weber finding himself on the board. A slap pass from the point made it to Artturi Lehkonen‘s stick who then got it over to Phillip Danault. The eventual shot wound up beating Curtis McElhinney to cut the Hurricanes’ lead in half.

That was Weber’s first point since December 5th against the St. Louis Blues. Remember that game? Weber had two goals off Andrew Shaw faceoff wins. It’ll be a beautiful thing once he scores his first of the season.

But the team did lose. The Montreal Canadiens need to return to their elements of danger and Weber is going to be a big part of that. It’s great for the Man Mountain to be on the ice, and now it’s time to remind the rest of the league why he has that nickname in the first place.