A Week in the Life: Montreal Canadiens return to form and battle back
The Montreal Canadiens made the best out of their week clawing back into a wild-card spot despite starting on the outside looking in.
Sunday’s game was a bitter way to what was otherwise a great week for the Montreal Canadiens. Their play the week before had them drop out of a playoff spot with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the holy land. It wasn’t the biggest deficit considering the Habs had 81 points while the Blue Jackets had 84, but it made the upcoming week all the more important for the team when it came to the possibility of a playoff berth in April.
The Habs had four games on the schedule including a weekend back-to-back against the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes. Columbus, on the other hand, was embarking on their Canadian road trip which would begin on the Tuesday against the Calgary Flames. Wins and points meant everything, especially with the Philadelphia Flyers close on Montreal’s heels, so it was good that they managed to go 3-0-1 in those four games to earn seven of a possible eight points.
A good reality for Montreal to have going for them considering the waves of negativity that came from the loss to the Chicago Blackhawks where Jordan Weal played a little over 19 minutes while Jesperi Kotkaniemi only played about seven.
The night in Philadelphia was a defining moment for the Montreal Canadiens. Regardless of what would happen the next day in Calgary, which the Blue Jackets ended up winning, a loss would’ve been detrimental to their efforts.
Clawing Back
Brendan Gallagher, Shea Weber, and Max Domi were the heroes of the game against the Flyers. Gallagher’s goal was his 31st tying his season total from the year before while Domi continued to add to his incredible debut with the Montreal Canadiens tallying his 25th after the Flyers pulled Carter Hart for the extra attacker.
The team as a whole flew out of the gates with desperation signs all over their faces which they thankfully made use of. They played hard against Philadelphia and didn’t sit back in the third period when they were only up by one goal.
Another thing apparent from that game was Artturi Lehkonen. Claude Julien decided to move him up to play on Domi’s left wing along with Andrew Shaw. It was a move to reward hard work and potentially get Lehkonen going a bit, and although he didn’t score, he had a few good looks as that trio were equal parts to the team’s win.
Defeating the Flyers was a plus, as was watching Columbus lose, but the Montreal Canadiens needed to keep the train going and get some revenge on the New York Islanders. That game marked a week since Shaw called the Habs out after a horrendous defensive effort cost them at least a point in overtime with a late-game two-on-one against turning into a goal.
Montreal remembered and came out swinging again lighting the Islanders up for four goals while Price earned the shutout. Jonathan Drouin did a good job that night in shaking some of the dark clouds that were following him getting a powerplay assist and a goal off a rush with Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia.
That win vaulted the Habs back into the second wild-card spot at 85 points. It wasn’t the best lead as the Blue Jackets were only one point behind, but it was enough.
Then came the weekend where the Montreal Canadiens were faced with a possible trap game against the Buffalo Sabres and a match riddled with possible excuses in Carolina. Many believed the Sabres were going to finally contend for a spot this season as they started out strong including a ten-game winning streak but their underlying numbers caught up to them bringing them down to earth. And unfortunately for them, down to earth meant out of playoff contention.
Although they were out, they were still looking to upset teams and nearly did on Saturday. Sam Reinhart got things started, but the Habs battled back to stop the bleeding. Lehkonen answered Julien’s call scoring the tying goal, Shaw got rewarded for his comments with his 18th, Gallagher found the back of the net twice, and Tomas Tatar sent his 500th career goal into the empty net at the end of regulation.
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Nothing but thumbs up at this point. That was until Sunday.
As I said earlier, this game was riddled with predetermined excuses. However, the Hurricanes played the night before as well beating the Minnesota Wild 5-1, and even if Price was starting two nights in a row, he’s still the best option in net.
The two teams initially started with pace until Carolina took the game over. The Montreal Canadiens were lucky to come out with the lead after Nate Thompson‘s strong defensive effort resulted in Paul Byron deflecting a shot past Curtis McElhinney.
The Hurricanes continued to pound away at Price forcing him to make stop after stop. Some of which were incredible and completely debunked the notion that an NHL starter shouldn’t start two games in a row. The dam finally broke after Trevor van Riemsdyk beat Price with a little over five minutes remaining.
It took overtime to settle things, and it didn’t end in the Habs favour with Andrei Svechnikov getting the winner. Yes, the same Svechnikov who nearly got a hat-trick the last time the two teams played each other. And to make matters worse, the Blue Jackets beat the Canucks bringing them back to within two points of Montreal. Thanks a lot!
Top Performers of the Week
- Gallagher: Put up three goals and two assists setting a career high by scoring his 32nd and 33rd goals of the season.
- Domi: Didn’t want to fall behind Gallagher putting up a five-point week of his own. With 26 goals, Domi is four away from 30 which would be a first for the new guy in town.
- Tatar: The throw-in from the Max Pacioretty trade is continuing to have a stellar season, and as I mentioned before, his empty-net goal was a career milestone number 500.
- Shaw: Need to give some love to 65 here. His comments sparked the team, and he did his part on the ice with a goal and three assists
- Thompson: Not talked about enough. Nate Thompson had four assists in four consecutive games!
- Price: The Montreal Canadiens succeed or fail off the performances of Carey Price. Although the team lost in Carolina, he kept them in it to the end. Price started in all four games the Habs played this week and its weeks like these where you have to watch the performance to get an indication of how good he played. Price had a .952 save percentage allowing only six goals.
Fun Recognition
The week also had the release of the NHLPA Player Poll. The Montreal Canadiens found themselves on it a couple of times including Price and Weber getting recognition for their play while Tatar was noted as having the best nickname.
Prospective Playoff Performances
The NHL playoffs are still waiting to be figured out, but the CHL started theirs on Friday. Every Habs prospect in the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL made it to the show!
Pressure to perform is surely on Nick Suzuki and his Guelph Storm who bought ahead of the deadline to get a chance to win the OHL while Cole Fonstad and Joël Teasdale were on league-leading teams in the WHL and QMJHL respectively and will be expected to quickly do away with their opponent in the first round.
Week of March 25th
Nothing much is going to change for the Montreal Canadiens this week. They have three games and there’s no such thing as too much emphasis when it comes to that matchup in Columbus.
The Blue Jackets have a game in hand on the Habs and getting a regulation win will be huge to keep them at bay. On the other hand, there is still the risk of another trap game on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers while Saturday’s match in Winnipeg could be difficult.
They’ll be looking for revenge as Montreal got the best of them the last time around, but the Jets haven’t been playing their best and could use that game as one of their tests heading into the playoffs.
Next. Are the Playoffs Realistic?. dark
If the Montreal Canadiens come to the table with the same effort they had from Tuesday to Saturday; then there’ll be nothing to worry about. Otherwise, we could all be signing a different tune come next week’s roundup.