A Winning Habit
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Victor Mete Scores Twice in Montreal Canadiens Win Against Bruins

By Emmanuel D

MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 05: Montreal Canadiens defenceman Victor Mete (53) celebrates his second goal of the game with his teammates during the Boston Bruins versus the Montreal Canadiens game on November 05, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 05: Montreal Canadiens defenceman Victor Mete (53) celebrates his second goal of the game with his teammates during the Boston Bruins versus the Montreal Canadiens game on November 05, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Montreal Canadiens (7-5-2) and Boston Bruins (11-1-2) rivalry saw its first match-up of the season on Tuesday night. Ryan Poehling also made his season debut for the Canadiens, his game since his hat trick and shootout winner against the Toronto Maple Leafs back in April.

Before we get going, congratulations are in order for Montreal Canadiens head coach Claude Julien on being behind the bench for the 1200th game in his coaching career as well as to Zdeno Chara for playing in his 1500th game in the NHL.

First Period

Victor Mete opened the scoring with Joel Armia and Jeff Petry receiving the assists. The Habs kept their composure for the next few minutes with some good scoring chances.

Side note: Something should be said about the fact that while the Bruins top line is the best in the NHL, the remainder team have some very dynamic players spread throughout the lineup with some great passing skills.

It didn’t take long for the Boston Bruins to score once they were given a powerplay. David Pastrnak (from Krug and Bergeron) had a clean shot at the 5:04 mark, tying the game 1-1.With the Canadiens struggling penalty kill aside, no one is stopping that rocket of a shot. The Bruins are already lethal enough 5 on 5 so the for the night should be to stay out of the box.

Tomas Tatar gave the Habs a new lead on a 2 on 1 with assists from Ben Chiarot and Brendan Gallagher. The line’s speed allowed for this goal to happen.

Paul Byron also broke out of his 17-game scoring slump with a speedy goal to give the Canadiens a 3-1 lead.

Second Period

The Canadiens were given their first powerplay on a penalty drawn by Philip Danault to start the period but didn’t take advantage of the opportunity but nonetheless, the Canadiens kept the pressure on the Bruins and were rewarded a second powerplay later but had no success once again.

The issue with the powerplay recently has been that it looks like that of last year’s with over complicated passing and little shots of quality. This can be troubling if not resolved

In what may have been a disaster of a shift, both Ryan Poehling and Jeff Petry went down the tunnel with apparent injuries. To add to the bad news, Connor Clifton then scored cutting the Habs lead to a single goal.

Luckily for the Canadiens, Jeff Petry returned to the game as a sigh of relief was felt by the team and fans as they feared the worst. Ryan Poehling also came back a few minutes later and Canadiens fans could breathe easier.

The Montreal Canadiens were the better team for most of the second period but with how good the Bruins are, this wasn’t going to reflect on the scoreboard.

At the 1:45 mark, Anders Bjork scored tying up the game at 3-3 but Habs goal-scorer Victor Mete got his second of the night giving the Habs a 4-3 lead. Mete had been the best Habs defender by far in this game.

Third Period

The Boston Bruins started off the period on the powerplay, putting the Habs PK unit to the test and killed it off but Sean Kuraly tied up the game 4-4 quickly after.

Although the Bruins did in fact score a fifth goal which saw Paul Byron fall, taking Carey Price’s stick with him, the goal was called off when Claude Julien expertly challenged the goal for offside, keeping the score tied 4-4.

While the game picked up in pace for both the Habs and Bruins, they scored stayed tied until Ben Chiarot scored giving the Habs a 5-4 lead. The Canadiens then had to ensure they would protect this lead as it did not look like Tuuka Rask would be giving up another goal and they did just that to get the win.

Deciding Factors

Before the game started and the lines were announced, the first red flag was the Ben Chiarot and Shea Weber pairing and I’ll be the first one to say I was wrong on this one.

While both players have been doing well in their respective roles, neither of the two players are known for their speed and putting them on a pairing together may not be a great idea against one of the most lethal top lines in the NHL but the pairing played a great defensive game while also picking up a few points along the way.

Victor Mete may have just played his best game in a Montreal Canadiens, scoring two goals to rally past the Bruins. When looking at his dominant play tonight, it is easy to see more goals coming in the future with Mete’s confidence showing more with each game after scoring his first a few weeks back.

Looking Ahead

Win aside, this was not Carey Price’s best game. The fourth goal in particular stood out as on the softer side. Price will probably be looking for a bounce-back game Thursday night when the Montreal Canadiens face the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:00 PM.

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