Canadiens’ Player Report Cards: Play-In Series Against the Pittsburgh Penguins
The Montreal Canadiens upset the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Play-in round, led by Carey Price. Here’s how every individual player performed in those four games.
Quite a few days have passed since the Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens put an abrupt end to Sidney Crosby‘s season (on his birthday, no less), and I am still riding the high… we’re getting playoff hockey in La Belle Province! To make matters better, the first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry draft did not land in Pittsburgh or, far more importantly for me, Toronto; though the Maple Leafs’ lottery ball came within millimetres of ruining the next 3 to 20 years of Habs fans; enjoyment of the game of hockey.
With the lottery behind us, Habs fans now have a clear conscience that their current spot in the playoffs has not cost them Alexis Lafreniere, but rather the demotion from the ninth overall pick to, at the very least, sixteenth. This being said, the draft is no longer all that prominent in my mind, I am now fully invested in an underdog playoff run.
This being said, the road won’t be easy, far from it, in truth; Philadelphia has an excellent team. In all honesty, I hadn’t really been aware of just how good they’ve been since they caught steam back in November until I was conducting the research for my “Philly vs Montreal Series Matchups” article. This team is scarily good and Montreal’s big players who failed to be overly prominent offensively against Pittsburgh will need to step up to give the Habs a chance, I’m looking at you, Gallagher and Tatar.
With puck drop of Game 1 against Philadelphia nearly upon us let us take a look back at how every Montreal Canadiens player to make an appearance against Pittsburgh performed.
One little note: these grades are a lot more extreme, be it extraordinarily good or bad compared to those given in the Season Report Cards since the sample size is of 4 games rather than 71, and the players on hot or cold streaks thus had less of a chance to revert to their average play.
CAREY PRICE. A+. Where to begin on Carey Price’s masterclass against Crosby, Malkin and their Penguins? He is the man that will haunt their dreams for the next year. His statistics were staggeringly good; a 0.947 SV% is beyond elite, and the realms of sustainability and his 3.72 goals saved above average in just four games show how incredibly valuable he was the Canadiens. Had an average NHL starter been between the pipes for Montreal, the series would likely have been lost; but with Price, it was won in four games. Price’s critics have well and truly been silenced… for now.. .
. . VICTOR METE. B -. <a rel=
A -. Captain <a rel=. . . SHEA WEBER
A. <a rel=. . . JEFF PETRY
C. I quite like Ouellet. I gave him a strong B- grade for his regular-season performance and even stated that I wouldn’t be against him cracking the lineup next season. But the Laval Rocket captain has quite clearly been the weakest link of the Montreal Canadiens’ defensive corps thus far; would this team really be worse off with <a rel=. . . XAVIER OUELLET
A -. <a rel=. . . BEN CHIAROT
. . BRETT KULAK. A. There isn’t all that much for me to add; every praise I gave Petry for his defensive play equally applies to Kulak, if not more so. Kulak became Crosby’s personal bodyguard for the final two games of the series, in that he never left his side. Sid the Kid had a far harder time producing anything of value once Kulak got the assignment of covering him at all times. If what we’re seeing is the real Kulak and not just a hot streak that will eventually dissipate, the Montreal Canadiens have themselves a really dependable top-4 defenseman. Oh, and Kulak also showed that he could be a real threat offensively, turning into a fourth attacker on multiple offensive rushes in the series, which often culminated in a dangerous scoring opportunity or a powerplay; this guy has been solid.
B -. It really sucked that Evans got hurt since he was a pretty clear upgrade on <a rel=. . . JAKE EVANS
D -. This one hurts. I love the Dutch Gretzky; that one playoff performance from a few years back will forever be legendary, but he’s been bad this season, and he’s been worse in the play-ins. <a rel=. . . DALE WEISE
A. Playoff Lehky is here to do some serious damage! <a rel=. . . ARTTURI LEHKONEN
. . JOEL ARMIA. B -. Yes, I know, this grade may not be popular. I heard many fans calling for <a rel=
B. <a rel=. . . BRENDAN GALLAGHER
This grade troubles me the very most of the entire bunch because <a rel=. . . MAX DOMI. C+
. PHILLIP DANAULT. B. <a rel=.
A. What a story it has been for KK in this return-to-play. From struggling at the NHL level last fall to playing very well in the AHL in the spring to having his season cut short due to a spleen injury to getting a shot to play with the Habs once again in August playoffs to playing really well to getting promoted to the top-six. Sorry for that run-on sentence, but it needed to be said, this kid just makes me smile. Of all the A grades I have given, <a rel=. . . JESPERI KOTKANIEMI
A. From dominating the OHL playoffs to centring the first line of an NHL team in the playoffs in the span of a year is impressive enough on its own, the fact that Suzuki outplayed Sidney Crosby when the Penguins had their backs against the wall adds a few more layers to it. Nick Suzuki is an incredibly mature 21-year-old centreman. Not only did he play an excellent defensive game throughout the series, playing big penalty-killing minutes and matching up with Sidney Crosby for an entire game and coming out on top, but he was a constant threat offensively. On that painfully poor powerplay, Suzuki’s stick is the creator of most real scoring opportunities, and the first line struggled to apply any offensive pressure until Suzuki was thrown into the mix. While nobody can be certain which of Nick Suzuki and <a rel=. . . NICK SUZUKI
. JORDAN WEAL. D+. Jordan Weal wasn’t nearly as bad as <a rel=.
. . ALEX BELZILE. B -. Alex Belzile is another one of those heartwarming playoff stories. Having bounced around the ECHL and the AHL for nine years, he has finally made the NHL. Belzile played just the one game but was quite noticeable since he was always amongst the hardest workers on the ice, getting to loose pucks through the sheer force of will. He strikes me as a very competent 4th liner. His work ethic was also the source of some actual offensive opportunities for the fourth line, which has been desperately needed.
A. <a rel=. . . PAUL BYRON
B+. To be clear, this is about as generous of a B+ as there is. Jonathan Drouin was outright bad for the first two games of the series. But ever since he notched that tip-in goal in game 3, the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders, and he has looked calm on the puck; and a calm Drouin is a dangerous weapon. He has been far more confident on the puck and has created far more in the offensive zone. He was more effective than Gallagher, and since Gally got a B, Drouin gets a B+. Had I given Gallagher a B-, Drou would be getting a B. As I mentioned previously, the chemistry of the Drouin-KK-Armia line has been apparent, and may very well be Montreal’s most dangerous offensive line against Philadelphia, and Drouin would be central to such a breakout in offensive production amongst the linemates.. . . JONATHAN DROUIN
TOMAS TATAR. C -. Last, and potentially least, comes <a rel=. .
Next. Veilleux and the Habs' wait for first overall. dark
All statistics are taken from Hockey-Reference.com