A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens Three Stars vs Ottawa Senators

By Ken MacMillan

MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 04: Brendan Gallagher #11 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a first period goal with teammates on the bench against the Ottawa Senators during the first period at the Bell Centre on February 4, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 04: Brendan Gallagher #11 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a first period goal with teammates on the bench against the Ottawa Senators during the first period at the Bell Centre on February 4, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 04: Alexander Romanov Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 04: Alexander Romanov Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Alexander Romanov

Romanov surprising stepped into the Canadiens lineup this season and looks like an NHL veteran. He was terrific in his first game of the season, earning a spot higher in the lineup next to Jeff Petry late in a tied game and he was great.

He has settled in as a reliable third pairing guy, mostly with Brett Kulak, and he looks smart, poised and dangerous at both ends of the ice. He has been comfortable running the second power play unit and will lower the boom on an opponent if they are not keeping their head on a swivel when the Russian blue liner is on the ice.

Romanov did just that to Senators star defenceman Thomas Chabot late in the second period of last night’s game.

The second period was about the worst 20 minutes of hockey I have seen since Randy Cunneyworth was the team’s coach. So, having Romanov destroy the Senators best defenceman with a huge and legal body check was about the only good thing to come out of that period.

The Habs entered the period down 2-1 and were lucky to escape it only being down 3-1. The shots were 8-8, but it seemed like the Canadiens couldn’t even get near the Senators net.

Romanov’s hit was the only good thing that happened in the period.

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