A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens: 7 Talking Points

By Sebastian High

MONTREAL, QC - MARCH 02: Goaltender Carey Price #31 (L) and Nick Suzuki #14 of the Montreal Canadiens (R) stand during the national anthem prior to the game against the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre on March 2, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-1. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - MARCH 02: Goaltender Carey Price #31 (L) and Nick Suzuki #14 of the Montreal Canadiens (R) stand during the national anthem prior to the game against the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre on March 2, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-1. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 31: Phillip Danault #24 and Tomas Tatar #90 of Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 31: Phillip Danault #24 and Tomas Tatar #90 of Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

4. The 3rd line

Along with the rest of Habs’ fans, I was incredibly excited when Dominic Ducharme gave Jesperi Kotkaniemi two goalscoring wingers in Brendan Gallagher and Tyler Toffoli last week, and we have already seen that decision pay off with Kotkaniemi excelling in his offensive role, scoring a goal and adding a primary assist at 5v5 in the two games he has played with the scoring duo.

One underrated part of bumping Kotkaniemi up the lineup has been the creation of the ultimate 3rd line of Tatar-Danault-Armia. The line was Montreal’s best in both the 5-1 victory against Vancouver and the 2-1 defeat to Calgary; a game in which they were the only line able to create consistent offence.

The trio is great defensively and has enough offensive elements, namely Tatar and Armia when he’s playing well, to feast on any other third line in the Canadian division. It is with this new combination of lines that we truly get to see and appreciate this team’s depth. It is also interesting to note that this entire dominant third line consists of players on expiring contracts with no guarantee of being re-signed.

In Danault’s first game of the season outside of the top-6 and without Brendan Gallagher on his right-wing, he scored his first goal of the season. When he is not in a top-6 role, he is not relied upon for offence, which has, thus far, enabled him to not overthink his play and finally pot a goal after over a year (I’m not counting that empty-netter in the playoffs).

This third line is a luxury and one that the Canadiens will likely not be able to afford beyond this season; hopefully they make the most of their time together and produce offence while remaining their responsible defensive selves.

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