Montreal Canadiens: 7 Talking Points on TDG, Reinforcements and the Expansion Draft

1. TDG

The Tatar-Danault-Gallagher line has been on fire as of late, combining for 16 points in the 3 games leading up to the disappointing home loss to Ottawa on Saturday. The line seems to be hitting the gear that has become their standard and their expectation over the past two-and-a-half years, scoring goals and dominating possession.

While the advanced stats had been strong (though not dominant) for the trio to start the season, something seemed off, which was reflected by the shuffling of their line. Since their reconvening, however, each member of the line has been playing his best hockey of the season by a good margin.

Since Ducharme took over, Tatar leads the Canadiens in even-strength primary points and Gallagher comes in second. Gallagher has also scored 8 goals and 13 points in his 14 previous games, over the same span, Tatar has equalled Gallagher’s point tally while scoring 2 goals. Not a bad run of games at all.

After – rightfully – being criticized by the entire media and Habs fanbase for his mediocre play, Phillip Danault has really caught fire in the past little while. He notched his 3 only goals and 11 points in that 14-game span, but he has notched 2 goals and 8 points in his past 6 games. He has certainly been the Canadiens’ best centre as of late.

While I knew this line was dominant as a whole this season, as they normally are, the extent of that dominance really surprised me. In just about 250 5v5 minutes played together, the TDG line has scored 18 goals and allowed just 3… that’s madness! If you were to adjust those results to a per 60 basis, the line would average 4.32 goals scored per game and just 0.72 goals allowed, and that’s their average!

The line has also done this while playing the vast majority of their minutes against the top-6 of their opponents. While they have scored 85.71% of the goals when on the ice at 5v5, they have controlled 67.85% of the expected goals, which is certainly less than the goals they actually scored but still unquestionable elite.

The line has retaken the mantle of the team’s first line, and rightfully so, they have been dynamic offensively and have been dominant in suppressing goals allowed. In short, they have played as we have become accustomed to seeing them play and it is nice to see them dominate in what could very well be their final season on the same team.

Stats from NaturalStatTrick.com.