The Montreal Canadiens are through ten games this season and currently sit at 5-3-2. And while the team is filled with young talent, they owe a lot of their early success to their third line, filled with veterans. That line has been surprisingly effective so far this season, and that was on display Thursday Night in Arizona.
Sean Monahan scored his team-leading sixth goal, and Brendan Gallagher added his third of the season in the Canadiens 3-2 loss to the Coyotes. But the blame hardly falls on those guys; they did their part. The rest of the team needed to be better, but it just wasn’t their night.
Elite Sniper Sean Monahan with his SIXTH of the year.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) November 3, 2023
Ties it up at one. pic.twitter.com/HcxnR1XXwh
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this line step up for the Canadiens this season, either. Gallagher and Tanner Pearson each scored a goal in the third period of the Canadiens 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres back in late October. It was a vintage performance from the group, something we’ve seen a lot more than we might’ve expected to this early into the year.
All three of Monahan, Pearson and Gallagher have battled injuries over the last few years, and the perception surrounding them is that they had lost a step. Heck, you’d think these guys were in their late thirties the way some have written them off, and yet Pearson and Gallagher are just 31, with Monahan not to hit 30 until next October. But on this young Canadiens squad, they’re grizzly vets.
Even Martin St. Louis has to be a little surprised with what he’s gotten out of that group. They’ve played really well so far this season and have done more than their fair share to get the ball rolling for the Canadiens. Monahan, a potential trade deadline departee, currently is second on the team in scoring with nine points in ten games.
Brendan Gallagher's 400th point in the NHL is a nice one: pic.twitter.com/6BZTm4FA0t
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) November 3, 2023
We’ll see what St. Louis decides to do with this line, with Christian Dvorak’s return on the horizon. He may opt to bump Monahan up to the top line to play wing, but it might be hard with how well this trio is playing. Do you really want to split that up? Especially with the second line struggling so much?
And, of course, it wouldn’t be a discussion surrounding the Canadiens without bringing up injuries. All three of these guys have missed significant time due to injuries in the past; you have to keep that in mind going forward. But as of right now, this line has been providing much-needed depth and a much-needed spark, and they deserve credit for that.
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