Montreal Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Habs Finally Beating Bruins

Second Period

The referees miss an obvious too many men as the Bruins defensemen make a change after Brandon Carlo breaks his stick but maintain possession because they play the puck long before Carlo leaves the ice. It is frustrating, but somewhat understandable when a ref misses a hook or a high stick, but it is mind boggling when they can’t count to six.

John Beecher plays for the Bruins and it reminds me of Cole Caufield’s first World Juniors when Beecher was his center. It seemed an odd choice as Caufield was clearly an elite goal scorer and Beecher was not an offensive player at all. Beecher has two points in 13 games for the Bruins this season after a 23 point campaign in the AHL last season.

Michael Pezzetta has a dominant shift but just can’t get the puck to cross the line. He blasts a one-timer from long range but gets stopped. He gets a partial breakaway because of a great defensive play by Kovacevic but his hard shot is turned aside. He gets another chance from the slot at the end of his shift but Jeremy Swayman stops that one as well. You would love to see such a hardworking player get rewarded for a great shift, but Pezzetta couldn’t buy one there.

I complain a lot about the lack of penalty shots called in the NHL but I am okay with them not giving Pastrnak a penalty shot. You may as well just throw the puck in the net and make the score 2-0, but the Canadiens do (barely) kill off the minor penalty.

The Sean Monahan line continues to be extremely effective at both ends of the ice. The Canadiens are going to have some tough decisions to make, especially on Monahan, if this continues until the trade deadline. Trade Monahan for a quality package of picks and prospects or re-sign him to an extension? Tough call.

Arber Xhekaj continues to bring an element to the Canadiens that no one else really does. He steps up in the neutral zone and lands a thundering body check that is clean and nearly knocks a Bruins forward into next week. You have to wonder how he fits on the team with Lane Hutson coming to take a roster spot on the left side, but he does things no one else can so how do you take him out of the lineup?

Whose power play is this anyway? They crisply move the puck around the offensive zone, create several scoring chances in a variety of ways and then the second unit comes out and does the same. They sit middle of the pack in the league which is lightyears better than last year.

As good as the power play has looked, they have not scored and had the only three calls go their way. I’m expecting a couple of calls to go the other way quickly in the third period as the referees inevitably step in and try to even things up.