This past week, the Montreal Canadiens went 1-1-1 through three tough games. It was essentially an unlucky week. While the week before the Habs had played some of the team’s best hockey of the year, this past week seemed as if a slump is coming with luck going the other way. The Canadiens saw their first three-game losing streak of the season, after ending last week with a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Habs Weekly Report: Unlucky Week
The Canadiens didn’t necessarily play poorly throughout the week. The losses came because of bad bounces. The perfect example is Aaron Ekblad‘s overtime goal in which his stick broke but the shot bounced in. To make matters worse, just before the goal Alex Galchenyuk was on the ice for about 10 seconds with no stick deep in the defensive zone.
While the Canadiens got a point from their performance on Tuesday night, they were very unlucky to have lost the way they did. Overall, the team played a good game, outshooting the Panthers 37-24. That game was a result that Carey Price can’t play incredibly each game. This is normal but unfortunately, his team wasn’t able to bail him out on his mediocre play.
While the Canadiens played well for the most of the week, they did have six minutes that destroyed them on Friday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Habs entered the third period with a 1-0 lead despite the fact they should have had a bigger lead. The fact that the Canadiens didn’t capitalize on their chances earlier certainly didn’t help, but the team came out with absolute no gas. The Hurricanes scored three quick goals leaving the Habs to lose 3-2 despite dominating the Hurricanes who had nine shots prior to the third period.
The Habs final game of the week was a hard fought game against their rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canadiens won the game 2-1 for their 12th straight victory against the Leafs. Price has also yet to lose in regulation so far this season.
The Impact of Alexander Radulov on his linemates
Alexander Radulov proved this week how important he is to the Habs. Radulov missed the first two games of the week with the flu, during which the Canadiens lost. In his return, Radulov put up assists on both the Habs goals.
However, it’s not just his ability to put up points that make him valuable. It seems like Galchenyuk and Paul Byron mesh together better around Radulov than any other right wing that had played with them. Both of them capitalized from Radulov’s passing abilities each scoring a goal in the dynamic Russian’s return. The three players had instant chemistry yet again. It’s hard to believe that Byron isn’t close to being a top-line player when he fits so well with the Russian duo.
Radulov is a key component for the offense. Being a play-maker he is the perfect compliment to get the puck to a sniper like Galchenyuk.
Gallagher’s Slump
Super pest Brendan Gallagher has been in a rare slump as of late. The Canadiens right winger has not scored in 10 games and only has four assists in that time. Gallagher who has played most of his time with Tomas Plekanec, got a chance to play with Galchenyuk this week for the first time in eight games.
This certainly helped Gallagher receive a point on a Byron goal earlier in the week. However, he is still known to be one of the team’s hardest workers. He will get there soon, it might help him when his linemates get out of a slump as well. Aside from the Galchenyuk line, no other line has produced consistently.
He believes he will get his share of goals soon enough. Monday morning on TSN 690, Gallagher commented on his recent slump.
“I know eventually I’m going to score goals, I’ve scored goals before.” said Gallagher.
Gallagher isn’t a natural scorer who brings it up himself and has often relied on linemates to do the fancy work before he puts the puck in the net. However, usually he is the player that gets his teammates going. This year he seems to have no impact on his center Tomas Plekanec who seems to have aged a lot this season.
Tomas Plekanec
Plekanec has been having a nightmare of a season. This past week was no different as he often finds himself missing chances on which he used to score. It must be frustrating for the Czech forward as he looks like a shell of his former self.
The 34-year-old is still very effective on the penalty kill, but has lost all his time on the powerplay during this offensive struggle. Unlike the young Gallagher it’s hard to say if he’s going to get it going anytime soon. At almost the quarter mark of the season, Plekanec only has one goal to his credit. This is unacceptable for a player who is making $6 million. He will need to find his game soon, because the Canadiens are in dire need of a true second-line center who can produce around 50-60 points a season. Plekanec seems to have those days behind him.
Not to mention the fact, that Gallagher is in a serious slump playing with him. It might be a good time to place them with Max Pacioretty at some point in order to get them all going. They have some chemistry that dates back to last year. It might be time to move on from the 11-year veteran.
Max Pacioretty
Pacioretty has contributed some assists as of late as well as a rare goal, but the problem is he isn’t supposed to be a secondary scorer. Currently the four-time 30-goal scorer is on pace for only 18 goals. A player of his caliber needs to produce more. It seems like the captaincy is eating up his skill again. He currently ranks 46th in the NHL in shots, whereas last year he finished third overall. There is still time to turn that stat around but he needs to get back to his basic skill which is shooting sooner than later.
It seems as if something is said every few weeks on here lately. Even his coach had something to say about his recent play.
“You can’t always expect to have the puck come to you. Sometimes you have to go get it.” – Michel Therrien on Max Pacioretty
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) November 21, 2016
Hopefully, Pacioretty gets the message Tuesday night vs. the Ottawa Senators as he will be lined up beside his fifth center of the season, Torrey Mitchell. Pacioretty has just not been able to get going under any center this year. It’s on Pacioretty to make that happen with Mitchell.
Overall Thoughts
Many of the core players may be in slumps. However, Shea Weber has continued his strong play. He currently leads all NHL defensemen in goals with seven and points with 15. He also sits currently third in +/- with a +16 rating. Weber has been a huge part of the early success of the team. He looks as if he will continue to stay solid for a long time as there is no sign of any regression as some may have said.
Another positive is Andrew Shaw who has been playing much better hockey as of late. He is now playing more of the gritty game many expected of him.
This week starts with a game on Tuesday against the Senators at the Bell Centre.
Main Photo.
