This past week the Montreal Canadiens went 2-1-0. The main topic for this past week is timely scoring. While the Canadiens won their games in low scoring games, the goals that the Habs did score came at key moments. A team led by Carey Price doesn’t need to score a lot.
Habs Weekly Report: Timely Scoring
Price Stands Tall (Again)
Price has proven to be a huge X-factor in the Habs winning their games. Yet again he proved that the Habs will win when he steals games. While the Canadiens outshot the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday 39-23, they lost 4-3. Price allowed a few bad goals and the Canadiens players were unable to bail him out. However, this was the only game that they were unable to score key goals.
In the game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, Price played great stopping 32 of 33 shots, and the Habs won 2-1. The goals came at timely fashion with Andrew Shaw scoring midway through the second. Captain Max Pacioretty scored in-tight for the eventual game-winning goal.
Saturday night, the Canadiens won again 2-1 in overtime against the Detroit Red Wings. The Canadiens won with the amazing play of Price, who stopped 32 out of 33 shots. The timely goals scored by Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk also helped in the divisional win.
Price especially came out clutch early in overtime when Shea Weber took a bad penalty. He and the other penalty killers were able to kill off the Habs best defenseman’s penalty. This led to a play in which Alexander Radulov and Galchenyuk connected for the game-winning goal. The pair has continued their dominance on the top line together, and there is no sign of slowing down. Some can even say that in 3-on-3 overtime, the duo is even more dangerous as there is more ice for them to work.
The Emelin-Boom
Alexei Emelin has quietly been having a career year being paired with Weber. He has been playing like the old Emelin that would hit anything that moves. He currently makes $4.1 million per season which is a little pricey for what he brings, however, it is hard to complain when he is playing well. While his contract isn’t great, he has proved to be a huge help with his hitting and shot blocking. This past week was just an example, of how much damage Emelin can do when he plays on top of his game. Especially Saturday, when his hits took out a pair of young Red Wings forwards.
On Saturday night, Tyler Bertuzzi was forced to leave the game, and Dylan Larkin missed some time in the game after both being on the other end of the Emelin-Boom.
For Habs fans, it’s great to see the old version of Emelin before he had his knee injury in 2013. Ever since Emelin had struggled to be the same player, therefore, it’s nice to see him back to his old self. Eventually, he and Weber won’t be able to keep up the same success together considering both aren’t puck moving defensemen. However, he could still remain very serviceable in a fringe top-four defenseman situation for the Canadiens if an injury occurs. As of right now, the Canadiens should keep him on the top pairing until either a trade occurs or Nathan Beaulieu starts stepping up.
The General still has it
Andrei Markov‘s passing abilities will be missed when he retires. Markov may not be the same player he once was but he is still incredibly talented. In order, to get the best out of the 38-year-old defenseman his minutes need to be managed. A problem last season was that it wasn’t done properly, and Markov would often tire out faster towards the end of games. However, this season playing nearly two minutes less per game has really helped his performance on the ice. This has especially helped his case on the power play. With his minutes Markov has more energy and more vision towards the end of the game.
While Weber and Kirk Muller have been a huge help in fixing the power play, but Markov having more energy helps a lot as well. Markov is currently tied for third in points for defensemen and has the most assists for all defensemen in the NHL. His vision is incredible. During Tuesday night’s loss Markov assisted on all three Habs goals proving that his vision is very important to the team’s offense. He may not have the speed anymore but what he does have is his great first pass. If his minutes are managed properly, Markov could continue to be a great force all season on the power play.
Overall Thoughts
It was great seeing the timely scoring in games for the Habs this week. In a week where it was important to win their games because of the dreadful California trip coming up, the Canadiens did a good job collecting four out of possible six points. Even if Price was the main reason they won, that isn’t a problem as the team has a weapon that makes them win games. Many experts criticize the Canadiens for relying on Price so much yet every team has their weapon that wins them games. In Montreal, it just happens to be the guy in the crease.
Unlike last season when Price went down, the Canadiens were missing the right leadership and talent to win them games. Now with the Galchenyuk-Radulov duo, they have more talent up front in order to score, and Weber brings a lot more leadership to the team.
Therefore, at the quarter mark of the season, the Canadiens look better if they need to face adversity the way they did last year.
Main Photo.
