Montreal Canadiens

[niconasr]

Now that is how you protect a lead!

Haven't seen the Habs protect a lead as well as they did last night for a long time. It was pretty refreshing to see them first on the puck almost every time. Even if this was against a Canucks team playing the final game of a 7-game road trip, it still means something.

I agree Beaulieu was a huge improvment over Allen. Gilbert is still playing pretty poorly though so hopefully he can bounce back.

Really liked what I saw from the new top line. I wish Galchenyuk would shoot the puck a bit more but I guess he's simply wired as a pass-first kind of player.

[ericdaoust]

Haven't seen the Habs protect a lead as well as they did last night for a long time. It was pretty refreshing to see them first on the puck almost every time.

To me it was as good as it gets for protecting a lead. Strong forecheck and scoring chances for a few minutes before going into protect mode at the very last second. Much better than playing 20+ minutes in protect mode because the way the game played out the Habs were much more likely to score an insurance goal than they were to allowing the tying goal.

[mister_mcgoo]

Habs need to figure out how to win on the road

[newfcollins]

I wonder if it's because they didn't have the lead going into the third. It was tied until 5 or 6 minutes left in the game, so maybe they didn't have a chance to think about getting into the "defence shell" until the final minute.

[ericdaoust]

I wonder if it's because they didn't have the lead going into the third. It was tied until 5 or 6 minutes left in the game, so maybe they didn't have a chance to think about getting into the "defence shell" until the final minute.

Yeah probably. Most NHL teams go into shell mode when protecting one-goal leads anyway so the Habs are not alone on this. More of a trend thing and I don't think it's the right approach considering how many shots are deflected and/or screened these days (ie goalie can't do much but hope it hits him). Only real cure for that is to keep the puck out of the zone.

[yougo]

What a game last night!!!!

I really hope that Therrien isn't just putting these lines to punish some players, and that he finally decided to put Galchenyuk with Pacioretty.

Look at those numbers :

Final ES Corsi for the top line:

Gallagher: 19-0 (100%).
Galchenyuk 21-1 (95%).
Pacioretty 17-1 (94%)

[yougo]

I'd add : This might be the the last chance you've got (if it's not already too late) to buy reasonably low on Galchenyuk. If Therrien keeps him with Pacioretty, his fantasy value will rocket.

[ericdaoust]

I'm thinking Desharnais gets forced to move to wing once Eller returns. Let him earn it on the 2nd or 3rd line.

[yougo]

I'm thinking Desharnais gets forced to move to wing once Eller returns. Let him earn it on the 2nd or 3rd line.

You're right and this will come at Andrighetto's expense. He's been good so far, dangerous when he has the puck. Nice feed yesterday to Plekanec. With Hudon having his way with the AHL right now, I'd see the future looks bright pour Les Canadiens.

[ericdaoust]

You're right and this will come at Andrighetto's expense. He's been good so far, dangerous when he has the puck. Nice feed yesterday to Plekanec. With Hudon having his way with the AHL right now, I'd see the future looks bright pour Les Canadiens.

Not to mention Scherbak and McCarron looking good too. Bergevin's picks are looking promising and it's only a matter of time before it pays dividends.

[evans334]

I wouldn't be surprised if MT kept the French Canadian line together(Bournival-DD-PAP) and moved Lars back onto the 2nd on the wing (Eller-Pleck-Sekac).

Unless Andrighetto lights the league on fire between now and Eller's return, he'll be back down in Hamilton.

[ericdaoust]

Gallagher: 19-0 (100%).
Galchenyuk 21-1 (95%).
Pacioretty 17-1 (94%)

This usually only happens when teams play vs the Leafs.

[mister_mcgoo]

#Habs Bell Centre sellout streak ends tonight at 383 regular-season games. 1 seat short to mark the absence of Jean Beliveau

https://twitter.com/SNstats/status/542538278646591488

[mister_mcgoo]

What a goal by Sekac, it's so nice to see guys like this stepping up with that waste of a spot Bourque gone

[ericdaoust]

I know I'm going out on a limb here but I think the advanced stats guys would refer to the Habs/Kings game as an outlier.