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Habs dig out of 4-game slump, slowly returning to health... |
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On what was a spectacular night for Lars Eller, Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk, the Canadiens slipped out of their four-game coma against a New York Islanders team that's going through some struggles of its own.
Eller, Galchenyuk and Gallagher combined for eight points, making magic on three of the four goals the Canadiens scored in this game. Michael Bournival collected the other on the powerplay, gift-wrapped by Raphael Diaz.
The final score of 4-2 wasn't entirely indicative of the way this one played out. The Canadiens set the pace after a slightly laborious start and never really had to look back. Their penalty kill, having successfully thwarted 21 straight attempts, succumbed twice to the Islanders in this game, but the Habs were in full control on their own powerplay, and Tomas Plekanec's line with Brian Gionta and Max Pacioretty rendered Jonathan Tavares and Kyle Okposo into non-threats at 5-on-5.
Without Thomas Vanek, Lubomir Visnovsky and Evgeni Nabokov, you may have considered the Islanders as the perfect opponent for a team that was lacking in confidence. The Habs established something to build on in this game, and they'll face a surprisingly steeper challenge when the Lightning come to town on Tuesday.
I'm not sure I'm quite ready to eat my words on where I thought the Lightning would stack up in the Eastern Conference before the season got underway, but I can admit that the chance of them finishing last--from this point--is not a very safe bet. They currently sit atop the East with a 12-4 record, and a goal differential of +15. Stamkos and St. Louis are playing like... Stamkos and St. Louis. Victor Hedman is apparently playing like the guy they drafted and expected to be a premiere player. And Ben Bishop's 11-2, .927 SA% and 2.12 GAA makes you think about just how deep the US's goaltending pool has become.
The Habs will hope to build on what they established against the Islanders. They got one line going, and they've got a few other players in P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec and Bournival playing inspired hockey these days.
Daniel Briere is expected to play Tuesday, and that more than likely pushes David Desharnais to the sidelines. The coach has given his struggling centreman every opportunity to snap out of this miserable funk he's mired in, but Desharnais is just broken. Therrien pointed to Eller, Galchenyuk and Gallagher's work ethic as the key to their success. In the same breath, he mentioned that times are really tough for Desharnais.
A lot of people are pointing to Max Pacioretty's lack of production, and his -5 rating as signs of struggle. Given Pacioretty's injury status for most of this season, his game doesn't exactly look off. He's driving the net, he's pushing the pace, and things are likely to unblock for him as he develops chemistry with Gionta and Plekanec. Perhaps he'll move around a bit with healthy returns for Briere and Prust in the balance. I'm sure Pacioretty's disappointed that he's not scoring, but I doubt he's disappointed with the way he's playing.
Speaking of healthy returns, Alexei Emelin's edging ever closer.
The Canadiens practice in Brossard this morning... Updates to come on the health of their roster.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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