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Canadiens Beat Devils For An Important 2 Points Before 7 Game Road Trip

December 15, 2017, 12:23 PM ET [91 Comments]
Brandon Smillie
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Canadiens found a way to gut out a hard fought, OT victory against the always tough New Jersey Devils last night at the Bell Centre with T Plekanec scoring the winning goal to end the game at 2-1.



This was a game that seemed like it had potential to get away from Montreal early as Devil S Noesen scored his 3rd of the year only 1:21 into the game. Thankfully, Montreal didn’t allow a goal within the next minute or so and that could be our new indicator that we may still have a game ahead.

This game was pretty even all night and at the 13:31 mark A Shaw put home his 8th of the season with assists going to J Benn and P Danault. Can I just say I’m pleasantly surprised by the play of Benn lately. He has been getting on the score sheet more regularly and looks like he is playing with confidence. The last 5 games he has played under 20 minutes only once (CGY), has 2G and 1A, and a +/- of 0. A big turn around for the lumberjack.



Shaw’s play of late has been fantastic as well. In his last 8 games he has 4G and 3A with a +2 and averaging around 18 minutes a game. While he is slightly overpaid by most fans standards, he has been worth it so far this season.

The rest of the game was a typical, tight hockey game with solid goaltending from a couple of the leagues best in C Schneider and C Price. Montreal had a bit of a advantage in the 3rd as they outshot the Devils 13-7 to offset the Devils 2nd period shot advantage of 12-7 and both team had finished the night 0-3 on the PP so the game was as even as they come.

So even it led to a 1-1 tie set of Overtime where a brilliant effort to gain the zone and fight off 2 Devils along the wall before flipping the puck to the center of the zone created an opportunity for Plekanec to walk in all alone with all kinds of time. Plekanec made no mistake burying his 4th of the season with a slick low shot and giving Montreal a very important 2 points. Personally, hockey standings aside its just great that the Habs sent the fans home happy in what was the last game at the Bell Centre for 2017.




Schneider stopped 34 of 36 shots on the night for the Loss while Price stopped 31 of 32 for his 9th win and even his W/L record (9-9-2). Great to see Price bounce back after that early first goal against. I can’t lie, when the Devils scored I was ready to just walk out into the middle of the snow dumping my area was in throes of and just screaming. Classic Hab fan overreaction, I know. To see the team fight back, tighten up, and get the points is a huge boost for their morale. Let’s see if they can roll that into this weekends Centennial Classic game.

By the way, why can’t NHL.com or tricolore.com restock the authentic Drouin or Gallagher jerseys? It is literally the only gift I asked the wife for and they only have Price and Weber available. I tried to contact Tricolore on twitter but they don’t respond to anything I write. I should try asking in French…

But I digress.

With the win Montreal still trails Boston by 2 points for 3rd in the Atlantic, with Boston having 3 games in hand, but are also only 3 points back of the 8th seed NY Rangers (who also hold 1 game in hand). The Canadiens are still very much in the race here, but every loss will push them closer to seller status and push the fans and media to hysterical levels. They are definitely navigating rough waters and its difficult to say if this ship will make it through, or sink to the bottom of the Atlantic.

But, until the math hits hard in the standings, the Habs are still fighting. Can’t ask for much more than that I suppose. The Canadiens end the year on a 7 game road trip that goes through Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Florida. Tough sledding ahead, which makes last nights win even more important.




Next game is the Centennial Classic in Ottawa this weekend where Montreal will take on the Senators. The Senators are coming off a big win against the NY Rangers, but have still gone 2-7-1 in their last 10 games. Not to mention having GM Dorion’s attempt at motivation possibly backfiring hard into his own face with his request for players to submit their NTC lists of teams they would accept trades to. The most noteable being captain Karlsson who just a week or so before said he was going to cash in wherever he ended up in free agency.

So the Sens, mired in a epic slump, had their captain say “Pay me huge or I’m gone”, after they dealt Turris over money, and the GM thought “I know how to light a fire under these guys” and asks for all possible NTC lists…. Smooth.

Anyways, I’ll have a little write up about that tomorrow.





HUDON SHOWING PROMISE

Hudon is turning in a quality rookie campaign so far if I do say so…

“Smiles, WTF are you talking about?! Hudon has 4G and 9A in 31 games! That’s not good!”

Yes, it is. Very few rookies can walk in and put up a 50 point pace (0.6 PPG) over 82 games, very few. Even the ones that do can sometimes fall off the cliff for a couple seasons after. For a young player like Hudon to step in to a team that for most of the season had difficulty scoring and put up a 0.42 PPG pace is pretty good. The expectation for a player with the obvious skills of Hudon is that the trend continues upwards until after a few seasons you see a peak or a player reaches 27 years old (or thereabouts). Hudon is 23 so his finish to the season will go a long way to establishing his expectations for next season and if he deserves better opportunity.



Should Hudon continue to progress positively he could see himself finish the season around 34 points over 82 games which would be great for the Canadiens rookie. He could push his trajectory into the top 6 wing potential with a 40-45 pt potential as a sophmore. This would be very good for the Canadiens who also have Lehkonen, Gallagher, Pacioretty, and Galchenyuk on the wings.

More scoring depth is good and its even better when you don’t have to overpay in a trade or UFA market to add it.


Go Habs Go!



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