|
Habs Beat Blues After Trading Bourque for Allen |
|
|
|
|
|
Some people will go as far as to call that the best game of the Montreal Canadiens' season, but was it really all that different from Tuesday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins? Granted the roles were reversed, but sufficed to say the St. Louis Blues made some pretty uncharacteristic mistakes that cost them the hockey game.
No attempt here to discredit a dominant Habs performance. They were full value in all three zones, executing at a high level; capitalizing on turnovers; excelling in transition; shutting down the middle of the ice; attaining top quality goaltending when needed.
As for the Blues:
Kevin Shattenkirk's brain cramp consisted of launching a puck from behind his own net to Dale Weise's waiting stick and crashing into Allen to give Weise the goal too. It was arguably the worst play of the hockey season.
P.A Parenteau caught everyone sleeping and launched a beautiful breakaway pass to Max Pacioretty, who buried his ninth goal of the season through Jake Allen's five hole.
After Price stopped the only two great scoring chances for St. Louis in the third period, Desharnais had a lot of time and space in the offensive zone to set up Pacioretty's second of the night--a laser into the top part of the net.
Carl Gunnarsson--a long-time Canadiens victim--casually passed a puck up at the offensive blue line while his forwards were three deep expecting a chip and chase play, and the Habs turned it up ice to finish the Blues off with a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from Jiri Sekac, Brandon Prust and Lars Eller.
The Canadiens did a great job of bouncing back after an off-night against the Penguins, and though Pacioretty--celebrating his 26th birthday--labeled it a statement game, Michel Therrien threw a bit of cold water on that sentiment, saying it was a little early in the season to call it that.
Nonetheless, with the Toronto Maple Leafs taking care of the Tampa Bay Lightning at ACC, the win gives Montreal a three-point cushion in their division, placing them two points ahead of Anaheim for the best record in the NHL.
**************
1) Before the game, the NHL's most active GM pulled the trigger on a trade that sent Rene Bourque to Anaheim for Bryan Allen.
The Ducks absorb another season of Bourque's salary while Allen's comes off the Canadiens' books at the end of this one.
With the move, Bergevin adds size, physicality and experience to Montreal's back end. Allen's not exactly a point-producer, but he's played over 700 games in the NHL, he stands up for his teammates, and he moves pretty decently for a man his size.
2) All things considered, Bergevin actually got a piece for Bourque and managed to clear more than five million dollars in cap space for next season between this deal and the Moen deal for Gonchar.
It might not be welcome news for Jarred Tinordi or Nathan Beaulieu, but Bergevin was also addressing a need on his back end.
He kept a pretty straight face when I asked him on the night of the Gonchar trade what the identity was of his defense corps. He was well aware of what I was driving at.
He broke down the attributes of each player on the back end, and then swept it all up by saying he liked the balance there. But he didn't say anything about having toughness as part of the equation, and with Allen, they now have it.
3) I expect we'll hear that Beaulieu is making his way down to the Bulldogs. He and Tinordi--first round picks--will have to gain more seasoning before making their way back up to Montreal.
You can't argue against the notion that these players are most likely to adapt to the NHL pace of play by playing in the NHL. At this point, they've proven to be capable of playing at this level.
But at 21 and 22, it's somewhat ignorant to suggest there's nothing for them to learn and no way for them to improve by playing in Hamilton. If they prove to be dominant players at that level (neither of them have been to date), that will only help them develop the confidence to become more consistent players in the NHL.
Knock on wood, both of them are a couple of injuries away from coming right back. The hope would be they have the urgency and confidence to cement their place when given that opportunity.
4) Bergevin isn't done. And I'd expect he could very well have a move up his sleeve well in advance of the trade deadline, when you'd expect he might make one or two more.
Beaulieu's name has surfaced on the market. Word is that Bergevin might be willing to part with him, though there's been no other names linked to his.
I can only speculate to suggest that Bergevin has to be looking for another offensive gun. Beaulieu could net a pretty solid return all on his own.
5) Back-to-back games against Boston and New York this weekend. I'd imagine most fans looked at the schedule this week and thought 50% of the points taken would be a success for Montreal.
These are the last two of a 13-day stretch that featured eight quality opponents for the Canadiens.
This stretch was supposed to give us a clearer picture of where the Habs stand in relation to their record.
Wins against Minnesota, Winnipeg, Boston, Philadelphia and St. Louis were all impressive. They were well-earned, well-fought games for Montreal. The loss against Pittsburgh featured a lot of mistakes, but the effort level never really waned much, even when the game was completely out of reach.
Let's see how they close it out.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»