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Habs defeat Devils 4-3 in OT & Jordie Benn to make MTL debut vs CBJ |
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Before the Montreal Canadiens took to the ice against the New Jersey Devils Monday night, general manager Marc Bergevin entered the trade deadline foray dealing disgruntled defenseman Greg Pateryn and a fourth round draft pick to the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Jordie Benn. Pateryn never really got a fair chance under the previous regime of Michel Therrien and admitted to feeling as though someone was constantly breathing down his neck. Unfortunately, things for him took an ugly turn when his wife decided to take to Twitter and express her frustrations with his playing time and coaching staff. It soon became known around the league that Pateryn was available.
In Benn the Canadiens are getting a veteran depth defenseman although he is certainly an upgrade over Pateryn. While he is left handed, the 29 year old Benn said he actually prefers to play on the right side and so will fit perfectly on the Canadiens third pairing. In Dallas, Benn was playing on the second defensive pairing alongside Dan Hamhuis and averaging 18:37 minutes of ice time a game. In Montreal, Benn should help stabilize the third pairing as Nathan Beaulieu has had a revolving door of partners over the last while. However, if Beaulieu plays as he did in the third period and overtime last night, perhaps Benn will find himself playing with Alexei Emelin or Nikita Nesterov instead… Benn will take over Pateryn’s number eight jersey and is signed for two more seasons at a reasonable cost of $1.1 million usd per year.
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As for the actual game on Monday night, It took nearly seven weeks but the Montreal Canadiens have finally won two games in a row as they came back to defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 in overtime. The Canadiens came out flat to start the game and took over 40 minutes to wake up and realize that they were in jeopardy of losing, down 2-0 early in the third period. At that moment head coach Claude Julien decided to put his top line out and Alexander Radulov rewarded his decision by scoring eleven seconds after the Devils second goal to cut the lead in half. The momentum was briefly interrupted when Phillip Danault took a hooking penalty and Tomas Plekanec cleanly lost the ensuing faceoff, leading to Travis Zajac extending the Devils lead to 3-1.
Rather than become deflated and give up on the game, the Canadiens led by captain Max Pacioretty dug deep and pushed themselves into the next gear. Less than a minute after Zajac had scored, Pacioretty capitalized off of a rebound from Nathan Beaulieu’s shot from the point to bring the Canadiens to within one goal of the Devils. With Al Montoya pulled and an extra skater on the ice, Pacioretty would score his 31st goal of the season to send the game into overtime. In overtime, Beaulieu drew a penalty which led to Alex Galchenyuk scoring the winning goal on a Canadiens powerplay.
Puck props and flops:
Max Pacioretty - He has grown into the captain’s role and then some this season as he has picked the team up from the ground and is now carrying them on his back. Pacioretty has been the Canadiens most consistent forward since he recovered from his foot fracture back at the end of November. He is playing inspired hockey as of late and is doing everything he can so as not to repeat the devastating collapse from a season ago. With his 30th and 31th goals last night, Pacioretty became just the fifth Canadiens player to score 30 or more goals in four consecutive seasons, joining the illustrious group of Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer and Steve Shutt. Is there a better bargain in the NHL (non entry level contract) than Pacioretty’s $4.5 million usd annual salary cap? Perhaps this statistic is even more impressive:
Alexander Radulov - With a goal and three assists, Radulov factored in on every one of the Canadiens goals against the Devils. There have a few times over the last few games when Radulov has not looked as engaged as he normally does with some suggesting that perhaps he was hitting a wall in his first NHL season back from the KHL. He was held pointless for six consecutive games but he broke out of that slump in style against the Devils on Monday night. There have been suggestions that the Canadiens should trade Radulov by tomorrow if he does not sign a long term contract in Montreal by that time. Bergevin would be throwing the towel in on the season if he were to trade Radulov as his offense is irreplaceable, unless Bergevin makes a mega deal or two…
Nathan Beaulieu - Perhaps the Canadiens most divisive defenseman due to his potential to play in the top four but his inconsistency and mental mistakes are a source of frustration. His play in the third period against the Devils was the former as his shot led to Pacioretty’s first goal of the game and he was rewarded with time on the second pairing next to Jeff Petry as the Canadiens looked for more offense to tie the game up. For the first time under Julien’s reign he also received playing time in overtime and his strong play led to a Devils penalty. The question is, as always, can he play like that consistently?
Flops:
The Blender - With nothing doing in the game, Julien made the decision to change his lines which is all fine and well but the blender seemed to be in overdrive as the combinations, save for the first line were always changing. Alex Galchenyuk was moved to the left wing, than to the right wing. Artturi Lehkonen was demoted to the fourth line. David Desharnais was promoted as the third line center. None of these moves paid off.
Shea Weber & Andrei Markov - The Canadiens top duo struggled for much of the game, unable to build on their stronger performance from Saturday night against the Maple Leafs. When they are at the top of their games the pair form a formidable first unit but the veterans have their weaknesses and when they are both off, they cannot be together. How long will this experiment last? Will Bergevin be able to find a partner for Weber at the trade deadline?
Sven Andrighetto - His time with the Canadiens has all but come to an end. Save for a good five game stretch in January, Andrighetto has done very little on the ice this season to merit a roster spot. Especially when there are other options. Michael McCarron needs to get back into the lineup while Charles Hudon deserves a real chance to play so that the Canadiens can see if he is part of their future. He certainly would not fare any worse than Andrighetto…
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The Canadiens returned home after the game against the Devils and will host the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at the Bell Centre. Carey Price will get the start in net while Benn will make his Canadiens debut. As the New York Rangers were a test for the Canadiens exactly a week ago, the Blue Jackets will present a formidable challenge for the team this evening considering their struggles against them this season. There is no doubt that this Blue Jackets team is "for real" as my six year old son would say. If the Canadiens are able to pull a win out tonight, that would be three consecutive victories in a row and certainly a turning point under Julien...
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Finally and perhaps a little under the radar, tonight’s game at the Bell Centre is the Canadiens turn to host “You Can Play Night”, a wonderful initiative by the NHL:
I will come back to update any lineup changes or if a trade should happen...
Puck drops at 7:30pm.
Cheers and enjoy the game!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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