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Habs go out with a 5-2 win over the Lightning. |
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The Montreal Canadiens ended their season on a positive note, defeating the depleted Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 at the Bell Centre. It was a bittersweet victory for the Canadiens as the final buzzer meant that their season is officially over and no playoff hockey to look forward to. Some players might continue on playing for their country at the World Championship in May but others will be turning the page as quickly as possible on this dismal season.
Alex Galchenyuk and Max Pacioretty were tied at 28 goals apiece prior to game 82 and so the race to 30 was on. Galchenyuk opened the scoring 5 minutes into the game and Pacioretty scored early in the second to stay pace. Shortly thereafter, Galchenyuk would win the race to 30 with a powerplay goal. With that, Galchenyuk became the third youngest Canadiens to reach 30 goals in a season, behind only Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion and Stephane Richer. Pacioretty would get to 30 as well when he netted an empty net goal in the dying seconds of the game. Apparently, that goal came at the urging of Mme. Elise Beliveau who told Pacioretty to try to get his 30th in the final period:
The Tampa Bay Lightning had very little to play for and it showed when they hit the ice. Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start in goal while the Lightning’s #1 goalie Ben Bishop watched the game from the dressing room. In addition, they were missing Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Ryan Callahan. On top of that towards the end of the first, Greg Pateryn cross-checked Tyler Johnson and unfortunately his skate got caught in a rut and Johnson went head first into the boards. It was a scary moment for Johnson and the Lightning and he was not able to return to the game. Pateryn was punished with a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. It has already been announced that he will not face a suspension. Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was visibly upset after the incident and postgame:
Pateryn is a physical player but not a dirty one. He played for four years under the tutelage of legend Red Berenson at Michigan. He gave a light cross-check that was likely unnecessary but one we see all the time. However, this one had an unfortunate turn of events. If he had hit Johnson harder the result could have been even worse…
Galchenyuk closed the 2015-2016 season as the Canadiens undisputed #1 centre. It took much longer for this to happen than many would have liked. The detours to the wing were sometimes necessary but extended for far too long. In a season of many what if’s, it is hard to imagine that Galchenyuk would have even gotten this most recent opportunity had David Desharnais not gotten injured. Even still when that happened Therrien was hesitant to try Galchenyuk with Pacioretty and Gallagher because of one bad game:
Now, Therrien can be all smiles:
The Canadiens can now step into the sunset, ending the season on somewhat of a high note. They got their confidence back but it was too little too late. It will be a long Summer of reflection and rehabilitation for many players. The players will be available to the media starting from 9am Monday morning and general manager Marc Bergevin will speak at 1:30pm. It is already widely presumed that Therrien will be back behind the bench next season. However, if the Boston Bruins do indeed fire Claude Julien in the coming days as they have now missed the playoffs two years in a row, Bergevin must pause and consider bringing in Julien, a proven winner. If Bergevin does not snatch him up, then look to the Ottawa Senators to make that move. Does Bergevin really want to see Julien go to another division rival?
It has been a blast blogging about the Canadiens for Hockeybuzz this year. Thanks all for your continued support and hockey talk! I’ll still be blogging during the off-season as I am sure there will be plenty to discuss and dissect. I am thinking of doing a mailbag entry some time next week. If you have any Q’s that you want me to answer, hit the comments/PM me on HockeyBuzz or Tweet/DM me there.
Cheers & follow along!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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