Thank the heavens! Claude Julien finally saw fit to reunite Drouin, Domi and Shaw on a line and boy oh boy did it work! I've said it before in a few blogs, when you play with two skilled passers and you have a knack to crash the net like Andrew Shaw does, good things will happen. A few nights after Brendan Gallagher got his first hat-trick, it was Shaw's turn to get his against the Wings. At the end of the evening, Domi had 5 points, Shaw 3 and Drouin 4, couldn't have asked for much more from them. I know, it was only Detroit but still, after getting beaten by the Devils' D team yesterday, it's good to see such a victory.
Max Domi's reaction when seeing his face on a T-shirt 😂. Only in Montreal.
— Tricolore Sports (@TricoloreSports) January 19, 2019
Get your Domi Nation tee today!
--> https://t.co/pTTSHpYwoS pic.twitter.com/pW1R5CkIRa
Everything went right tonight, the Canadiens dominated the play from start to finish and lead in pretty much every single category; shots, face-offs, blocked shots and they even managed to kill the 5 penalties they took. Tomas Tatar got things started by scoring the first goal and looked full or energy as per usual. The way he got rid of the d-man was just beautiful. The more I see him play, the more he reminds me of Alexander Radulov's energy on the ice, that was heck of a throw in to get in a trade!
Tatar vient hanter son ancienne équipe !@TomasTatar90 haunts his former team!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/lbU71UmNYC
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 27, 2019
Even Joel Armia scored tonight, not on the power play (the Habs didn't have a single one) but still! He scored in a near empty net thanks to a masterpiece of a pass from Kotkaniemi. If there was one negative point about tonight, it would be the poor Artturi Lehkonen...He had scoring chances again but was denied every time. In fact, the fourth line was on the ice when Detroit scored its sole goal of the game and since they didn't take part in the offense, Lehkonen, Weise and Thompson all finished the game at -1.
As for the playoffs race, both Carolina and Pittsburgh won tonight while the Blue Jackets lost (to Pittsburgh) meaning that Carolina is now third in the Metropolitan division, Montreal is still in the first wild card spot and Pittsburgh in the second one. For all their trading, Columbus has now temporarily (they hope) dropped to the 9th place. However, Montreal is a point ahead of both the Canes and the Pens but they both have a game in hand while the Jackets are two points behind but with 2 games in hand.
Revivez les trois buts du premier tour du chapeau @Enterprise en carrière d'Andrew Shaw!
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 27, 2019
Relive the three goals of @shawz15er's first career @Enterprise hat trick!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/xKbppEy3m5
The Habs now have two days off before playing their 12th back to back of the season in New York Friday and in Montreal Saturday against the Pens. Needless to say that this will be a must win game in this thrilling race to the finish!