The Montreal Canadiens played one of their most complete games in quite some time as they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0 in overtime at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night. Alex Galchenyuk scored the game winning overtime goal for a second straight night on a powerplay, giving the Canadiens three consecutive wins to close out the month of February. Perhaps the old saying is true, it’s not how you start but how you finish.
The win should have been the topic of the day. Carey Price was unbelievable recording his first shutout since November 12th. The Canadiens went tit for tat with the mighty Blue Jackets and for a low scoring game it was incredibly entertaining to watch. Max Pacioretty should have scored the game winner in overtime in a goal that was called back as the referee explained that he was planning on blowing the whistle. Phillip Danault had a very strong game and sent Pacioretty in alone on that play with a classic pass off the boards to spring him free. Much to John Tortorella's dismay, the referees gave the Canadiens a makeup call sending them to the powerplay in overtime and Galchenyuk made no mistake about scoring his fourth game winning overtime overtime goal this season.
Benn was excellent in his Canadiens debut, stabilizing Nathan Beaulieu on the third defensive pairing and lightened Andrei Markov's load as he took over first unit penalty kill units alongside Shea Weber.
#Habs Julien says Benn is a throwback - communicates w/ his partner a lot on the bench. CJ believes Beaulieu will benefit from that tendency
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) March 1, 2017
The game itself though was nearly overshadowed by the news that center David Desharnais, a healthy scratch on Tuesday was traded mid-game to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for defenseman Brandon Davidson. ESPN and TSN insider Pierre LeBrun revealed that the Canadiens will retain 20% of Desharnais’ salary but he will become an unrestricted free agent by the end of the season.
TRADE DETAILS: https://t.co/qqBrHbBIJA https://t.co/uzEKlS7Wr2
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 1, 2017
Along with the previous acquisition on Monday of Jordie Benn, the Canadiens are now stockpiled with defensemen, especially left handed ones at that. Davidson had been highly thought of in Edmonton as he has good size at 6’2… and 210 pounds and still young at 25. He had an excellent season in 2015-2016 with eleven points, plus seven and averaging over 19 minutes a game for the Oilers in 51 games. Unfortunately he has struggled this season since returning to the lineup in December from an upper body injury. The Oilers were apparently nervous that they would lose Davidson in the upcoming expansion draft, similarly to how the Dallas Stars dealt Benn to the Canadiens. The irony of course is that the Canadiens were somewhat concerned that they would lose the departed Greg Pateryn in the expansion draft as well. Davidson has one more year left on his contract after this season at a cap hit of $1.45 million usd.
While Desharnais’ time in Montreal had obviously come to an end as a healthy scratch in four of the Canadiens last six games, he deserves a lot of credit for making it to the NHL. Small and undrafted, Desharnais played as an overage player in the QMJHL, worked his way up from the ECHL to the AHL to the NHL. He stepped up when the Canadiens had no one else in the system to play center in the top six. While Desharnais’ play deteriorated over the past few years, he has been a consummate pro and revealed this morning that he never asked for a trade. While there was no longer a place for him on the Canadiens roster, I wish him well in Edmonton and for the rest of his career wherever it may take him.
Now that the blue line is crowded, everyone is expecting that one of Alexei Emelin or Nathan Beaulieu will be dealt to make some room for one of the defensemen in an attempt to acquire a scoring forward or center. Beaulieu was very honest and realistic when questioned about the trade deadline day after the Canadiens win:
Here's Nathan Beaulieu on the possibility he could be traded tomorrow. Refreshingly honest and very interesting. pic.twitter.com/PzijhOuk98
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) March 1, 2017
After midnight, Canadiens general manager surprised everyone and made a trade with the Detroit Red Wings to acquire Steve Ott:
Canadiens acquire forward Steve Ott from the Detroit Red Wings, in return for a 6th round pick in 2018.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 1, 2017
DETAILS -> https://t.co/hDG0RGyISd
Ott’s history as a disturber and dirty player is quite long. However, he has been quite useful on the Red Wings fourth line and on their penalty kill this season. Along with Andrew Shaw and Brendan Gallagher, the Canadiens have more than their fair share of pests and will be a team that players will not necessarily want to go against… That is if they are all still with the Canadiens after 3pm on Wednesday.
These moves lead many to be that Bergevin is currently working the phones and hoping to make a bigger deal.
Stay tuned!
Also, be sure to check out today’s webcast on Hockeybuzz as I will be on from 12-1pm today!
Cheers and follow along! Follow @Jenbcutler