The Montreal Canadiens did well in dominating the Buffalo Sabres at home by a score of 5-2 last night. The Bell Centre crowd deserved a good show, similarly to the one the Habs put on last week against the Calgary Flames.
How fitting it was that team captain Max Pacioretty netted a hat trick while superstar forward Alexander Radulov (2A) was absolutely on fire and created multiple scoring chances for his linemates. Phillip Danault also notched two helpers, but there are a few interesting storylines to consider ahead of the Habs’ matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night.
For starters, the return of David Desharnais was a successful one. After linemate Sven Andrighetto, who has been playing very respectable hockey for the last couple of weeks, intercepted a bad pass in the offensive zone, he fed Desharnais who made no mistake by scoring top shelf. Combined with Andrew Shaw, that line meshed together quite well despite popular opinion, though head coach Michel Therrien has already opted to move the diminutive center to the wing (more on this later).
Otherwise, Tomas Plekanec has seemingly not received the credit that he deserves recently. Over the course of the last 26 games, Plekanec has scored 6 goals and 16 points. As has been the case for his entire career, he somehow managed to do so without having regular linemates for an extended period of time, despite the success he’s had with Artturi Lehkonen and Paul Byron. Management and fans alike will hope that the long-serving veteran forward can continue producing on a consistent basis as they will need every bit of help they can get to earn themselves home ice advantage during the playoffs.
Meanwhile, line changes have been made by Therrien in order to accommodate the long-awaited return of the team’s star center Alex Galchenyuk. Strangely, he will pivot a line with Desharnais (LW) and Andrew Shaw (RW) and once again, fans are left scratching their heads regarding the coach’s decisions. Nevertheless, Therrien’s gambles always seem to pay dividends, and I don’t see this case being any different:
#Habs practice lines:
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) February 1, 2017
Pacioretty - Danault - Radulov
DD - Galchenyuk - Shaw
Lehkonen - Plekanec - Byron
JDLR/Andrighetto - Mitchell - Flynn
In other news, the Habs have sent Daniel Carr back to the St. John’s IceCaps while defenseman Mark Barberio has been placed on waivers, though the belief is that the organization intends on reassigning him to the American Hockey League:
Daniel Carr sent down to IceCaps
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) February 1, 2017
Barberio (MON) & Gilbert (LA) on waivers
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 1, 2017
#Habs are placing Barberio on waivers for the purpose of assignment to St. John's.
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) February 1, 2017
Finally, it looks like the Rocket de Laval’s new uniforms and logo are a home-run with Habs fans, as close to 72% of respondents liked them.
Today’s poll asks: