The Montreal Canadiens were able to build off of Satuday’s impressive 2-1 over the Washington Capitals by playing an even stronger game on Tuesday, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 at the Bell Centre. Andrew Cogliano opened the scoring in the game at 5:19 in the first period as he jumped on a loose puck off of a faceoff in the Canadiens zone and ripped a quick one by Carey Price. Rather than fold as they did against the San Jose Sharks last Friday night, the Canadiens pushed back as they refused to be bullied by the more physical Ducks.
Paul Byron scored in the last minute of the first period to tie the game at one a piece, potting in a juicy Jonathan Bernier rebound off of Jeff Petry’s initial shot. Tomas Plekanec scored what would prove to be the game winner in the second period on the powerplay as he was the recipient of hard work by Artturi Lehkonen and a perfect Byron pass. The Canadiens offense would explode for three more goals in the final period as Petry blasted one by Bernier, scoring a goal in three consecutive games for the first time in his NHL career. Max Pacioretty would add another goal on the powerplay as he used Brendan Gallagher as a decoy and snapped in his team leading 13th goal of the season. In the final minute of the third period, Chris Terry would score his first goal in a Canadiens jersey to make it a 5-1 final victory for the Canadiens.
The game was another true test of the Canadiens adversity and resiliency as they were without defenseman Andrei Markov who is now day to day with a lower body injury. Without Alex Galchenyuk, Andrew Shaw, David Desharnais, Markov and Greg Pateryn in the lineup, the Canadiens arguably and surprisingly played perhaps their best game of the season. The victory was a total team effort by the Canadiens as they limited the Ducks to only 13 shots on net including just three a piece in the second and third periods. Price was rarely called upon to make a save and perhaps what is even more remarkable is that the Canadiens only blocked three shots on the net while three more shot attempts went wide. The Canadiens held the Ducks to less than 20 shot attempts for the entire game.
Puck props and flops:
Jeff Petry - In his postgame press conference head coach Michel Therrien commented on how Petry “is playing some of the best hockey of his career… and the coach is not wrong. Petry is playing extraordinarily well in both ends of the ice. He scored a goal in his third consecutive game and added two two assists for his second career three point night. Petry now has seven points in his last five games. Paired with Nathan Beaulieu, the duo made the game look easy as they controlled the play and used their speed and quickness to move the puck. This is the Petry that the Canadiens were missing for much of the previous season and his impact when healthy is quite obviously positive.
Nathan Beaulieu - He knew that he was being given a big opportunity to step up and play in Markov’s place on the second pairing next to Petry and for this evening Beaulieu absolutely rose to the occasion. He played just a shade under 22 minutes, contributed an assist and finished the game +2. Beaulieu had a string of strong games last year alongside of Petry and so it is not surprising that the two were able to once again play well together. The question for Beaulieu will be if he is able to keep up this higher level of play and be consistent game in and game out. After the game, Therrien said that “Nathan had a really good game… which very high praise indeed coming from the kindly ol coach.
Brendan Gallagher - While Gallagher did not factor onto the scoresheet, he played his most “Gallagher-like… game in quite some time. He was back to his pest ways as he was a menace near Bernier’s crease, often drawing a scrum not to mention Ducks penalties. He got under the Ducks skin with his trademark smile on his face. As long as Gallagher keeps this up, the points will eventually follow.
Paul Byron - What more can be said about one of the best waiver wire pickups of all time? Byron continues to impress night in and night out and it is not just because of his speed, it is what he is able to do because of his high hockey sense. He is seemingly always in the right place at the right time and takes advantage of each and every opportunity.
Artturi Lehkonen - The Canadiens powerplay was looking absolutely dismal until Lehkonen battled hard along the boards to get the puck into the Ducks zone. He was able to get the puck to Byron who sent a perfect pass to Plekanec who made no mistake about it, scoring his first year. It was only Lehkonen’s second assist on the season but that is hardly his fault as he has set up his linemates many times but they were not able to convert their opportunities. Lehkonen plays consistently each and every game and with his hustle can make something happen out of nothing. He certainly deserves to play more than the 12:45 minutes that he played against the Ducks. Just imagine had Lehkonen not come over from the SHL this season.
Flops:
None. I had debated putting in the Canadiens powerplay which once again had difficulty setting up in their opponent’s zone. The two goals that they scored with the man advantage came off of the rush. It was only on the Canadiens sixth powerplay opportunity that they finally managed to sustain pressure in the Ducks zone. Still, two for six is a stat that the Canadiens will certainly take and therefore makes it pretty hard to be a flop.
The Canadiens next host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night at the Bell Centre before traveling to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets before the holiday break. Both teams are on quite the win streaks with Minnesota having won eight in a row while the Blue Jackets have won ten in a row. Both games will be quite the challenge and another test for the Canadiens.
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