Revenge Is A Dish Best Served 22 Years Later... Habs Ravage Red Wings 10-1 (pacioretty)

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Revenge Is A Dish Best Served 22 Years Later... Habs Ravage Red Wings 10-1

By Brandon Smillie

Dec 3, 2017 • 7:11 am

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22 years ago to the day the Detroit Red Wings, with a huge assist to Mario Tremblay, beat the Canadiens 11-1 in what would be Patrick Roy's last game as a Canadien.

22 years later the Canadiens laid a beating on the Red Wings that was so bad that Wings captain H Zetterberg said their performance "Basically embarrassed everyone that played with a winged wheel" and "We've got to live with that" (Credit to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press for the quote).

It doesn't bring back my favorite player when I was a child, but to know their current captain thinks the Habs embarrassed the entire history of the franchise? I'll take it.

The Canadiens got Shea Weber back last night and he must of brought some horseshoes with him because the Canadiens could do no wrong last night. The Habs had 14 different skaters register a point, led by A Galchenyuk's first 4 point game (all A's) and P Byron's first career hat trick. N Deslauriers, J De La Rose, and D Carr also scored their first goals of the season and added 2 assists each.

Gallagher, Hudon, Benn, and Shaw added goals for the Canadiens who scored 10 times on 34 shots. P Mrazek stopped 20 of 25 shots before being pulled after C Hudon's goal in the 2nd period. J Howard came in and played worse for Detroit as he quickly surrender P Byron's 3rd of the game and then allowed 4 goals on 5 shots in the 3rd period.

Congrats to B Gallagher on his 100th career NHL goal last night. I think he has many more to score before his career is up. Hopefully all with the Canadiens.

Carey Price was fantastic again earning his 5th straight win while stopping 22 of 23 shots to improve his record to 8-7-1. Price has been nothing short of fantastic since his return. He has had games where he was counted on for game saving stops and games where the Habs kept the shots against confined to areas that give Price a better chance at making the stop. It's easy to lay this win streak on Price, and he does deserve so much credit, but the team has played better as well with the addition of Schlemko and Jerabek to the defense group. More stability and puck movement ability, and coaching adjustments, have done wonders for this team at this stage.

The Canadiens were limping towards the cross roads of their season after going 2-4-2 from November 7th-22nd. They needed a healthy Carey Price, but also to show some resolve and fight. They needed to start cashing in on their chances and start turning their advanced stat successes into goals on the ice. From that point on, following tough losses to Subban's Predators and Radulov's Stars, the Canadiens got Price back between the pipes and haven't lost since.

That tough stretch, and Price's return, have perhaps galvanized the Canadiens. Maybe they took on a "Us against the world" mentality? Whatever it is, it has worked. The Canadiens are 5-0-0 since those losses to the Stars and Preds and have outscored their opposition 24-6 in the process. Considering that most had Price traded and Bergevin/Julien fired a couple weeks ago this must be quite shocking.

But, as I had previously written, a snap trade/firing was not going to fix this team. They needed to get healthy and get some confidence back, not nervously wait for a trade from their newly hired GM. They didn't need some new rookie francophone coach to come in and cause them to worry about where they stand or if the new coach likes them or not. None of that would have helped a struggling, injured club. I'm happy they waited it out, like they were supposed to, and are being rewarded.

The Canadiens are still in 3rd in the Atlantic, after briefly losing it to Boston after their early afternoon win, and are on 3 and 2 points back of the 7th and 8th Wild Card spots.

It seems the #optimism and #hope train is gaining steam and passengers lately. I say hop on, enjoy the ride, and I hope we can ride it throughout the holidays.

Go Habs Go!

COLLECT THE BEST! COLLECT UPPER DECK!

2017-18 UPPER DECK BLACK DIAMOND IS OUT THERE IN THE WILD! CHECK IT OUT AT YOUR LOCAL HOBBY STORE! #COLLECTTHEBEST

Don't forget to check out Upper Deck products at your local hobby shops and online! This seasons Black Diamond is now available with the possibility of finding actual diamonds embedded in the cards! It’s a high end product for serious collectors so if you’re a big collector, or a new one, make sure you stop by your local shop and see if you can get yourself a box (or case).

I had the chance to crack open a Hobby box of the Toronto Maple Leafs Centennial set, as I was a big fan of the Canadiens version and I must say they did a great job from the design, subsets, and design of the Auto’d cards! Check out what I got here!

Was hoping for a Gilmour or Matthews auto for my collection but maybe next time!

Follow me on Twitter @BrandonSmillie where I mostly stick to hockey stuff.

If you have interest in advertising in this space message me through the HockeyBuzz PM system or through Twitter.

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