The Canadiens came out strong and opened the scoring after just a minute and 15 seconds of play when Brett Kulak took a shot from the blue line and threaded it through two players' legs to fool Sergei Bobrovski. Domi and Shaw picked up the helpers and before the Blue Jackets even took a single shot on goal, the Habs had taken 7. In fact, Montreal can say that the first 10 minutes of the opening period were theirs but problem is, the other 50 were all Columbus.
The second period didn't start well for the Tricolore, David Savard tied things up but Jeff Petry put the Habs back in front during some 4 on 4 hockey following a penalty to Andrew Shaw. Unfortunately, that was the last time Montreal would manage to get a puck behind Bobrovski. The Jackets would get 2 more goals in this middle frame and at 3-2 at the end of two periods, things didn't seem particularly hopeful...
Within the first 5 minutes of the last period, the Blue Jackets had added another couple of goals making it 5-2 and if any hope remained, it was destroyed when Price was pulled for a sixth attacker with 5 minutes to go in the game... Of course, this only resulted in an empty net goal for Columbus.
Quick notes: -Again not a great game for Drouin. The birthday boy played less minutes than Nicolas Deslauriers and was smothered in his own zone before he turned the puck over to set up the Jackets' 6th goal; -Tonight, Brendan Gallagher ended his night at -4, that only happened one more time in his career in 2014 in a 5-4 Montreal win over the Ottawa Senators; -Andrew Shaw played his 500th career game tonight and celebrated with an helper; -Brett Kulak was very visible out there, he even managed to get the 3rd star with a goal and an assist.
To be honest, if this how this team plays when it's really under pressure, chances are the playoffs (if they were to make them) wouldn't be long. Tonight, the D was awful, Carey wasn't Carey and not much offense was generated.
Now that the Canadiens only have 4 games left and are sitting outside of the playoffs picture, it's time to gamble. Clearly Julien doesn't trust Drouin BUT Drouin can score. If you play him alongside Domi and Shaw, good things could happen. Time to put a little faith in the guy and hope for the best. You can't win if your second line doesn't produce. Will Deslauriers still be dressed against Winnipeg Saturday? Who knows, the Jets are big but the Habs are in desperate need of skills and goals...Time will tell.
Let's just hope that their compete level is back straight up there when they get on the ice on Saturday and try to dominate the Jets...Can't say I'm overly positive to be honest but anything can happen, this game of ours is played on the ice and not on paper.