The Montreal Canadiens defeated their Original Six rivals Toronto Maple Leafs last night in a game that proved to be rather entertaining for both fan bases. A shootout was required after 65 minutes of regulation and 3-on-3 overtime were insufficient in determining a winner, and Lars Eller would seal the deal for the Habs with a beautiful deke to solidify a 3-2 win at the Air Canada Centre.
Granted, the Maple Leafs have the worst home record in the entire NHL, and it took them a little over 11 minutes to record their first shot on goal. The crowd sarcastically cheered as a Nazem Kadri dump-in from the neutral zone happened to hit Mike Condon. The latter left his mark, as he multiplied saves at the end of regulation and during overtime to ensure that his team would at the very least leave Toronto with a point. While the Habs came out of the gates with conviction and took their foot off of the pedal slightly as the game progressed, they were finally rewarded with 2 points. For the first time in a few games, their superior performance finally bared its fruits, and relief could be felt across the locker room.
David Desharnais opened the scoring with less than two minutes played, and Tomas Flesichmann would be credited with a goal that I believe should belong to Daniel Carr, who once again proved last night that he absolutely belongs as a regular in the lineup. It deflected off of him and went in, yet I’m under the impression that he won’t care too much. The coaching staff should acknowledge his efforts and nose for the net, as he once again went to the dirty areas to distract James Reimer. Apparently, he was sent down to the AHL because other teams were interested in seeing just how well Jacob de La Rose would perform. I’m not sure he impressed anyone…
After an emotional week for both the players and the organization, the Canadiens seemingly seized the general manager’s message. He spoke with them before meeting with the media and offering a 30-minute presser in which he took the blame and offered a vote of confidence to Michel Therrien and his troops. Marc Bergevin reminded his players that it’s important to play to win as opposed to not lose, without compromising their skills and assets in favor of a more conservative and overly simple mistake-free hockey style. They responded by earning themselves a victory, although they are still out of a playoff spot.
I’m not ready to say that the team has turned it around this season. There’s still a long way to go, and we’ve seen what happens when we start believing that they’ve put their losing record behind them. It must nevertheless be a relief for them to snap a 5-game losing streak, and they have the opportunity to record a pair of victories against a Columbus Blue Jackets team that is not doing so well this season. They will face them tomorrow night and on Tuesday before the All-Star break takes place the following weekend.
Strangely, the first line of Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher was virtually ineffective against an inferior opponent, even if they were responsible for 11 of the team’s 29 shots on net. A lot more is expected of them, and the power play will need to start clicking in order to string together a few wins and make the playoffs this year. At a conversion rate of 17.2%, the team won’t strike fear into their opponents.
Condon could not be faulted on any of the goals he allowed last night, and he has done relatively well in Carey Price’s prolonged absence. As I mentioned in my French blog, I don’t believe he’ll be coming back this season, especially if the team fails to pick up any significant ground over the course of the next month or so. Most of their upcoming games are against non-playoffs team, so they certainly have the opportunities to gain some leverage over their opponents.
Still, one can’t deny that the team absolutely misses its Lionel Messi-equivalent of a goaltender… just ask Sportsnet.ca: