The Montreal Canadiens faced off against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a game that left much to be desired in terms of entertainment. With Max Pacioretty sealing the victory by scoring the Habs’ second goal of the game with only a few minutes left to play, the Habs became the first team in 2015-2016 to secure 40 points in the standings.
On a night where a little controversy surrounded Alexei Emelin’s ejection from the game for a questionable hit on Mike Calvert, Mike Condon once again delivered a good performance despite his teammates striking the post on two occasions and the Blue Jackets missing an open net. I’m hard-pressed to think that the turnout of this game might have been a high-scoring one should either teams have buried their chances.
Kudos to the defense corps for holding down the fort with Emelin sitting out the last two periods after a game misconduct penalty and Nathan Beaulieu unavailable for an extended period of time after fighting with Nick Foligno, who had landed a knee-on-knee hit on Tomas Fleischmann without being penalized for it. Beaulieu looked shaken after taking a right hook from Foligno, but the doctors would clear him to play between periods and assessed that he passed the NHL’s concussion protocol. Rolling two defensive pairings is never an easy task, and Michel Therrien deserves all the credit for his management skills.
Interestingly, I was having a conversation with one of my readers over the comments sections earlier this week about how the fourth line has become virtually ineffective in providing scoring. Christian Thomas would notch his first point of the season by assisting on Paul Byron’s goal on a beautiful passing play to open the scoring. Evidently, my reader and I were both clearly mistaken in thinking that only the top three lines would provide offense, and that goal demonstrated the speed and passing abilities of a fourth line that could potentially stick around for a few more games.
While the head coach certainly handled the defensive issues, he should also be commended on dismantling three of his four attacking trios. For the first time this season, we saw Max Pacioretty play alongside David Desharnais and Dale Weise. A very familiar mix, we’ve seen that line play together for extended periods of time last year and succeed in doing so. Weise would be the one to assist on Pacioretty’s game-winning goal on the power play, but I would be very surprised if this line were to remain intact for any duration. Pacioretty and Plekanec have been inseparable since the start of the season.
Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller and Sven Andrighetto continued to impress with their speed and ability to play a puck-possession style of hockey, although their names did not show up on the score sheet. Therrien is surely relieved to have found a suitable long-term right-winger for Galchenyuk and Eller, and I would suggest keeping Andrighetto there even after Torrey Mitchell and Alexander Semin return from their injuries. None of the two latter players demonstrated any real sustainable chemistry with that line, safe for Semin during the preseason, and Andrighetto is definitely showing that he belongs on this team. Look for them to add a few more points in the upcoming games, as Eller is certainly due for a goal soon.
Finally, I’ll be looking forward to seeing how Zach Fucale handles himself in the big leagues. He’s expected to play in the near future, and gaining experience in the NHL will be of utmost value for him. Dustin Tokarski was sent down to the Ice Caps to get a few games in him, but I’m not so sure we’ll be seeing much of him should Fucale outplay him as he has at St. John’s.