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Better Late than Never!

February 19, 2019, 11:00 PM ET [497 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
There are games that you just cannot afford to lose (and there will be a lot of those before the end of the season) and tonight was such a game. With the Hurricanes hot on the Habs' tail for the second wild card spot, every point counts. Thankfully for the Tricolore, the Rangers managed to beat the Canes tonight by the slightest of margin but at least it was in regulation so Carolina got nothing out of that game. Tonight also was the "Hockey is for Everyone" night at the Bell Centre and for those who may be interested, the rainbow jerseys the players wore in warm-up are being auctioned off here.





Philip Danault was MIA tonight for family reasons (which I assume means he's becoming a daddy today) and Paul Byron was ready to jump back in, that meant some new lines for the game:

Drouin-Domi-Shaw
Tatar-Thompson-Gallagher
Byron-Kotkanimi-Armia
Lehkonen-Peca-Hudon

Few comments about those lines:

-I love the first one, Drouin and Domi are two skilled players and they manage to get the puck to the front of the net to Shaw who's in there taking hits and just trying to tip the puck in. Their style really compliment each other;
-Thompson...ouffff definitely not a second line centre but at least he won 68% of his face-offs and the guys gave him the player of the game cape, not easy to replace Danault;
-Byron on the third line, his speed just gives that line another level!
- It's a shame for Lehkonen but when you can't finish and you fail to score in 20 games, well...you might just end up on the 4th line.

I also feel that Domi's performance must be highlighted tonight, he scored the first goal of the game which gave him 20 on the year (his first 20 goals season) and got his 52nd point (which ties his best career season and there's quite a games to play). I also really liked him stepping up after Reilly was the victim of a rather dangerous play by Foligno. He went to the aggressor and ensured that he would drop his gloves too before fighting him (which was very level headed from Domi let's face it). Gingras just said on l'Antichambre that Domi doesn't have to fight other players' battles... clearly he doesn't get how standing up for your teammates is important for team spirit (but then again, that's not the only thing he doesn't get)... There just wasn't enough of that last season and it showed. In the end, Domi received the first star tonight and it was definitely deserved.





Paul Byron had a very successful return to action (tonight was also his 400th game), scoring the 2nd goal of his team near the end of the 1st period. Kotkaniemi fed him beautifully and must have told himself "finally! A guy who can bury what I send him!", the youngster also added another assist on the game winning goal in the 3rd period. Surprisingly though, the primary assist on that GWG came from Jordie Benn... For all the critics he received this season, one has to admit that when he's used in the right role, he's a good player that does honest work.

As per usual, Carey Price made some incredibly big and crucial saves tonight. He stopped Anderson who got himself a breakaway on the penalty kill, flashed the leather in the dying minutes of the game and ended his night with 31 saves. That's win 310 for Price and that kind of game just shows how much of a difference a Price on top of his game can make.

With tonight's results, the Canadiens go up to the 1st wild card spot while the Penguins are now 3rd in the Metropolitan division which means that Colombus fell to the 8th place. As for Carolina, they trail Columbus by one point and the Habs by 3.

It should be noted that Artemi Panarin sat out tonight's game as he was sick. John Tortorella was annoyed at being asked if he was really sick or just held back in readiness of an imminent trade and made the following statement:




Who doesn't love a bit of Torts! Yes I know, the players are probably not big fans, but he sure is entertaining.


The Tricolore will be back in action Thursday night when they welcome the Flyers at the Bell Centre. The former Broad Street Bullies are 6 points out of the playoffs as we speak and thanks to Carter Hart, they're not yet out of this race. That being said, the poor Hart was electrocuted by the Lightning tonight and pulled a Niemi or in other words, gave up 3 goals on 9 shots and was swiftly yanked out.
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