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Anderson Answered the Call |
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48 hours after being obliterated by McDavid in the last 10 minutes of Monday’s game, the Canadiens tried again looking for redemption and they found it. Nothing is ever easy for Montreal and there’s never a dull day in Habsland. On Tuesday, some comments made to the press by captain Shea Weber and Jonathan Drouin ruffled some feathers and both needed a good performance to turn down the heat.
The Habs came out strong and dominated the first frame in all departments, better yet, Arturri Lehkonen scored one of his rare goals to give them a 1-0 lead with 29 seconds to go in the period. Early in the 2nd period McDavid tied things up, but just 11 seconds later, Josh Anderson put the Habs back on top by cutting to the net with speed and beating Smith. During the same match, the Canadiens actually used 2 weapons that have hurt them often this season, a gut-wrenching last-minute goal, and an almost immediate answer to the opposition’s goal.
The last period featured 4 more goals, 2 by each team. Toffoli score on a power-play thanks to turnover and Josh Anderson got his 2nd of the night which was unsuccessfully contested. With less than 5 minutes left though, Jonathan Drouin got a 4-minute high sticking penalty during which Edmonton got a goal back having also pulled their goaltender. Puljujarvi then made it 4-3 but the Habs were able to stop the bleeding and get the 2 points.
While Josh Anderson’s contribution was the most visible on the scoresheet, quite a few players delivered an inspired performance last night. First and foremost, Shea Weber and his partner Ben Chiarot had not been as efficient since this summer in the bubble. Between the pair of them the landed 13 hits, blocked 6 shots and only committed 1 giveaway. Chiarot was on the ice for over 27 minutes while Weber spent nearly 24 minutes on. Such a heavy workload was made necessary by the fact that McDavid, Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were all on the ice for around 27 minutes as well.
Corey Perry also showed why he could still be useful, during the warm-up, Anderson, Chiarot and Weber all had a chat with Alex Chiasson for his hit on Carey Price in the previous game and it looked like he would have to answer for his acts. Early in the first, after an icing call, Perry dropped the gloves against Chiasson ensuring that none of the more heavily used players would have to do it and allowing his team to make a line-change before the next faceoff.
Great work also by the Lehkonen-Kotkaniemi-Byron line, not only did they generate the first goal of the game but Kotkaniemi was all over the place creating plenty of chances and Paul Byron landed 7 hits. Solid start as well by Jon Merrill who was as advertised, steady and ready. Romanov looked comfortable with his new partner as well, joining the attack more often and adding an assist to his account. Jeff Petry had a good game too, nothing 2 assists and 2 hits.
There weren’t any tourists in the line-up last night, everyone put shoulder to the wheel and the Canadiens got the result they deserved. My sole real criticism would go to Jonathan Drouin, having said in his media availability that he needed to get his nose dirty, he still looked shy when it was time to go in front of the net. In fact, to be blatantly honest, he kind of reminds me of my sister when’s she trying to get into the pool, he almost dips his big toe in before deciding it’s not welcoming enough for him. Furthermore, his 4-minute high-sticking penalty could have had disastrous consequences. I know, he didn’t mean to do it, but still…
With last night’s win, the Habs now have an 8-point lead on the Flames with a game in hand and a 10-point lead on the Canucks who have 5 games in hand. Vancouver might not be completely out of it just yet, they’ve come back from their Covid-19 episode with a lot of energy and dedication beating the Leafs twice. The Habs will now face the Flames in their next 3 games and a couple of wins would go a long way to ensuring that Calgary is no longer a threat. Should the Habs play like they did last night, winning should be well within their reach.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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