Just when you thought it was safe to put the Habs-Bruins rivalry status on hold (until the next playoff meeting), we get a big hit on a young star forward, followed by an open ice head shot, followed by a fight and an overtime victory by the underdog.
Who needs Milan Lucic after all?
THE GOOD
- Paul Byron. On a night when former Habs captain Yvan Cournoyer offered his stamp of approval “He’s fast and he always goes to the net” the Hall of Famer told Sean Campbell during TSN 690’s second intermission Roundtable, there was Byron following up on a play by heading to the net to pick up Torrey Mitchell’s loose puck after the veteran centre appeared to have botched a great scoring chance from the slot by waiting too long to shoot. Byron’s well placed backhander was the Habs only goal of the night (naturally – after scoring 10 against Colorado) and got them a point – something they were rarely able to do as the losses began to pile up a year ago. If you had Paul Byron hitting double digits in goals before Christmas tell me what happens first – Dale Weise scores his third goal of the season for the Flyers or Lars Eller scores his 3rd for the Capitals?
- Carey Price. A rare head to head loss against Tuukka Rask. I don’t think you’ll see Austin Czarnik beat him short side again. Price’s book on NHL shooters just got a new entry.
- Alexei Emelin. We’re now seeing Emelin at his best and most confident. Of course his D partner deserves credit. There are so few straight up clean body on body checks delivered by NHL defensemen these days as most teams transition to skaters and puck movers. I applaud the last of the big hitters wherever they may be. Part of defending your own zone is to slow down opposing forwards as they enter it. Emelin has become a factor again, not just a trade chip.
- Shea Weber. I doubt we see Emelin this good without his presence. But something is missing offensively.
- Andrew Shaw. Fearless leader of men. I thought the stage had been set for him to provide the late game heroics. If you’re among those who thought we’d see him back in the game a short time after Torrey Krug delivered a shoulder to head shot on him, I’ll assume you had Byron scoring 10 goals by December 12th. When he returned he was even more determined than usual. He even ran Adam McQuaid into the stanchion next to the Bruins bench. Fortunately, the stanchions were redesigned in the aftermath of Chara-Pacioretty.
- Brendan Gallagher. Didn’t hesitate to challenge Krug. Other than the scrap, it was a typical Gallagher vs Bruins performance – but without a goal or a point.
- Andrei Markov. Another outstanding effort. Too bad about the overtime shift.
- Tomas Plekanec & Max Pacioretty. Tough to follow up that 9 point effort vs Colorado. Habs would have settled for just one. Plenty of chances, led by the save of the night by Rask. (A true goal scorer would have one-timed it, not hesitated.)
- Artturi Lehkonen. Back to back perfect set ups on Montreal’s first power play but Gallagher and Nathan Beaulieu (open net) couldn’t convert. Made another perfect pass to Shaw nine minutes into the second period but Rask again was unbeatable.
- Michel Lacroix. A nod to the great Habs public address announcer who, predictably, appeared to be losing his voice after the 10 goal outburst on Saturday night.
THE BAD
- Power Play. A power play running at 20% is real good. A 1-5 might have won them the game. 0-6 cost them the game. Never really threatened. The Bruins – with Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Chara and a locked-in Rask – have one of the best PK units in the league (87.9% – 2nd behind Carolina) but the Habs looked disorganized.
- Alexander Radulov. We’ve grown accustomed to seeing him stickhandle his way out of traffic all year so it was strange to actually see the puck roll off his stick a few times, not just on the power play. And he stayed on the ice way too long (as Markov did) in overtime and was victimized on the Ryan Spooner game winner. On the other hand, when was the last time a Montreal forward played nearly 25:00 in a regular season game?
- Sven Andrighetto & Daniel Carr. ——
- Zach Redmond. Caught up the ice while trying to make something happen. Instead it was Czarnik who gave Boston a 1-0 lead on his 24th birthday. Czarnik also helped set up the game winner. Imagine that. A rookie who skates well gets on the ice in overtime.
THE UGLY
- Michel Therrien. What – you expected the Krug hit on Shaw? Maybe one day there will be a two minute penalty for any hit to the head. It was awkward and ugly and dangerous. But legal. Therrien is doing a terrific job coaching this season. And he did a great job with his bench in this one. With a day off prior to the game and three days off until the next one against San Jose Therrien wisely shortened his bench in the third period and leaned on his top line of Plekanec (23:04), Pacioretty (22:31) and Radulov (24:48). But then came overtime, which Therrien doesn’t seem to get. He simply doesn’t use his best skaters. I know it’s hard to pretend that the previous 60 minutes didn’t happen but that’s what regular season overtime is like. There is no correlation between a 3 on 3 five minute period and 5 on 5 hockey. It’s a brand new game. So when you start Torrey Mitchell and Shea Weber (did you see Chara on the ice in OT?) you’re not coaching to win the game in overtime. You’re coaching not to lose. Why is it that one of the best skaters on the team – and maybe their best face off man – Brian Flynn – never gets a shift in overtime? Nor does the rookie Lehkonen. Radulov, Plekanec, Pacioretty, Byron, Gallagher, Flynn, Lehkonen, even Sven Andrighetto if he’s sitting on the bench – should be out there with all that open ice along with Jeff Petry and Nathan Beaulieu. Torrey Krug is not the Bruins best defenseman. But he is in OT. He had three separate shifts – 54 seconds, 35 seconds and then on his last shift he set up the game winner with a perfect feed to Spooner. The only other defenseman Claude Julien used in overtime was rookie Brandon Carlo. “It’s like 5 on 5” said Therrien post-game when quizzed about 3 on 3 by Mitch Gallo. “It’s a puck possession game and it’s a checking game.” Maybe Kirk Muller can work on this.
