I thought the Habs – in their first post-Halloween game – were going to get spooked and smoked by the Jets. Turned out the only thing scary about Winnipeg’s game was how bad they looked. They were clearly low on fuel after beating the the Blue Jackets the night before in Columbus. But the Habs don’t make the schedule (not like the good old days – just ask Harry Sinden) and they jumped on Winnipeg early and often, making sure the Jets left nothing on the Bell Centre ice but a giant skid mark.
THE GOOD
- David Desharnais-Dale Weise-Tomas Fleischmann. “It was embarrassing. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” – Captain Max Pacioretty following Montreal’s third period meltdown in Edmonton. It was a team collapse but it was this trio that was on the ice for the game winning goal by Leon Draisaitl with just over one minute to play. While Weise floated back into his zone, Desharnais offered the resistance of a feather as he lost the puck behind his net to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and you know the rest. Embarrassing alright. What have they done since? Merely taken over the ice as Weise scored his first career hat trick in Calgary while Fleischmann was a third period mishandle away from also scoring a hattie as the Habs rebounded to outscore Calgary and Winnipeg 11-3, with the so-called third line accounting for six goals and 14 points. Desharnais alluded to his misplay in Edmonton in his post game on ice chat with Marc Denis of RDS. I think they’ve more than made up for it. Is there a better bang-for-your-buck free agent signing than Fleischmann? Weise is proof – as Larry Brooks of the New York Post put it over the weekend – that good things do happen to good people. And yes, Desharnais is officially off to the best start of his NHL career.
- Paul Byron. Alex Semin might be in the process of getting to know Greg Pateryn and Jarred Tinordi better than he thought.
- Michel Therrien. While critics howled over the benching of Semin (my hand is in the air) Byron has clearly added more quickness to Montreal’s game while also surpassing Semin’s goal total. And while many assumed (hand up again) the loss in Edmonton would result in Pateryn or Tinordi finally getting a chance to play, Therrien held firm with the same group of defensemen who helped his team get off to one of the best starts in NHL history. If carrying eight defensemen is an issue, Therrien seems to believe that’s on the GM.
- Tom Gilbert and Nathan Beaulieu. If these guys were understandably concerned about sitting out in Calgary then credit their coach for a vote of confidence which seems to have elevated their game. You expect P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov to usually be at their best. Jeff Petry and Alexei Emelin haven’t been too far behind, especially Petry who helped set up the Byron shorthanded goal to get the Habs rolling. But Gilbert and Beaulieu have looked much better. Beaulieu celebrated his 100th NHL game with an assist on Desharnais’s goal, giving him points in back to back games.
- Power Play. It’s now connected in five of the last six games. Sixth overall in NHL at 23.4%.
- J.J. Daigneault. It was his job to fix the power play. It’s finally starting to look like a weapon again.
- Mike Condon. Bienvenue a Montreal. So the Canadiens are doing what very good teams do – filling the net against backup or subpar goaltending. But opponents haven’t been able to do the same against their #2 guy. Hardly seems fair. Who does this guy think he is – Ken Dryden?
THE BAD
- Injury to Carey Price. Condon (4-0-1.50-.944) will come back down to earth. And in the end, some forced nights off might be a good thing for Price. But the injury bug has finally hit the Habs. When you look around the NHL and see how many key players are or were hurt to start the season (Ryan Getzlaf, Zdeno Chara, Evander Kane, T.J. Brodie, Duncan Keith, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, Mike Green, Jordan Eberle, Alexsander Barkov, Patrick Elias, Logan Couture, Kevin Shattenkirk, Paul Stastny, Jaden Schwartz, Chris Higgins) you realize that it was only a matter of time. So who’s next?
THE UGLY
- Dustin Byfuglien. Victimized on Fleischmann’s first goal as he did his best impression of a pylon, Byfuglien went head hunting and caught Brendan Gallagher with a dirty elbow. As good as Byfuglien can be he is also a lengthy suspension waiting to happen. Not for this play but it’ll happen, you watch. In the meantime, may he spend his nights squirming with nightmares of 3 on 3 hockey. And for his part, may Gallagher one day be able to summon the ghost of John Ferguson.
