The Capitals were due for one of these. But the Canadiens, with jobs on the line and an injury list that’s longer than their GM’s beard, were hungry instead of passive. By their standards they exploded for 4 goals in 40 minutes while their goaltender outperformed a Vezina trophy favourite. They hung on late for just their second regulation time win on the road in 2016 – their first indoors since the night Carey Price got injured at MSG on November 25th. Yep, it’s been that bad. But with Pittsburgh losing to Boston and the Toronto Marlies up next at the Bell Centre the Habs have at least given themselves reason to (still) believe. While a good chunk of the fan base wonders why professional players have to be so darn competitive when a total tank job is clearly what’s called for. Dummies.
THE GOOD
- Andrei Markov. Make it four consecutive games that Markov has been the best or among the best players on the ice. He led both teams in ice time. He set up two goals. He has five points in the last four games. Perhaps free of significant off ice distractions we’ve previously discussed, reports of his hockey death have been greatly exaggerated.
- Alex Galchenyuk. Dominating performance up front. Great hustle and hand-eye coordination led to the opening goal when he intercepted a Dimitri Orlov clear out attempt, neatly dished the puck to his line mate (“He can’t play centre because he’s not a playmaker”) and buried a rebound to open the scoring. His second goal was a two on one executed to perfection with Galchenyuk doing something that most Montreal forwards have trouble with – finishing with gusto. He might have had a hat trick had Brayden Holtby not robbed him from the slot shortly after the Habs had taken a 2-0 lead. What this kid needs is talent to play with on a regular basis, not a new team.
- Mike Condon. He outperformed Holtby, reminding the Habs what quality goaltending can do. Sensational in the second period when Washington outshot Montreal 16-10. His desperate, blind blocker save on Mike Richards was an all-timer. Pulled a Gerry Cheevers (ask your dad) by allowing two horribly soft goals late to give the Capitals life. But he snagged a strong Nick Backstrom wrist shot from the centre of the ice with two seconds left to preserve the win.
- Greg Pateryn. The future is now. Finally getting a chance to play on a regular basis and just passed his biggest test. Caps coach Barry Trotz worked hard to keep Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Justin Wiliams away from Markov and P.K. Subban. So that left that the heavy lifting to Pateryn and Alexei Emelin. Pateryn broke the 20:00 mark for the first time in his career.
- Lars Eller. Amid reports that he’s being dangled (again) by Marc Bergevin, Eller had one of his strongest games of the season. Unlike some of his older teammates who often seem to get flummoxed during an odd man rush, Eller delivered a perfect saucer pass to Galchenyuk on a 2 on 1 to welcome Holtby’s back up, Philipp Grubauer into the game. He and Galchenyuk combined for nine shots on goal. On the down side, he shot the puck over the net on a clear breakaway and took a goalie interference penalty on the play. Who gets a penalty on their own breakaway? Another bizarre Eller moment. (How about some of his post game comments – “I’m sure we’ve created as many chances in probably…at least 15 games that we ended up losing…so I think the process has been there a lot of time but the results haven’t been there.” He’s partly right but how did he get to 15?) And then with less than eight minutes to play and the game seemingly in control, Eller was awfully weak on Orlov along the boards allowing the Washington defenseman to escape with control of the puck and eventually score from a bad angle. His line had one more shift the rest of the game.
- Dale Weise. Time running out so he made the most of it. Smart shot along the ice after taking the puck from Galchenyuk set up the rebound which led to the opening goal of the game. Weise is going but is there a chance he’ll return in the summer? Not at three million dollars per season.
- Third & Fourth lines. For the first time in what seems like forever the Habs bottom six forwards had a really good night. Jacob de la Rose was strong again while Torrey Mitchell shook off a string of bad games to actually get noticed for the right reasons – until he took a bad high sticking penalty on Backstrom late in the third period.
- Tomas Fleischmann. Scored just his second goal since December 10 (27 games). Maybe Bergevin will get that 7th round pick back that he traded away a year ago to get Mitchell.
- Victor Bartley. Welcome to Montreal. Solid debut as a Hab. Spotted well on the third pair alongside Mark Barberio.
- Paul Byron. From pre-season waiver pick up to three year contract that will make him a millionaire. Not quite in John Scott movie territory but a heartwarming story.
- Power Play. Connected early when Brendan Gallagher smacked a rebound from a perfectly placed Markov shot past Holtby to make it 2-0. The Habs threw the puck around neatly after winning the face off as Tomas Plekanec, Markov and Subban never lost control before Markov’s shot deflected off Max Pacioretty’s stick into Holtby’s pad. Habs have hit the middle of the pack in the NHL at 18.5%.
THE BAD
- Four goals. Usually it’s more than enough but on this night it should have been more. The Capitals were able to climb back in because the Habs couldn’t capitalize on numerous chances to break it wide open including a penalty shot by Gallagher; the Eller breakaway; a de la Rose break in after a perfect pass by Subban; a Plekanec-Gallagher two on one; a Byron-Fleischmann two one one and Eller late after a great set up by Galchenyuk.
- Injuries. Carey Price (who skated for over an hour earlier in the day), Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert, Nathan Beaulieu, David Desharnais, Brian Flynn, Daniel Carr. Not quite Columbus of a season ago but you kind of knew something was coming after a nearly perfect (health wise) 2014-15.
THE UGLY
- Habs Twitter account. Somebody was asleep. The Canadiens put out a full statement of apology with an explanation that it was a third party service provider who really mucked up and they too apologized. But it’s a sobering reminder of just how many subhumans exist among us. From an anonymous profanity-laced personal attack in the Comments section of an online site to truly disturbing Facebook postings to Twitter handles that are amusing only to the sick and unstable, it’s a nasty world made even nastier by the ability to hide behind a keyboard. And then a rich guy running for President makes it seem ok.
