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The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Game
Season 2016-2017

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY GAME 32 Montreal 5 Anaheim 1

Mitch
Season 2016-2017The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Game
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Well now. That was impressive – again.
The Habs took an Anaheim team that had played the night before in Toronto and frustrated them into submission. They made the Ducks move slower than Chris Christie in a buffet line.
Anaheim was “led” by Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler (0 SOG combined, 0 SHOT ATTEMPTS combined!). NHL vets know how to pace themselves over an 82 game season. They always check-in to a game. But sometimes check-out early. Playing in the midst of a 12 games in 22 nights stretch, this was an early check-out)
THE GOOD

  • Jeff Petry. Playing at a level that was not inconceivable after the way he played once the Habs acquired him from Edmonton. He’s an excellent offensive defenseman. And he’s being paid like one. Only three NHL defensemen have scored more goals than Petry. It’s the third time in his career he has scored 7 goals in a season. And he still has (hopefully) 50 games to play.
  • Nathan Beaulieu. Habs want him to seize the moment during the injury to Andrei Markov. Beaulieu looks free and confident. At times it appeared he was playing the position of rover.
  • Paul Byron. Equalled his goal total of a season ago when he scored 11 in 62 games. Finishing off a Petry rebound in the final minute of the first period to tie the game was the turning point. We knew he had the wheels. He clearly has good hands as well. Plus there’s the grit and the look (in full playoff beard mode which makes him look like a seasoned vet) and the Habs have a player who is better than Dale Weise – at a fraction of the cost. “I think we picked up the wrong guy” said the head coach after the game in recounting his reaction to GM Marc Bergevin when the Habs claimed Byron on waivers from Calgary prior to the start of last season. He wasn’t alone in not knowing much about the speedy forward. But whomever is responsible – I’ll assume it’s a scout based out west – take a bow.

  • Max Pacioretty. Power play goal in which he easily beat Jonathan Bernier with a strong wrist shot (“He’s a lock and load guy” said Pierre McGuire on Melnick in the Afternoon late last week. “Like Phil Kessel. Not really a one-timer guy.”) put his shooting at 14% for the season – in the same area it was for his 39 goal season in 2013-14. With his lower face full of stitches, and after a fat lip earlier in the season, Pacioretty looks beyond battle tested. May his next injury also be as innocuous as window dressing.
  • Carey Price. Yeah he faced only 13 shots. But he was more active than Getzlaf and Kesler. One of these nights Price will commit a costly turnover and fans will growl about him playing the puck while out of his net. But very few goalies in NHL history have done what what he is doing with the puck.

    • Tomas Plekanec. “You’re not done Pleky!” yelled associate coach Kirk Muller in the Habs room after Plekanec ended his goal scoring drought in St. Louis (as captured by 24CH cameras) “You’re not done!”. Every time we’re ready to count him out as any kind of offensive factor, the old Plekanec emerges. In addition to scoring just his 3rd goal of the season (and first since that game in St. Louis December 6), Plekanec was noticeable because he fought for the puck and pushed back. Elements of his game that are essential but seen too little of this season.
    • Arturri Lehkonen. Looks better and better. He’s beating a lot of guys to pucks – above and beyond his set up on the Plekanec power play game winner (Plekanec’s first power play goal in over a year) when the Ducks actually won the face off but Lehkonen pounced on the loose puck quicker than a cat on a mouse.
    • Torrey Mitchell. Playing his best hockey since the Habs acquired him from Buffalo. Helped get the Habs on the board late in the first period by breaking up a play in his own zone and getting the puck to Petry who skated in unmolested on Bernier with Byron ready to bury the rebound. Mitchell had an excellent night in the face off circle (64%) against the best face off team in the NHL. And if you needed further proof that this edition of the Habs is together how about Mitchell coming to the defense of his smaller line mate who had been abused once too often by the Ducks?
    • Brendan Gallagher. Still in desperate search of a goal but that was old school Gallagher drawing penalties while getting mugged in front of the opposition net. The fact that he accidently-on-purpose backed into Bernier in the first period when the Ducks goalie had slid out of his net set the tone for an amusing evening of Anaheim seemingly more intent on playing “let’s get him” instead of playing to win.
    • PK Unit. Might not have seemed like a factor at the end of the game but it clinched the win when they killed off Mitchell’s roughing penalty to begin the third period. Anaheim has the second best power play in the NHL and had scored on four of its last 7 attempts coming into the game. Two and a half minutes after Mitchell’s penalty ended, Petry hopped onto the ice and the puck found him just as he hit the Anaheim blue line. Bernier (0-6-2, 3.74, .881 career at Bell Centre) whiffed on the shot and it was effectively game over.
    • Michael McCarron-Daniel Carr-Chris Terry. Excellent spot duty by the 4th line and they deserved that goal by Terry. Carr drew a couple of penalties and with his helper on the 5th goal McCarron, in his third game, equalled his NHL point total of a season ago when he had two in 20 games. And whatever happens to Terry, in 25 years he’ll still be telling stories of this night.

  • Andrei Markov. Happy 38th birthday. I wonder if they put a candle or two on his Bell Centre hot dogs.
  • Shea Weber. “We’re a tight group in here”. In here:

  • Michel Therrien. Down five regulars and his team ended up toying with the Ducks, three days after completely shutting down the Capitals in Washington. In their last two wins the Habs have allowed a total of just 33 shots on goal. It’s been a long climb but Montreal’s average shot totals are now more representative of a team playing over .700 hockey (30.1 shots on goal per game/29.6 shots against). Therrien has reason to be proud. While he continues to praise the work ethic of his players (“Just phenomenal”) he also took an important step following the loss to the Sharks when he assumed responsibility for not having them ready to play. There are losses coming. Several of them. Their schedule from December 28 – February 12th is nothing short of hellacious. In fact, this week of three games in four nights ending in Columbus ain’t exactly a picnic. But before we get to Ohio it’s important to recognize how the Habs players feel about their coach.


THE BAD

    • Power Play. Yeah they scored twice in six attempts (33%) but it was gosh awful before Lehkonen jumped on that loose puck which led to the goal by Plekanec. It certainly loosened them up for the next one. We’ll see if that carries over into the next game against the stingy Minnesota Wild. In fairness the Habs are missing two key elements (Alex Galchenyuk and Andrew Shaw) of what had become a good power play. Kirk Muller has had to redesign the unit a couple of times. Because its most potent weapon has been neutralized, by opponents taking the Weber shot away as an option and/or because he can’t quite shoot like he did in October.


THE UGLY

  • Jonathan Bernier. Looks like he’s settling into his new career as a back up. He’ll have plenty of time to read all about Nelson Mandela.