Ups and Downs | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Jake Allen, Nick Suzuki, Tyler Toffoli

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA — Hello there, folks! Back with another edition of my three stars of the week column!

Players will earn points each time they appear as a star in this column and at the end of the year, I will award my three stars of the season.

The Canadiens are currently in the dreaded win one, lose one pattern that shows the group is lacking consistency at the moment, so it is not always easy to pick out guys who had consistent performances throughout the week, but let’s see who stood out this week.

☆ THIRD STAR: Jake Allen

Now that Carey Price is back, the workload that Jake Allen was carrying will decrease and go back to normal, with an expectation that as the Canadiens head down the stretch perhaps Price gets more action to get prepared for a playoff run and get him in the rhythm the organization would like him to be, with that said the Canadiens schedule going forward remains grueling, with 14 games remaining in just 24 days.

With that being the case, Allen will need to step into the crease in his remaining opportunities and do what we saw out of him this week. As mentioned, the Canadiens are in that zone right now where they win a game then lose a game and that does not leave much margin for error. Anything goes a little bit differently in the Canadiens wins over Toronto and Calgary and this is a losing streak at a terrible time.

So, the fact the Canadiens are in this point in the season, holding down a playoff spot and Price has missed some time is a good reason to give Allen some credit for doing his best to hold down the fort in Price’s absence. It was not always as pretty as when Price is on top of his game, but it is not meant to be. Allen simply has to give the Canadiens a chance and he did that this week.

When the Canadiens lost that first game against Calgary on Wednesday night, the Friday night rematch became a must win game to keep a little bit of breathing room for the Canadiens. Allen made 28 saves on 29 shots and the Canadiens got a valuable win.

☆ SECOND STAR: Nick Suzuki

It has been a bit of a weird season for Nick Suzuki, with up and down performances but the highs are high enough that it is easy to overlook some of the lows. For example, this week Suzuki scored a beautiful goal against the Leafs with a great wrister on the power play and on Friday night picked up two assists. But sandwiched between those performances was a minus-three against the Flames.

As I said, there have been highs and lows this season with Suzuki and at times there has been criticism of his lack of offensive production during the low periods that is warranted but also a by-product of the unsustainability of his performance in the bubble. Fans and media saw that, and expectations went to a level Suzuki just is not capable of matching at this point.

This is something I have talked about on the Canadiens Connection podcast, the Canadiens needed to be prepared for the inevitable struggles Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi would have in a NHL season, albeit a compressed one. When the offense dries up it has a lot to do with them, particularly Suzuki, and that is a large weight to carry for a 21-year-old.

This is all to say, the lows are inevitable with every player, but especially with young players. The Canadiens are just so reliant on Suzuki to produce that it is more noticeable when he does not. But this week, he gave the Canadiens some of that valuable production this week.

☆ FIRST STAR: Tyler Toffoli

Tyler Toffoli only had two points this week, but they were the two biggest points of the week for the Canadiens, possibly of the season. As mentioned previously, the Canadiens needed to win their Friday night rematch against the Flames to keep a little bit of a cushion between them and Toffoli delivered the goals for the Habs that night the way he has all season.

Toffoli is up to 21 goals on the season with a total of 32 points in 39 games played. He has been everything the Canadiens could have hoped for and down the stretch the Canadiens will need more of the same from Toffoli.

Montreal has seemingly made a point of adding veterans with playoff experience and in doing so have added a handful of former Stanley Cup champions, Toffoli included. Some of the other names, particularly Eric Staal and Corey Perry, are not at a point in their careers where they are capable of having the impact on the scoresheet that they were at earlier periods of their careers. Toffoli is.

The Habs are at a crucial juncture of their schedule and at some point soon, they will need to find some consistency and start racking up consecutive wins and not the concerning win one, lose one pattern that we have seen of late. To do that, the Canadiens will rely on guys who have been there before and know when it is time to deliver. Toffoli has done that all season and he will need to continue to do so down the stretch.

Canadiens Connection Podcast

Every Saturday, I host the Canadiens Connection podcast with Rick Stephens to discuss the latest issues involving the Montreal Canadiens. Use the player below to listen. Be sure to share and subscribe!

By Joseph Whalen, Host, Canadiens Connection podcast
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