A Familiar Face Shines | Three Stars of the Week, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Corey Perry, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Carey Price
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA — Hello again, folks! Happy to be back for another week of my Three Stars column here on All Habs!
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 played two games since my last column which provides less of a sample size, but there were still some strong performances in the two games against the Flames.
☆ THIRD STAR: Corey Perry
Last week my third star of the week was Joel Armia. This week the third star is the guy who replaced him in the lineup. Perry has been a more than admirable replacement for Armia on the Canadiens third line and while he does not have the speed and versatility to replicate all that Armia brings to the table, he has produced in the ways you would expect him to.
He scored in his debut last Saturday against the Canucks, which did not come as a huge surprise given, he is Corey Perry and that is what Corey Perry does. He followed that up with a beautiful assist on the Brendan Gallagher power play goal in the Canadiens home opener.
Beyond the production, he has been a fine substitute for Armia alongside Tyler Toffoli and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. We have seen Kotkaniemi’s line dominate possession in the past and Perry has been able to win battles down low and create scoring chances.
These are the ways that Corey Perry can contribute for you at age 35, and to this point he has been a really nice addition for the Canadiens. He came to the team with a remarkable attitude and a belief that he had to win a spot to play on this team. With the injury to Armia, an opportunity was presented to Perry and he has made good on it.
☆ SECOND STAR: Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Jesperi Kotkaniemi was left out of the awards last week as two of his linemates, Armia and Toffoli were included in my column as third and first stars respectively. Now, it’s his turn. Kotkaniemi has been very good to start this season, continuing his momentum from his great play in the Toronto bubble.
In the Canadiens home opener against the Flames, Kotkaniemi tallied a pair of assists, picking up the secondary assist on the opening goal of the game as well as the Josh Anderson goal in the second period. He and his line were held off the scoresheet in the first three games of the season, but in the five games that have followed Kotkaniemi has five points.
This is without even mentioning that his Corsi For Percentage at even strength after seven games was above 60 percent. He has consistently been above 50 percent to this point in his career, which is a great place to be, but above 60 for any stretch of games is pretty remarkable.
Kotkaniemi has been producing, playing with the physical edge that we saw in the Toronto bubble and improving in the face-off circle, with a very respectable 66.7 percent performance in the circle against the Flames on Thursday.
He is seemingly maturing by the game and it will be fun to see how many times he finds himself here in my weekly column!
☆ FIRST STAR: Carey Price
The Canadiens picked up one win this week and Carey Price had quite a lot to do with it. Goaltending was at the forefront this week for the Habs as both Price and his backup, Jake Allen, looked great against the Flames.
Montreal did not preserve Price’s shut out Thursday, which has been the case in a couple of games already this season for the Habs, but he has had quality starts in his last two, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a pair of victories.
The Canadiens are a team that feels good about themselves right now, even with the loss Saturday night against a hungry Flames team. They are looking like they are having fun together, with Price’s glove save on Joel Edmundson in practice coming to mind.
Price has been noticeably more chipper this season than in years past and given the team he has in front of him, why wouldn’t he be?
Even with the additions made by Marc Bergevin, this team will go as far as Price will take them and since my last column it was Price that led them to their only win with his steady, reliable play between the pipes.
This coming week will be much busier for the Canadiens, which will make for an interesting column next week!
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