Big Performances | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Tyler Toffoli, Shea Weber, Carey Price
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 only played two games this week, so there is less to go on than usual, but here are my three stars of the week.
☆ THIRD STAR: Carey Price
Carey Price falls down to my third star this week because of a lighter night of work in game four against Winnipeg, but also to shine a light on other performers for the Canadiens. Price was steady when called upon in game three against Winnipeg making 26 saves on 27 shots. His magnificence has continued.
Even in the lighter night of work in game four, he was still tasked with making some big saves. He made three consecutive saves in the same sequence on Paul Stastny, who almost gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead in that game, but Price made the big saves at the right time to keep the game even.
In this Canadiens seven-game win streak, Carey Price has a .943 save percentage. He is the reason the Habs are in the Stanley Cup semi-finals, make no mistake about it. As I said last week, the Canadiens are starting to get more reliable performances from the skaters in front of Price, but it cannot be overstated that the Canadiens simply would not be here if not for Price.
He was still magnificent, and he is still the reason the Canadiens have gotten to this point, but this week I wanted to acknowledge that Price is the reason the Canadiens are here, while also giving credit to his teammates who have provided him that support. Price unquestionably still deserves attention and credit and as such he is my third star.
☆ SECOND STAR: Shea Weber
There was so much conversation this season that surrounded Shea Weber this season centered around the idea that the 35-year-old had lost a step, that he was no longer effective, and that Jeff Petry was the Canadiens top defenceman. These playoffs have showed that Weber is still the dominant force defensively that he has always been.
In the Canadiens seven-game win streak, Weber has averaged just over 27 minutes of ice-time, the top four with Weber, Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson, and Petry have been relied upon heavily and Weber is the leader who plays incredibly demanding minutes against top offensive talent.
In addition to his stout defensive play, Weber has added three assists over his last seven games. It was well-documented in the Toronto series that the Canadiens had not been getting any production from their blueliners, but Weber has provided those assists in addition to being tasked with shutting down the opposition’s best.
And if that is not enough, the Canadiens played a good chunk of game three and all of game four without Petry. In the absence of Petry, the Canadiens needed Weber to be even more of a steadying presence than usual and the captain delivered.
The Canadiens defence in front of Price has stabilized and Weber has a lot to do with that.
☆ FIRST STAR: Tyler Toffoli
The guy who scored the overtime winner to send the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup semi-finals deserves a little bit of recognition. Even more so when considering that in his last six games, Tyler Toffoli has eight points. It was a bit of a quiet start for Toffoli, and he has been the beneficiary of the great play of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield at times, but he has produced very nicely with 10 points in 11 games.
It should come as no surprise for Toffoli, who has Stanley Cup pedigree and has performed well in the playoffs in his career, but he stumbled out of the gate against Toronto with just two points in the first five games. But his line with Suzuki and Caufield have really provided the Canadiens with reliable production and even when they miss opportunities, they are generally a line that builds momentum for the Habs.
As was the case throughout the regular season, the trust that Toffoli will do the right things when he is on the ice can be seen with his shorthanded goal in game two against Winnipeg. He was a penalty killer all season for the Canadiens and his ability to perform well in that role gave the Canadiens a goal-scoring threat to get that important goal.
As I said, he may benefit from the play of Suzuki and Caufield from time to time, he really did not have to do much on the game-winning goal in game four, but he got to a dangerous area, was ready to receive that pass from Caufield and made no mistake when he got it. That goal gave him two game-winning goals in his last three games.
Toffoli will need to continue producing and for others to chip in a little more regularly for the Canadiens to handle the Vegas Golden Knights.
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