Errors, Byron, Tatar, Centres | Habs Notepad

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Paul Byron (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)

Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, Habs, Week In Review, Paul Byron, Tomas Tatar, Philip Danault, Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Claude Julien, Marc Bergevin

Paul Byron (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Canadiens had a rare six day break between their two matchups against the Maple Leafs. The team used the time to work on all aspects of their play.

“It was part of our yearly planning if I can put it that way. When the schedule came out, we had training camp – we only had a week – and you look at this week coming up, we had already discussed that this would be a good time to do certain things,” Claude Julien said on Tuesday February 16th following the first on-ice practice.

“This has been planned for a long time as far as the approach of what we want to do. As far as certain specifics, I think we gave ourselves an opportunity to see where we going to be after 15 games.”

Game of Errors

If the week of practice was considered as a mini-training camp, I’d consider Saturday’s performance in their 5-2 loss against the Maple Leafs as a pre-season game. The Canadiens allowed three power play goals, two of them during a two-man advantage.

“We made too many mistakes tonight. We weren’t mentally sharp. That’s what hurt us the most. We were skating well and we had our chances. We also created scoring chances. We had enough to win, but we made too many defensive mistakes. Those mistakes were costly. The penalties also played a part in that,” evaluated Julien.

The defeat brings Montreal’s record to three wins and five regulation losses at the Bell Centre this season.

More Errors in Ottawa

On Sunday, the Senators got two goals on lucky bounces before Corey Perry tied the game with 5:25 remaining in the third period. Jake Allen kept his team in it during the overtime, making six saves before Brady Tkachuk scored the winning goal to give Ottawa 3-2 win.

“Lately what we’re doing is were pressing and because were pressing were making some high risk decisions, and those are becoming costly,” coach said after the game.

Montreal has obtained a point in the standings in all nine road games this season. The Canadiens continue their four-game road trip with a rematch against the Senators on Tuesday, followed by back-to-back games against the Jets on Thursday and Saturday.

Byron Wants to Stay

As anticipated, Paul Byron cleared waivers last week and was placed on the taxi squad. The term of his contract in a flat salary cap world made the 30 other general managers pass on the opportunity. It was a calculated move by Marc Bergevin.

“I’ve talked to [Paul Byron] personally and I want more from him. I know when he’s at his best what he does. There’s also the business side of it with the cap being flat, being able to take a risk that he will clear waivers and give us more cap space, especially in a week where we don’t have any games,” Bergevin explained.

“It was a little bit stressful, honestly. You don’t really know what’s going to happen. I really wanted to stay in Montreal. I didn’t know if another team wanted me or not,” Byron shared on Friday.

Byron played his best of game of the season against the Maple Leafs. He scored his first goal of the year, and had several other scoring opportunities.

“I wanted to have a better game. I knew that I was capable of giving more. Having a week to practice alongside my linemates was good. I just wanted to play better,” Byron said following the match versus Toronto.

Tatar Responds

Tomas Tatar made his way back into the lineup after being scratched for one game. “When you experience something like that in the regular season, it’s a little bit of a shock, but at the end of the day it’s not my decision and I had to respect it. You want to be a pro about it,” he said on Wednesday.

“Claude has talked to him. We expect more. I understand scoring goals is big, but also there’s little details to your game that allow you to score goals. When those details aren’t there, it’s harder. Tomas is a good pro. I’m not only looking at him in terms of scoring goals, I’m also looking at what else he does when he doesn’t score. That’s a part of his game that he has to improve,” Bergevin said.

The Canadiens forward responded on Saturday with a strong performance. He got an assist on a play where he made a perfect pass to Jesperi Kotkaniemi with three opponents near him.

“He’s super fun to play with. He’s a really skilled guy. He’s a really easygoing guy to play with. You can see why he was the leading scorer for our team last year,” Kotkaniemi said post-game.

Things didn’t go as well on Sunday for him. Tatar’s last shift ended with 7:55 remaining in the third period. He spent the rest of the period and the entire overtime on the bench. He finished the night with 10:59 of ice time and no shots on goal.

“We worked with him. We showed him the things we’d like him to improve. We want a little bit more from him because we know it’s there. It’s as simple as that,” Julien commented Tatar’s performance earlier in the week.

Offence from Centres

The Canadiens success depends on the performance of their players at centre. Philip Danault is the only veteran centre on the roster. There’s a lot hanging on the output from Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Jake Evans.

The team is currently on a stretch of five losses in seven games. In that span, the four centres scored two goals total. 

“The one challenge we have as a team is that we’re very young down the middle. There’s growing pains that are happening there, and it’s the only way these guys can gain some experience. We’re seeing the potential of our guys down the middle, and it’s very positive,” Julien said on Wednesday.

I think we can all agree that goal scoring isn’t Danault’s strength. His career high is 13 goals. This year, he hasn’t found the back of the net through 17 games. It’s unacceptable.

“It was hard mentally for the first five or six games. There was a little adaptation on the ice and off the ice. Since then, I think it’s been good. I haven’t scored, but I’ve been trying my best and doing all the details that I’m good at defensively. I’m trying to bring some offence as well. Eventually, it will come up,” Danault said on Friday.

Bergevin stated that he’s expecting more from the veteran. At his best, Danault is able to shut down the opposition’s best forwards, be a key player on the penalty kill, and win the important face offs.

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By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2021 Rocket Sports

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1 COMMENT

  1. i like the blue sweater.it fits with our karmaCH.
    les belles pensees de retablissement pour notre cher guy,

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