Faces of the Franchise Shine | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Corey Perry, Tomas Tatar, Josh Anderson

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA — Hello there, folks! Back again for another edition of my weekly column here where I take a look back at the week of action for the Canadiens and award my three stars!

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 have earned at least a point in their last four games and have finally gotten their first win in extra time with their shootout victory over the Canucks, so let’s take a look at who walks away with my three stars this week.

☆ THIRD STAR: Corey Perry

When the Canadiens signed Corey Perry, I was initially unsure of what a 35-year-old Corey Perry could do for the team. He was never fleet of foot, so how exactly would he fit in to a team that has made speed a significant part of their identity? It also must be said that Marc Bergevin has attempted to bring in aging pieces on team-friendly deals before and it did not work, so why is Perry the exception?

To answer those questions, it first needs to be said that Corey Perry is simply better than the likes of Alexander Semin, P.A. Parenteau, Ales Hemsky and the other names Bergevin has attempted to add for some cheap scoring. Secondly, Perry is not being used as a solution for a team struggling to score like the others were, he is just playing a bottom-six role with power play time.

The power-play is a major part of the reason why Perry has been so valuable to this team. His play down low, retrieving pucks, the beautiful passing plays we have seen from him to Brendan Gallagher, not being afraid to go to the dirty areas. These were elements missing from the Canadiens power play in years past.

How does he manage to fit in to a team largely based around speed? He is so cerebral. He is processing things much quicker than those around him which is what you would expect from a guy like Perry. In the Friday night game against Vancouver, he scored the opening goal of the game on a play where he faked the aforementioned backhand pass to Gallagher, before going back to the point. A Jeff Petry point shot led to a rebound that Perry knocked home.

This is why Corey Perry has been so effective for the Canadiens so far. His play on the ice, in addition to being someone who has won a Stanley Cup, makes him a nice steadying presence for this team.

☆ SECOND STAR: Tomas Tatar

Tomas Tatar has yet to be featured in my three stars of the week column and this week feels like a good time for him to finally be included. I discussed in a previous edition of this column that I felt that Phillip Danault’s struggles had really been hampering Gallagher and Tatar’s ability to be effective, now that Danault is performing reasonably well, the other two have found their offense.

Tatar has four points in his last three games and scored the shootout winner against Vancouver on Saturday to give the Canadiens their first win after regulation this season. Tatar is up to 20 points on the season in 30 games played. That is just about where you would expect him to be, so he has rebounded pretty well after a sluggish start to the season.

It would seem that the Danault line with Tatar and Gallagher has began to turn things around, which would be a pretty significant development for the Canadiens. They have tried splitting them up and evidently, they believe that the familiarity between those three is a benefit to the lineup, so it is of the utmost importance that this trio maintains effectiveness for the Habs going forward.

It remains to be seen if that line can find a good level of consistency going forward, but for this week, Tomas Tatar delivered that shootout goal that the Canadiens desperately needed to break the streak and finally get a win beyond regulation.

☆ FIRST STAR: Josh Anderson

Josh Anderson made a promise this week. Josh Anderson delivered on that promise. What is better in professional sports than a player saying after a tough loss that his team needs to come out better the next game and then doing everything in his power to get a win? Very few things and that is why Josh Anderson walks away with my first star this week.

Anderson is becoming one of those guys that does not need to score or produce points to be effective for the Canadiens and those guys are invaluable. We see him fighting, we see him skate around the ice as fast as anyone, laying thunderous body checks. He does it all for this team and with a goal and an assist against Winnipeg in that big bounce back win earlier this week, he also gives you some nice production.

Anderson is currently second on the Canadiens in hits and third in goals. Those are prototypical power forward numbers and as we know, the Canadiens have been in desperate need for size and goal scoring, so Anderson is ticking that box all on his own.

There are guys on this team that you do not know what you will see from them game-to-game. Anderson is not one of those guys. Regardless of what the score looks like, Anderson is usually pretty noticeable for good reasons. He brings an element to this team that was sorely lacking and even with the inconsistent performance of the team, it has to be reassuring to Habs fans that Bergevin acquired Josh Anderson.

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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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