Habs News: Montreal Canadiens Week in Review, Upcoming Roster Decision, Claude Julien Coaching Decisions, Defensemen Scoring
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — In episode 56 of the Canadiens Connection podcast, the hosts Joseph Whalen and Rick Stephens asked whether fans are ready for a rollercoaster season with the constant ups and downs that are expected with a bubble team. Rollercoaster is the perfect way to describe the Canadiens this week.
The week started with a 5-4 win against the Atlantic Division leading Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. It was a game where both teams weren’t at their best defensively and in goal. The surprise of the night for me was that the Zdeno Chara‘s 1,500th career game was recognized by the Canadiens on the scoreboard and the Bell Centre fans didn’t loudly boo the Bruins defender. I never would have imagined that ever happening in Montreal, where Chara was never liked, especially since the hit against Max Pacioretty.
On Thursday, the Canadiens lost 3-2 in overtime against the Flyers in Philadelphia. Montreal was flat in the game, and the only reason that Montreal managed to get a point in the standings was Carey Price. The Flyers went on a stretch where they were outshooting their opponents 25-1. After not having a good start against the Bruins, Price made 40 saves, including several spectacular ones. We saw the goalie smash his stick in the hallway leading to the dressing room as he would have liked to have the game winning shot back, but he certainly has nothing to feel guilty about.
The Kings visited the Bell Centre on Saturday night, and left without any points in the standings, as they lost 3-2 against Montreal. The Habs took an early 3-0 win in the first period, before letting their opponents back into the game by allowing a pair of goals.
Four of the possible six points is a positive result for the team, and they need to at least maintain that pace until the end of the month. The schedule for the month of November is favourable for the Canadiens as they play nine of the 12 games at home and only three against teams currently in the playoffs.
The Canadiens play two of their three games at home this week. On Tuesday, they host the Blue Jackets on Tuesday and the Devils on Saturday. On Thursday, the team will head to Washington to face the Capitals on Friday.
Upcoming Roster Decision
A roster decision is imminent as Jesperi Kotkaniemi has already been cleared for contact and should be cleared to play in time for Tuesday’s game. The easy decision would be to send one of the waiver exempt players to Laval, as for the vast majority of the time during Marc Bergevin‘s tenure, there has been eight defensemen on the roster. If that’s the direction that they will take, Kotkaniemi may be sent to the AHL as a way to get his game back following his injury. If not, I expect Ryan Poehling, who played on the wing on Saturday, to get returned to Laval.
If Bergevin is open to placing a player on waivers, I think that the obvious choice would be Christian Folin. Folin’s last game was on October 19th against the Blues, and has been a healthy scratch for the last nine. Cale Fleury seems to have locked down the third pairing slot on the right side of defence. Claude Julien has increased the rookie defenceman’s responsibilities by playing him on the second penalty kill unit replacing Victor Mete.
The organization has depth on the right side of the defence that makes Folin expendable. In case of injury, Mike Reilly can replace on a short term basis and there’s also Noah Juulsen in Laval that’s been playing really well with the Rocket.
Coaching Decisions Rewarded
Tuesday night’s game was Julien’s 1,200th career game behind a NHL bench. His career is still far from being over, but the Canadiens coach has had a successful career including a Stanley Cup win in 2010-11 with the Bruins.
Julien made several coaching decisions last week that I believe directly influenced the outcomes of games. At the 5:23 mark of the third period against the Bruins, Julien decided to challenge a goal scored by Charlie Coyle. After a long review, it was deemed that the play was offside. I was surprised that the call was reversed as I felt that there wasn’t conclusive evidence to overturn the call, and by the amount of time it took for a decision to be rendered.
Julien’s decision changed the momentum of the game. If he wouldn’t have challenged the play, the Bruins would have taken a 5-4 lead. Instead, the Habs took advantage of the situation and ended up with the win.
Bruce Cassidy was upset about the decision at the conclusion of the game, but I think that he had the opportunity earlier in the game to make a difference. With 1:05 remaining in the second period, Mete gave his team a 4-3 lead by scoring a goal where Nate Thompson was in the crease tangled with Tuuka Rask as the puck crossed the red line.
We’ll never know if the goal would have been disallowed after review, however I think it was a situation where the coach had to ask the referees look at the play once again. Rask and his teammates on the ice were visibly upset that the goal was allowed, and in my opinion, Cassidy should have shown his support by having it reviewed. The players may feel like their coach didn’t have their back by not taking any action.
Julien also changed up the defensive pairings to face the Bruins, moving Ben Chiarot to the top pairing with Shea Weber in order for them to defend against the Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak line. That defensive pairing along with Tomas Tatar-Philip Danault-Brendan Gallagher did a remarkable job limiting the scoring chances of the Bruins top line.
For the game against the Kings, changes were made to the composition of the power play units, as Montreal hadn’t scored in their last 13 opportunities. Jonathan Drouin and Weber were moved to the top unit, while Nick Suzuki and Jeff Petry were assigned to the second unit. The result was two goals scored by Weber, his 100th and 101st career goals on the power play.
Defence Scoring
The Canadiens defensemen scored seven of the team’s 10 goals last week with Weber scoring three times, Chiarot and Mete scoring twice each. The 13 goals scored by the defenders since start of the season places them tied for first in that category.
Last season, Montreal finished 8th in that category with 42 goals.
By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2019 Rocket Sports
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