Ups and Downs | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Tyler Toffoli, Shea Weber, Josh Anderson
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.
It was not a great week for the Canadiens, picking up just one win, but there were some decent individual performances to acknowledge, so here are my three stars of the week.
☆ THIRD STAR: Tyler Toffoli
My first star of last week kept on scoring goals this week. He has scored in three consecutive games and is now up to 24 goals on the season. The Canadiens have relied so heavily on Toffoli to provide them consistent goal-scoring and he has delivered time and time again.
In the first game against Calgary, he failed to clear the puck, which resulted in the Flames first goal of the game, but he made amends for it, beating Jacob Markstrom with a perfectly placed shot. He just finds ways to score goals. The issue is, he is simply relied on too much. The Canadiens need more from others to help out Toffoli.
It does not help that Brendan Gallagher is out of the lineup and the Canadiens are without the services of a couple other forwards at the moment, but this is a team that should have been able to better withstand injuries and not go off the rails like in years past. It is easier said than done, but Toffoli has held up his end of the bargain, he simply needs others to produce at a similar level.
Toffoli has done everything the Canadiens could have hoped for this season, so it almost seems unfair to keep asking him for more, but it has been made abundantly clear that the Canadiens need him to keep doing what he has been doing to give them a chance to make the playoffs.
☆ SECOND STAR: Shea Weber
The Canadiens picked up one win this week, so much of the positives out of this week are going to be taken from that game and what a win it was for the Canadiens. Sure, what followed was a letdown, but that win came in a game with playoff-like intensity and who else to lead the Canadiens to that win than Shea Weber?
He was all over the Oilers high-powered forwards, particularly Leon Draisaitl, making life miserable for them with his punishing style of play. Much of the conversation this season that has surrounded Weber has been talking about him losing a step or not being as effective as he used to be. Ask the Edmonton Oilers about Weber’s effectiveness, I am sure they will tell you just how effective he is.
In that game against the Oilers, Weber and his partner Ben Chiarot combined for 13 hits, absolutely punishing the Oiler forwards. Coming at a time when Jeff Petry has been struggling, the stability Weber provides in his own zone cannot be overlooked.
Weber is still that punishing defenceman he has always been. With all due respect to Chiarot, who I believe does a fine job alongside Weber, the Canadiens need to better complement Weber with a good puck-mover on his left and I truly believe that will quickly change any perception that Weber is no longer effective.
☆ FIRST STAR: Josh Anderson
In the same week that Max Domi was a healthy scratch for the Blue Jackets, Josh Anderson did everything in his power to try to will the Canadiens to some wins. Without the services of Gallagher in years past, the Canadiens have lacked in two categories up front: goal-scoring and that willingness to battle. Anderson filled both those boxes this week.
In the lone Canadiens win this week, Anderson picked up two goals, bringing his total to 17 on the season. That game against the Oilers was a must-win game to keep some cushion between the Canadiens and the Flames ahead of the crucial three-game set between them. After losing the first two of that three game set, that win over the Oilers is even more important.
But as I said, it goes beyond the goal-scoring with Anderson. He was held off the scoresheet in the first two games against Calgary, but he never stopped trying to drag his teammates into the fight. In the first game he was battling with Mark Giordano all night long, much in the same way we saw him get into heated battles with Jake Muzzin during games against the Leafs.
In Anderson, the Canadiens traded for a guy who not only puts the puck in the back of the net, but someone who can be counted on to be a leader and try to will his teammates forward. As is the case with Toffoli, the Canadiens just need more guys like Anderson to step up when he does not provide them the production on the scoresheet.
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