Leadership By Example | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher, Carey Price

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 had a bit of a down week, but there are still some shining performances to recognize.

☆ THIRD STAR: Josh Anderson

For years now, the Canadiens have lacked skaters who, when things are not going the Habs way, will almost single-handedly drag their teammates into the fight. Josh Anderson is one of those guys. Things did not go the Canadiens way for most of this week, but Anderson was a steadying presence who brought some much-needed intensity for Montreal.

Anderson scored a game-winning goal against Ottawa to give the Canadiens a sigh of relief and two valuable points. He followed that up with an early goal against the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. He has nine goals on the season now and the Canadiens have to be thrilled with the way he has produced for them to this point in the season.

In the game against Toronto on Saturday night, Anderson was held off the scoresheet, but that did not mean his presence was not felt. He registered six hits on the night and, in a game that lacked intensity from the Canadiens skaters, had a notably intense shift in response to a hit from Leafs defenceman Jake Muzzin.

Even on nights when he does not find the back of the net, he finds ways to impact the game. The Canadiens need more guys like that, guys who drag their teammates into the fight. Josh Anderson has been a guy doing that to this point in the season.

☆ SECOND STAR: Brendan Gallagher

Speaking of dragging their teammates into the fight, perhaps the only Canadiens forward who has consistently done that the past few years, Brendan Gallagher deserves some recognition for his performance Saturday night against the Leafs. The Canadiens were starving for a quintessential Brendan Gallagher performance and though he waited until the third period to deliver it, as they say, better late than never.

Now, there is a reason the Canadiens were still within one in the third period that we will be getting to later in this column, but they still needed someone to make the plays offensively and Gallagher did that.

First, with a beautiful play along the boards to work it towards the front of the net where Tyler Toffoli finished the play off a feed from Phillip Danault, a play in which the secondary assist was the much more important play. Then he scored a Brendan Gallagher goal. Not pretty, but they all count the same.

Gallagher wears a letter on this team and Saturday night he showed why. He has not been very effective to start this season, some of which is to do with the disappointing play of Danault, but he still has not been the Gallagher we have come to expect. Saturday night, he showed exactly what he is capable of doing.

The Canadiens had no business winning that crucial game and Brendan Gallagher was the second biggest reason why they did. As such, he gets my second star for this week.

☆ FIRST STAR: Carey Price

My first star of this week is Carey Price. The Canadiens were in jeopardy of losing three consecutive games, which is not something that good teams do. They were on the ropes, sluggish, almost uninterested in what was happening around them to start the game against the Leafs. The Canadiens essentially played one decent period of hockey and the Habs still won the game. Why was that? Carey Price.

It could have been a much different story. It honestly probably should have been a much different story. Mitch Marner got the Leafs on the board early after Auston Matthews stripped Danault of the puck easily, before centering to a wide open Marner in front. Marner, who is currently tied for third in scoring in the league, was seemingly an afterthought for the Canadiens defensively.

From that point on, it could have easily gone off the rails for the Canadiens. Marner could have had two more goals himself in the first period alone. The Canadiens were incredibly fortunate to be in that game and there was only one person to thank for that: Carey Price.

Leadership from the crease

This comes in a week that saw many turn on Carey Price, pointing at Jake Allen’s goals against average and save percentage as an indicator that he is a better goaltender. It just is not true. If the Canadiens have any other goaltender between the pipes in that pivotal game against Toronto, the score would not have been kind to the Canadiens.

There is truly one reason why the Canadiens got that big win against the Leafs Saturday night: Carey Price. Brendan Gallagher was the guy who provided the offense, but without Price’s excellence, keeping the Canadiens around in a game they had no business being anywhere close in, it would have been a third straight loss. Not many other goaltenders can afford their team the opportunity to take two periods to settle into a game.

That, for the record, is why Carey Price gets paid the big bucks.

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By Joseph Whalen, Host, Canadiens Connection podcast
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