CANADIENS
Montreal

SABRES
Buffalo

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty- Galchenyuk – Andrighetto
Eller – Plekanec – Byron
De la Rose – McCarron – Mitchell
Matteau – Danault – Brown[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov- Subban
Emelin – Pateryn
Bartley – Barberio
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Scrivens

Scratches:  Lucas Lessio, Brendan Gallagher (lower-body)
Injured reserve:  Carey Price, Daniel Carr, Brian Flynn, Jeff Petry, David Desharnais, Tom Gilbert, Nathan Beaulieu

Game Report

For a good long stretch, this was a game looking for a story. It was a bit of a yawn-fest for the first half of the match. The Bell Centre was subdued and more than a few empty seats were scattered throughout the lower bowl.

Nine minutes into the second period the Sabres opened the scoring. Nine seconds later Alex Galchenyuk didn’t waste any time evening the score. With his second goal just before the end of the period, Galchenyuk was writing the narrative. The 22-year-old sniper is red hot with four two-goal games in the month of March.

And it even goes back before that.

Elias Sports announced that Alex Galchenyuk is first Montreal Canadiens player with five multi-goal performances in an  eight game span since Jean Beliveau in 1959. Galchenyuk has 11 goals in an eight game span.

Since David Desharnais was sidelined with injury, Galchenyuk’s role has increased significantly. Increased icetime, more talented linemates and first-wave power-play time have provided the opportunity. And Galchenyuk has delivered.

It’s unclear whether any of this would have transpired if the coach’s hand had not been forced.  While fans can be critical of how Galchenyuk has been managed, they should be enjoying how he has embraced the chance.

Obviously the positive story was completely overshadowed with the scene that played out with just 2:31 left in the game. P.K. Subban went down awkwardly and was accidentally clipped by Alexei Emelin.

After several minutes, Subban was stretchered off the ice and was transported to hospital for tests. The Canadiens announced that their top defenceman had sustained a neck injury but had normal movement in all his extremities. He is expected to undergo tests at hospital.

The word coming from Subban’s family is that he was taken to hospital for observation and will be fine. Let’s hope so.

The Canadiens host the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre on Saturday.

~~~

▲     Alex Galchenyuk, Sven Andrighetto, Max Pacioretty, Andrei Markov

▼     Greg Pateryn, Tomas Plekanec, Paul Byron

1. Alex Galchenyuk  MTL
2. Mark Barberio  MTL
3. Jack Eichel  BUF

• “P.K. Subban suffered a neck injury and was taken to hospital for precautionary measures. He will undergo further testing. He was alert and moving extremities normally.”

Coach Michel Therrien

• “You always want to make sure your player is going to be healthy, [that] he’s going to be fine. It’s always scary when you see the doctor go on the ice and you don’t know what’s going on, and I think all the bench felt the same thing when he left on the stretcher. So we’re happy to get the win. But after I went to see him, he was with the doctor, we had a good conversation; he was capable [of moving] everything, and that’s the good news regarding the circumstances. But we really hope he’s going to be good.“

Max Pacioretty

• “I think he was taken to the hospital, but they seemed optimistic. But I’ve been in that position before and it brings back a lot of tough memories, so it was really hard for me to watch.“

Alex Galchenyuk

• “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my linemates. The first goal was a great set up from [Max Pacioretty], and the second goal was obviously a gift from Sven (Andrighetto.)“

Buffalo coach Dan Bylsma

• “You’re trying to win a hockey game, but you almost felt like you don’t want to keep playing at that point in time. There’s a couple of minutes left in the game, but you’re really mostly entirely concerned for the athlete and for the person, and the game’s an afterthought.“
• “We knew [Alex Galchenyuk] came into the game red-hot, we knew he was on fire and unfortunately we were unable to stop him there. He had the power-play opportunity there; that one, disappointingly enough, they had us on the ropes there for a lot of that power play and we blocked a shot there and it looks like we might get a reprieve, and kind of a bang-bang play. The puck bounces off of us and then it’s quick out to the front of the net, and Alex, he’s all alone, all by himself standing at our goalie. For a guy that’s that hot, it’s a tap-in for him.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com