Big Performances | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Nick Suzuki, Josh Anderson, Carey Price
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.
This was a bit of a tough week, there are a handful of guys I would love to talk about this week, but these are the three guys who stood out to me the most.
☆ THIRD STAR: Nick Suzuki
As I said, there were a couple guys I had in serious consideration, so I would like to give Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry and Cole Caufield in particular some honourable mentions for their efforts this week, but I had to talk about Nick Suzuki this week.
Suzuki has been in the picture of a good chunk of what the Canadiens have gotten offensively against the Knights. He was on the ice for the lone Habs goal in game one, on the ice for Tyler Toffoli’s goal in game two and played wonderfully in game three.
He had multiple blocked shots, notably following up one of them with a beautiful pass to Caufield who got the Canadiens back even not long after Nicolas Roy struck first for the Knights. Then later in the game he made another beautiful pass to Caufield for a glorious opportunity that Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside, but it was another example of the wonderful chemistry Suzuki and Caufield have developed.
The highest compliment I think you can give a player, especially a young one, is feeling a sense of calm when they are on the ice. Suzuki provides that. It feels like you never have to worry about Suzuki, wherever he is on the ice, in whatever situation, more often than not Suzuki will make the right play.
Even as the Canadiens stumbled to the finish line, Suzuki closed out his season strong and has continued his fine play in the playoffs.
☆ SECOND STAR: Josh Anderson
On last week’s edition of the Canadiens Connection podcast, when previewing the series against the Golden Knights and the keys for the Canadiens to succeed, I said the Canadiens needed something from Josh Anderson. The Canadiens have gotten something from Anderson that is more in line with the performance we saw from him for a good portion of the regular season.
In game two he made a strong play to free up Paul Byron, who then potted what would turn out to be the game-winning goal for the Canadiens. A play that did not show up on the scoresheet but was the small thing that had to happen in order for Byron to be able to score the goal.
Then in game three he scored twice on the night. Yes, one of them was the result of Fleury’s costly gaffe playing the puck, but he was the reason that play was not ruled an icing, getting a piece of the puck as a Shea Weber dump in passed him, then he got there and made the play after Fleury’s error. Sometimes you create your own luck, Anderson did on that play.
Then the game-winning goal in overtime was a wonderful display of hand-eye coordination, knocking down the aerial pass from Jesperi Kotkaniemi, managing to do that in addition to staying onside and then scoring off of a lovely pass from Byron to win the game.
In addition to the production, Anderson has gotten back to being the “powerhorse” we saw earlier in the season, using his speed and big body to drive the net hard, playing physically and it has been a welcome sight.
Anderson brings so much to the table when he plays like this, and the Canadiens need it to continue.
☆ FIRST STAR: Carey Price
Carey Price, after being my third star last week, finds himself back as the first star this week. What else can be said about Price? It feels like I am nearing a point where there are simply no more words to describe his brilliance. He was the reason the Canadiens got out of the Leafs series, he was just as crucial against the Jets, and he is the reason the Canadiens currently hold a 2-1 series lead over a more potent Vegas team.
Game one of the series in Vegas would have been much worse were it not for Price, making incredible saves on Mark Stone and Jonathan Marchessault. Game two he got the Canadiens out of Vegas with a split with his steady performance. Then in game three he made another incredible post-to-post save to rob Alex Tuch and made 43 saves in the victory. The Canadiens were being badly outshot and outplayed for the majority of the game, but Price kept them within range and gave them a chance to settle into the game, as he so often does.
As I said, it is starting to feel like I am nearing a point where words and descriptions of Price’s performance are running short. Every week I try to choose a different superlative to try to describe the performance we are witnessing. This week, I choose brilliant. Carey Price has been brilliance personified in this playoff run.
As I said with Nick Suzuki, the highest compliment I feel I can give to a player is to say I feel a sense of calmness in the way that they play, and it is not necessary to worry about them. Price is truly the best example of that. Whatever the situation, Carey Price is as steady as she goes.
The Canadiens are two wins away from a place Carey Price has never been in his career, a Stanley Cup Final. It will not be easy to get those two wins, but the Canadiens currently find themselves in a good position and have Price playing brilliantly. Let’s see what happens.
Canadiens Connection Podcast
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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