Strong First Impression | Three Stars of the Week, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Alexander Romanov, Carey Price, Josh Anderson
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA — Welcome to my new weekly column that you will find right here every Sunday, all season long! I will be spotlighting three players who, in my opinion, were the Montreal Canadiens three stars of the week.
Players will earn points each time they appear as a star in this column and at the end of the season, I will award my three stars of the season. So let’s take a look at the two games the Canadiens played this week to open the season and I will award the inaugural three stars of the season.
☆ THIRD STAR: Alexander Romanov
Through the course of the truncated off-season, week in, week out, we heard a member of the Canadiens organization rave about Alexander Romanov. Whether it was Rob Ramage, Kirk Muller, Luke Richardson or even Marc Bergevin, we heard it every week without fail.
The expectations were raised with every compliment about his mindset or his maturity level. By the time the puck dropped Wednesday night against the Maple Leafs, Habs fans were expecting quite a lot from the rookie. It would have been remarkable for Romanov to just meet those expectations, but he surpassed them.
The precision on his passes in his debut was astounding. Romanov picked up his first point against the Leafs after a beautiful stretch pass to Tomas Tatar and finished his NHL debut with a time on ice of 21:30, the third highest time amongst defencemen.
On Saturday night, the Habs young defenceman saw his ice-time dip to 15:49 in his second game against Edmonton but was still noticeable for the right reasons when he was on the ice. Romanov played as under control as you could expect for a rookie.
There will be highs and lows as there are with every young player, but first impressions are lasting, and Romanov made a very nice first impression this week. I would expect this is not the last time he will factor in to my three stars of the week.
☆ SECOND STAR: Carey Price
This week, Carey Price was Carey Price.
Oh, you probably want more of an explanation than that. Alright, Price was as good as you could expect this week.
Before you look at Wednesday’s box score and say: ‘He allowed five goals in the opener, didn’t he?’ Well, context matters. Not one of the five goals he allowed in that game were bad goals in any way, shape, or form.
Price made big saves early in the night against Toronto to allow the Canadiens to find their footing, which they did. Ultimately a lack of discipline, attention to detail and making good on their own opportunities resulted in the opening night loss. It had nothing to do with Price’s performance.
Fast forward to Saturday night, and Price was marvelous between the pipes against Edmonton, leading the Canadiens to a 5-1 win over the Oilers with 34 saves on the night.
The Canadiens have the pieces to give Price some goal support this season. As calming a presence he is in any game he plays, he’s even more serene when you can give him a multiple goal lead with which to work. Price will be another name that is likely to occupy one of my three stars of the week many times this season.
☆ FIRST STAR: Josh Anderson
Was he the best player on the ice for the Canadiens this week? Perhaps not, but he was pretty darn close.
After making the move to acquire Josh Anderson this off-season, coming off an injury-riddled 2019-2020 campaign, the trade and subsequent seven-year contract doled out by Marc Bergevin was met with some scrutiny and derision.
On Wednesday night, Anderson looked a lot like the guy who scored 27 goals for the Columbus Blue Jackets a couple years ago. Tomas Tatar coined the term “powerhorse” for Anderson, and quite honestly, I think that describes him perfectly!
Anderson’s mix of speed and power in his debut against the Leafs was something to behold. He brings an element of physicality that has been lacking in the Canadiens forward group for some time and, though he did not shine quite as brightly in Edmonton, Josh made a statement in the season opener against Toronto. He proved that the trajectory he was on before injuries derailed him last season is a level of play that he can regain.
There may have been players who played better in both the opener against the Leafs and the game against the Oilers on Saturday, but I do not believe there is a better, more important development for the Habs coming out of this week than Anderson playing at the level that we saw. He is back and that is fantastic news for the Montreal Canadiens.
For those reasons, Josh Anderson is my first star of the week!
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