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Super Weekend | Habs Notepad

Chris G
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Super Weekend | Habs Notepad
Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Vitor Munhoz/NHLI via Getty Images)

Habs News: NHL, Montreal Canadiens, Martin St. Louis, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Alex Belzile, Laval Rocket, Trois-Rivieres Lions

Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Vitor Munhoz/NHLI via Getty Images)

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Montreal Canadiens returned to game action this weekend for the first time in 10 days following their bye-week. Two games were on tap for the traditional Super Bowl matinees at the Bell Centre. 

On Saturday, the Canadiens welcomed Jonathan Drouin back to the lineup after being sidelined since Jan. 17th with an upper body injury. Montreal and the New York Islanders exchanged goals during the 60 minutes and overtime was required to determine the winner. 

In the midst of a shift of over two minutes, Mike Matheson jumped on a rebound and scored the winning goal.

The victory finally ended Montreal’s retro jersey curse. “This is a historical franchise, probably have some guys that wore those jerseys 50 years ago that were red or white looking down on it like ‘what are you guys doing in blue?’ We probably get what we deserve with the blue jerseys based on how historical this franchise is,” Martin St. Louis said about the jerseys. The coach hopes that those jerseys don’t return next season.

McDavid Shut Down

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers visited the Bell Centre on Super Bowl Sunday. Joel Armia returned to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 17th after being sidelined with an upper body injury. 

Montreal had a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining in the second period when the home team added three unanswered goals to seal the victory. Jordan Harris ended a 34-game scoring drought by scoring a pair of goals and Christian Dvorak registered his 200th career point when he ended his 20-game scoring drought. McDavid finished the afternoon off the scoresheet and minus-3.

“We were in full control of the game and then we lost it with the penalties, but then we scored a big goal at the end of the second on the power play to give us that separation again. The way we started the third, it was very poise, calm and calculated and I’m proud of the guys for that,” St. Louis said.

Montreal played the second half of the contest with five defencemen as Arber Xhekaj got hurt during a fight against Vincent Desharnais. The organization did not confirm the nature of the injury but the defenceman pointed to his right shoulder as he skated to the dressing room.

Harvey-Pinard Seizing Opportunity

Returning from the break, St. Louis continued to experiment Rafael Harvey-Pinard on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Josh Anderson. Harvey-Pinard is taking full advantage of the opportunity given to him by the coach.

On Saturday, the coach rewarded the forward with ice time during the overtime and praised him for the five blocked shots against the Islanders. “There’s a big difference between being a young man that plays hockey and being a hockey player. [Harvey-Pinard] is a hockey a player and I’m not surprised that he blocks so many shots.”

On Sunday, Harvey-Pinard was slotted on the top power play unit and the strategy paid off as he scored one of the team’s two power play goals of the afternoon. The 24-year old is now being used in all situations by his coach.

Belzile First Goal

Montreal’s first goal against the Oilers on Sunday was scored by Alex Belzile. The 31-year old Belzile became the oldest Canadiens player since 1926 to record first career NHL goal. 

“I hadn’t seen that it went in but when I saw the guys coming towards me, I figured out that I scored. An incredible feeling. There has been a lot of work behind this and I had to mentally convince myself that it was coming and it felt good that it finally went in,” Belzile said about the moment.

The forward added that he had a feeling that a goal was coming as he was getting scoring chances every game. Jake Allen agreed with his teammate. “There hasn’t been a game where he’s not played well. He might get the short end of the stick at times because of his age and that’s unfortunate but he’s proven around the league that he can play in the NHL.”

Allen faced Belzile earlier in their careers when they were both playing in the QMJHL and appreciates the perseverance.  “He’s had the hard road. A lot of guys here have had the fairly easy road. I’m way more happy for guys like that.”

Laval Sweeps Weekend

The Laval Rocket were at Place Bell for a pair of games this weekend. On Friday, the Syracuse Crunch opened the scoring before Laval answered back with three consecutive goals and head to 3-1 victory. It was the Rocket’s ninth consecutive home win against the Crunch. 

“I thought Cayden Primeau was probably our best player and we need him to be like that at times. We had too many turnovers and gave the other team too many chances,” Jean-Francois Houle said.

On Saturday, the Utica Comets led 1-0 through 20 minutes before Laval took over with three consecutive goals in the second period. The Rocket won 6-2 and became the first team to score three shorthanded goals in a single game since Dec. 1st, 2019.

“We can win many ways. With the lead, without the lead and it’s part of the process of learning throughout the year and becoming a better team. We’ve had ups and down throughout the year, but if you learn from your mistakes like I believe our team has, it makes you a better team. That’s how you climb and get ready for the playoffs,” Houle said.

Saturday’s win was the 12th consecutive game without a regulation loss for the Rocket and the coach has an explanation for it. “Best building in the league. Best fans in the league. The way they cheer, how they come in big numbers, it’s so much fun to play here. Not just for us, for the visiting team too. I’ve been in the AHL for 10 years and there’s no place like this.”

The Rocket play the next five matches on the road beginning on Friday in Belleville.

Lions Swept by Mariners

The Trois-Rivieres Lions confirmed that Marc-Andre Bergeron will remain the coach of the team until the end of the season. Bergeron recently added some help by hiring Maxime Hamelin in the role of recruiting coordinator and assistant general manager.

The team faced the Maine Mariners in a home-and-home series on the weekend. On Friday, Trois-Rivieres was down one goal with six minutes remaining but failed to tie. Maine added an empty net goal to win 4-2.

“We had a lot of possession time in the offensive zone with long sequences where we put a lot of pressure. However, that didn’t translate into goals. We often had the rhythm in the game, but the Mariners found a way to score when we had the rhythm,” Bergeron said.

On Saturday, the Mariners blanked the Lions 4-0 at Colisee Videotron. Bergeron felt that his team deserved a better result. “It’s not a 4-0 game. We had several golden chances, but their goalie was excellent. That’s pretty much the story of the game. We had good chances on the power play. We had a few defensive breakdowns but could it have been 4-4? Probably yes.”

The Lions head back to Maine to face the Mariners on Friday.

(Quotes courtesy of Le Nouvelliste)

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By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
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