On Friday night the first round series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning picked up at the Bell Centre. The Habs had come home having split the two games on the road, and the result in this one was a 3-2 overtime win for the home team.
Here’s what got my attention.
The coach juggled his lines but stuck with his line-up.
Three sleeps is a long time for a fanbase to perseverate on who should sit out the next game. Not Martin St. Louis. He liked how his team looked, for the most part, and he wasn’t prepared to blow it up after a couple of errors.
The coach made some adjustments, and in doing so made a little bit of magic. Marty, like a boss, threw together the three players being tossed around as press box candidates. The pivot on that line was the guy some said had played his last in a Habs jersey.
The newly formed Bolduc-Dach-Texier line looked fantastic and rewarded the coach early. Less than five minutes in, Texier opened the scoring, on a beautiful pass from Bolduc following a Dach zone entry. Then halfway through the second period, Dach tied the game at two. Then finally, barely two minutes into the overtime, it was Dach’s line on the ice again when Lane Hutson fired home the winner.
Well done, Kirby. Well done, Marty.
Suzuki and Caufield need to get out of their own heads.
I don’t want to minimize the matchup war they are in. There is no doubt that the Lightning game plan revolves around this duo. And there is no doubt that going from the emotional high of milestone seasons to the absolute grind they are in right now is stark.
But the pair of them have to figure it out and just score one. Just one will shift it.
Who knew that a Caufield breakaway that resulted in no shot could even be a thing? But here we are. The two of them are having a mini crisis of confidence, but it won’t last. When the dam breaks it will break good.
The D group are worth a mention.
The Canadiens went into this series hoping the defense would hold up until Dobson was healthy. So far, they’re holding up. I suspect the top line is feeling his absence more than most.
I thought Matheson had a fairly rough game on Friday, but Carrier’s play in the series so far has been a country mile ahead of how he performed last year in the Washington series.
I am not in love with the Hutson and Guhle pair, but they’ve been good. Well, Hutson has been excellent and Guhle has mostly kept up, and his physicality is making a difference in the series.
But hello Xhekaj and Struble! They have looked so much better than expected, and good for them. The physical edge they bring is perfect for this series. And as I have said before, Xhekaj’s ability to get pucks through to the net in traffic is under-rated and under-utilized.
This high will hold us til Sunday, when they get back at it.
Hab At Her 