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It had been over 3 years since the Montreal Canadiens had won 4 regular season games in a row, you must go back to January 2019 to find the last streak of the kind. This morning, for the first time in a very long time, the Habs are not dead last in the standing, the Coyotes landed there instead, but they do have a game in hand.
Once again last night, the CH was ready as soon as the puck dropped, and the win was never in doubt. As has been the case lately, the first line put out a dominant performance, both Suzuki and Caufield are full of confidence and appear to feel invincible lately. Neither is scared to try new things and it pays off big time. Suzuki scored the first goal of the game on a Caufield assist and also scored the second on a penalty shot which showed just how confident he feels right now. Alone in front of Craig Anderson he waited and waited until the goaltender committed himself and sent a wrister above his glove. Caufield then made it 3-0 in the third and Evans put the icing on the cake with an empty netter in the dying minutes.
Aside from the dominance of the first line, itâs also worth mentioning that Brendan Gallagher looked on fire last night, heâs not scored a goal since November (he was injured for a while as well), but his involvement is back to what it was in his best years. He was crashing the net and disturbing the opposition all night, he even got into a fight (perhaps not the best idea considering the state of his hands), it looks like the winger is enjoying playing under Martin St-Louis and perhaps, heâll be willing to stick around during the upcoming rebuilt.
I must also mention Samuel Montembeaultâs performance, even though he only faced 4 shots in the first frame, he stayed focused and was ready when Romanov started the 2nd with a couple of turnovers that could have been costly. For the first time in his young career, Mounty managed to blank the opposition and earned his first shutout. Itâs nice to finally see his good play be rewarded, under Ducharme he had some impressive games, making close to 50 saves but it was often in a lost cause.
The win came at a cost though, Paul Byron, who had only recently returned from injury, only played just over a minute as he was on the receiving end of a big hit after the whistle early on. Later in the game, Josh Anderson tried to block a shot in the defensive zone and got a shot right in the face and he also left the game. Both players were sent to the hospital as a precaution but were back at the Bell Centre by the end of the night. Andersonâs linemates seemed to think that he would be back next game, but weâve yet to receive official word on that.
Prior to the game, the Canadiens also announced that John Sedgwick had been named assistant general manager. Heâs been with the team since 2013 and was best known as the teamâs âcapologistâ, but the man clearly wants to be more involved. One of the few survivors of the previous regime, he did interview for the general manager role and after a month of working with him, Kent Hughes decided to promote him. So far, weâve not really seen the diversification that Geoff Molson had announced for the department of hockey ops, but plenty of teams have more than one assistant GM and there are a lot of hires left to do when it comes to the promised department of analytics and scouting.
Ăa faisait plus de 3 ans que les Canadiens de MontrĂ©al nâavaient pas remportĂ© 4 matchs de saison rĂ©guliĂšre de suite, il fallait retourner en janvier 2019 pour voir une telle sĂ©quence de succĂšs. Ce matin, pour la premiĂšre fois depuis trĂšs longtemps, les Habs ne sont plus bons derniers au classement, ce sont les Coyotes qui sont maintenant dans cette position peu enviable (tout dĂ©pendant de comment on voit les choses), mais ils ont tout de mĂȘme un match en main.
Une fois de plus hier soir, le CH Ă©tait prĂȘt dĂšs la mise au jeu initiale, et il nây avait pas de doute quâil irait chercher cette 4e victoire de suite. Comme câest souvent le cas derniĂšrement, la premiĂšre ligne a fourni une performance dominante, tant Suzuki que Caufield sont incroyablement confiants prĂ©sentement et semble se sentir invincible. Ni lâun, ni lâautre a peur dâessayer de nouvelles choses et câest vraiment payant. Suzuki a marquĂ© le premier but du match sur une passe de Caufield et a Ă©galement marquĂ© le 2e but du Tricolore sur un tir de punition qui Ă©tait une dĂ©monstration de son niveau de confiance. Seul devant Anderson, il a attendu et attendu que le gardien des Sabres se commette avant dâenvoyer un lancer du poignet juste au-dessus de sa mitaine Ă contre-courant. Caufield a par la suite fait 3-0 et Evans a mis la cerise sur le sundae avec un but dans un filet dĂ©sert dans les derniers instants.
Outre la domination de la premiĂšre ligne, ça vaut aussi la peine de mentionner lâimplication de Brendan Gallagher hier, il semblait ĂȘtre en feu, il nâa pas marquĂ© depuis novembre (il a Ă©tĂ© blessĂ© pendant quelques semaines il faut le dire), mais son niveau dâimplication est de retour Ă celui de ses belles annĂ©es. Il fonçait au filet et dĂ©rangeait lâopposition toute la soirĂ©e, et il sâest mĂȘme battu (ce qui nâest peut-ĂȘtre pas la meilleure idĂ©e considĂ©rant lâĂ©tat de ses mains). On dirait bien que lâailier aime jouer sous les ordres de Martin St-Louis et peut-ĂȘtre sera-t-il partant pour faire partie de la reconstruction.
Je dois aussi parler de la performance de Samuel Montembeault, mĂȘme sâil nâa reçu que 4 lancers en premiĂšre pĂ©riode, il a su rester concentrĂ© et il Ă©tait prĂȘt quand Romanov a commencĂ© la 2e avec 2 revirements qui auraient pu ĂȘtre trĂšs coĂ»teux. Pour la premiĂšre fois de sa jeune carriĂšre, Mounty a rĂ©ussi Ă fermer la porte pour 60 minutes et a rĂ©coltĂ© son premier jeu blanc. Câest formidable de voir son bon jeu rĂ©compensĂ©, sous Ducharme, il avait connu de trĂšs bons matchs, rĂ©alisant prĂšs de 50 arrĂȘts mais câĂ©tait souvent dans des causes perdantes.
La victoire a cependant Ă©tĂ© coĂ»teuse, Paul Byron, qui venait tout juste de revenir dâun sĂ©jour prolongĂ© sur la liste des blessĂ©s, nâa jouĂ© quâun peu plus dâune minute avant dâĂȘtre victime dâune solide mise en Ă©chec aprĂšs un arrĂȘt de jeu. Plus tard dans le match, Josh Anderson a tentĂ© de bloquer un tir et a reçu le lancer directement au visage, quittant lui aussi le match. Les deux joueurs ont Ă©tĂ© envoyĂ© Ă lâhĂŽpital par mesure de prĂ©caution, mais ils Ă©taient tous deux de retour au Centre Bell Ă la fin de la soirĂ©e. Les compagnons de trio dâAnderson avaient lâair de croire quâil serait du prochain match, mais il nây a toujours pas eu dâannonce officielle Ă ce sujet.
Avant le match, les Canadiens ont Ă©galement annoncĂ© que John Sedgwick avait Ă©tĂ© nommĂ© assistant au directeur gĂ©nĂ©ral. Il est avec lâĂ©quipe depuis 2013 et est surtout connu comme la « capologiste » de lâĂ©quipe, mais clairement, il voulait ĂȘtre plus impliquĂ©. Lâun des rares survivants de lâancien rĂ©gime, il a passĂ© lâentrevue pour devenir DG et aprĂšs un mois Ă travailler avec lui, Kent Hughes a dĂ©cidĂ© de lui accorder une promotion. Ă date, nous nâavons pas encore vu la diversitĂ© promise du dĂ©partement des opĂ©rations hockey par Geoff Molson, mais plusieurs Ă©quipes ont plus dâun DG adjoint et de nombreux postes demeurent Ă combler que ce soit dans le nouveau dĂ©partement des statistiques avancĂ©es ou encore du cĂŽtĂ© du recrutement.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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