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In Hainsight: Unlikely Hero in Entertaining Win |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
We’ve said it time and time again this season, the results do not matter for the Montreal Canadiens this season, but last night’s result did matter for the Buffalo Sabres. As they are trying to hang on to very slim playoffs hope, the Sabres desperately needed the extra point last night and it showed on their bench during the shootout. Tense faces all around, stress and desperation. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens were having a laugh and having fun playing hockey. Head coach Martin St-Louis did try to win the game by sending usual suspect Nick Suzuki to shoot first followed by Jonathan Drouin, Mike Matheson and Jesse Ylonen, but after that, he sent out Jonathan Kovacevic and Micheal Pezzetta who scored the game-winning goal against all odds.
Clearly, Pezzetta enjoyed being the hero pulling out a Tigger Williams like celebration and after the game he said: “I think I was just like: Heck, I might never get a chance where if I score it’s to win the game. I know maybe it was a little bit much. But it’s funny and I think I’ll definitely remember it.”
The game-winning scorer won’t be the only one who’ll remember that night, since Brendan Gallagher also scored the game-tying goal in the 3rd period, a goal that was the 200th of his career. With that goal, Gallagher tied Robert Rousseau at rank 24 for the most career goals scored with the Montreal Canadiens. The diminutive winger will never reach the top spot in that ranking, but he’s getting to be in pretty good company down there, next up at joint 22 are Elmer Lach and Ralph Backstrom with 215 goals and then, at 21 it’s Guy Carbonneau with 221. This just goes to show that Gallagher has had a real impact on this franchise and that’s something that no one will ever be able to take away from him, no matter how much you believe he’s overpaid.
Prior to last night’s game, the Habs announced that they had recalled Cayden Primeau who was already in Philadelphia with the Rocket and tonight, the young netminder should get the start. Why? Well, it’s not because Allen or Montembeault are injured, they simply want to give him a bit of NHL action and that makes sense, the team needs to know where it stands with Primeau. The goaltender is still under contract for 2 more years, but starting next season, he will need to clear waivers to go to the AHL, which is why the team needs some clarity on where he stands and whether he’ll be part of its future.
With last night’s win, the Canadiens are now only one point behind the Coyotes for the 27th rank in the standings, but they’ve got a game in hand and there’s a chance they could overtake Arizona tonight if they beat the Flyers. If they do, they’ll even have as many points as the Flyers who currently stand at 68 in 26th place, chances are team tank is getting nervous right now…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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