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Hockey Hainsight
Jonathan Drouin must have been at least a little bit nervous last night as he was about to step on the ice of what had been his home rink for six eventful years. While he was happy when the Canadiens traded for him and signed him to a six-year pack, he never lived up to the hype which surrounded the trade. Giving up Sergachev for acquiring a player who was meant to be the Canadiens’ first center was an enticing idea, but soon enough, Drouin was moved to the wing failing to meet the lofty expectations. He dealt with injuries, mental-health issues and moving all the way down in the roster before walking away through free agency. All things considered; Drouin’s return went well. Although he was booed when he touched the puck, the boo birds had the decency to shut up when his “Thank you Jonathan” video was shown.
Colorado jumped to a quick lead when Colton scored five minutes in on a power play. It was quite fitting that Jonathan Drouin got an assist on the play, you know, what goes in the column to the right of the goals one? It only took less than three minutes for the Canadiens to come back on the power play though and they did it in great fashion. It finally looks like they’ve worked out that if Caufield is the object of coverage in close, someone else will be open. Having seen the light, Suzuki was able to feed Slafkovsky on the left of the goaltender, just on the doorstep and the Slovak buried it to level the score.
In the second frame, Makar only needed a minute to put his team back in the lead with his 10th goal of the season. Colorado hung on to that lead until the 16th minute when Rafael Harvey-Pinard scored his first goal of the season in his 16th game of the year. Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher, his linemates in the last two games, both got deserved assists on the play. In two games, this line has been a real thorn in opponents’ sides, which is hardly surprising since they are all players fully dedicated to the team and who understand the necessity of playing at both ends of the ice.
Early in the third, the Avalanche were once again trying to kill a penalty and having been burnt by Slafkovsky earlier, they gave him more attention which allowed Suzuki to pass to Caufield in lots of space. The sniper didn’t miss that opportunity and found twine with a breathtaking shot in the far side of the top of the net, giving Montreal a 3-2 lead. Devon Toews tied things up eight minutes later and for a while, it looked like the game would need overtime until Joel Armia gave a second effort to score a beauty of a goal, diving to shoot the loose puck. Final score: Montreal: 4 Colorado: 3 in a highly entertaining game.
A huge part of the night’s success was down to the team centers who won 61.4 percent of their face-offs. Monahan had the “worse” efficacity in that department with 57.9 percent while Stephens was the best at 80 percent, followed by Suzuki at 65.4 percent and Evens won 62.5% of his draws. Mike Pezzetta who’s only played 32 of the Canadiens’ games this season didn’t help his cause by taking the first penalty of the game and handed up only playing seven shifts on the night for a little over four minutes of ice-time. He’s got an upside, after all he’s ninth in the league with hits at 110, but he does have limitations which restrict Martin St-Louis’ options when he’s dressed.
Overall, it was a great team effort and a reassuring performance from Jake Allen who saved 32 of the 35 shots he received to sign a much-needed win, something he hadn’t done in quite some time. Tomorrow the Canadiens will visit the Devils before heading to Ottawa to take on the Senators on Thursday.
If you need a hockey fix tonight, don't forget that PWHL Montreal is taking on PWHL New York tonight at Place Bell in Laval. New York is the team Montreal beat 5-2 just last week, but Alex Carpenter and co. bounced back in amazing fashion when they handed out their first loss to PWHL Minnesota on Saturday. It should be a cracking game, and apparently the full lower bowl of seats is sold out, meaning that there should be 7 000+ fans in attendance.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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