Game PS2: Stars Gonna Shine As Canadiens Beat Avalanche
By Jared Book
It may be pre-season. It may be a game to get in shape, but if the Montreal Canadiens win over the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 in overtime, proved anything it’s that talent has no off-season.
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Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban and Alex Galchenyuk scored for the Canadiens and all three were what you would call professional goals. Pacioretty’s quick release finding the back of the net, Subban’s blast finding the corner on a one timer and Galchenyuk dangling and ripping one home.
That’s what the Canadiens have to play with this season. It’s going to be mighty fun to watch and it’s why expectations are still sky high for this team who many still feel overachieved in last year’s playoffs.
Other players to perform well included Christian Thomas – who may just become this year’s Michael Bournival. Thomas wasn’t even supposed to play but when Dale Weise‘s neck wasn’t 100 per cent, there was no point pushing it. Peter Budaj also played very well and if people thought Dustin Tokarski won the backup job last April, Budaj isn’t going away easily.
In the battle for backup, Budaj solidly won round one.
On defence, another rough night for Greg Pateryn who showed once again why he is behind Jarred Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu on the depth chart and why Magnus Nygren is breathing down his neck. He’s pretty much assured of a trip back to Hamilton at this point.
Alexei Emelin didn’t look great handling P.K. Subban’s minutes and it is becoming a big question for the Canadiens. We’re not quite at the point of needing to put Andrei Markov there, but it might be Nathan Beaulieu’s job to lose. Beaulieu-Subban, Markov-Gilbert and Emelin-Weaver may just work.
The run of Nikita Scherbak may have come to an end. Although, requiring stitches on your ear may cause a bad game so maybe it’s not over yet.
Michel Therrien seemed like he was pretty sure of what his roster was going to look like, and let’s face it, there weren’t too many decisions to make. There will be no cuts coming before tonight’s game, but all that means is that there should be cuts after the game in Quebec City even if they are announced the day after.
Alex Galchenyuk had struggled in the face off circle in the experiment to try him at center, but he went 4/4 in the third period to finish at 50 per cent on the night. It will be interesting what the lineup looks like once Lars Eller returns and how Therrien puts together his top three lines. (Or, more precisely, his second and third lines as the first line is pretty much set).
The Canadiens are back at it against the same Avalanche tonight in Quebec City. It would be the equivalent of the Washington Nationals and Toronto Blue Jays in Olympic Stadium, so that has some kind of interest of mine.