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Only the Panthers and Lightning are ahead of the Canadiens in the Atlantic

 Andrew Taylor
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Only the Panthers and Lightning are ahead of the Canadiens in the Atlantic
Credit: Getty Images

Last week, following the game against the Rangers, Montreal was in an uproar. And why? Because of the way the club played – very badly.

For several days, the emphasis was placed on the fact that the Habs didn’t look like a #InTheMix club this season.

Without winning the weekend’s two games, it was imperative that the Habs do well. We had to remind people that the Habs can be a club that can fight for the playoffs.

And not only did the club play well, it also picked up two wins against the Blues and Flyers.

Last night in Philly, the Canadiens looked good. You might say that the Flyers weren’t a formidable opponent, but the Habs still looked good for most of the game in Pennsylvania.

The result? As everyone predicted, only the Panthers and Lightning are ahead of the Canadiens in the Atlantic standings. Otherwise, there’s a big tie.

It’s a small sample size, but I didn’t have that on my bingo card 48 hours ago. Did you?

(Credit: NHL.com)

Clearly, we’ll have to wait a bit before buying a folding chair for the parade, but still: the way the club came out, it’s pretty encouraging. It means the guys have their honor.

Even if the final result doesn’t tell the whole story…

1. You have to look back at the way the club (almost) escaped the match at the end of the third period. It was 4-1 until just over two minutes to go, and within seconds, the Flyers scored twice.

It ended 4-3, but the Habs spent the last two minutes fighting back to prevent the Flyers from tying the game.

Everyone knows that if Philly had tied the game yesterday and gone to overtime or the shootout, there would have been tears this morning. But since the Flanelle bent but didn’t break, it passed.

It was a close call for the club.

2. Cayden Primeau picked up his first win of the season. The American, who has roots in the Philadelphia area, had a good game – at least for the first 57 minutes of play.

Good for him and for the Canadiens.

3. Cole Caufield is currently second in the league with eight goals. He’s scoring very often this year (only Nico Hischier has more than Caufield), which is a good thing.

He belongs in the line-up. And he could be rewarded by the NHL at the end of the month…

4. Nick Suzuki also scored during the game. In nine games, he has three goals and eight assists for 11 points. And that’s despite the fact that he didn’t score in the club’s first two games.

He’s reliable.

5. Brendan Gallagher and Jake Evans, who play together on what the Habs called the second line yesterday on Twitter, also scored a goal apiece. They had a good game.

If you put your attention on Jake Evans, you’ll see a guy who does things right. He’s been excellent this year… and yesterday, he was the second most-used forward (17:07), behind the captain.

6. Although he tried to pull a Michigan yesterday, Matvei Michkov wasn’t the biggest factor in the game. But after the game, Sean Couturier praised the young man’s attitude.

Right now, he’s loved in Philly.

7. This is the first time since February 2023 (February 11-12) that the Habs have won both games back-to-back. In the Sunday afternoon game (it was Kelce Bowl weekend), Alex Belzile scored his first NHL goal.

So it had been a long time.

8. Logan Mailloux sometimes rolls a little fast, but not Lane Hutson. He plays on the powerplay and short-handed… as well as playing quite a bit five-on-five.

21:42 of play yesterday, that’s quite something.

9. Arber Xhekaj was put in a funny situation as a threesome formed early in the game. There was some bickering and in the end he was the only one who was punished.

The Canadiens’ X-account took advantage of the situation to taunt his opponent a little, which is not customary in the Habs. I don’t hate it.

Normally, the Habs have Sunday off. But yesterday, there was a game, which means the day off will be today instead. No practice is scheduled.

We’ll have to wait until tomorrow for news of practice. That’s the day of the game against the Kraken, at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.

The rest of the week will be spent on the road. On Thursday, the Habs will be in Washington, and on Saturday night, they’ll be in Pittsburgh. So it’s going to be a “typical” week in terms of games.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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