Though they lost rather quickly in the overtime period on Tuesday night, the Montreal Canadiens put together a far more convincing effort than they had in their previous few games. They played a very close game with the Calgary Flames, and it seems that they may have turned a corner with their play, even if it isn’t showing up in the win column as of yet.
A key performer for them last night was the resurgent Brendan Gallagher, who has surprisingly emerged as one of their better forwards this season.
This might be the most open Gallagher has ever found himself in the slot. It was probably very surprising for him to get the puck there without several players converging on him, and ending up on his belly trying to force the puck into the net. He even scored a second goal with a laser of a shot later in the game, but it was unfortunately called back thanks to a coach’s challenge for offside. This was just the latest strong entry for Gallagher in what is shaping up to be quite the comeback season for him, as he’s been extremely effective in his bottom-six role.
When players lose a step, they rarely get it back. I don’t think Gallagher has gotten his back, but rather that he’s figured out how to play his game at the speed he’s capable of. His positioning is excellent, he’s anticipating plays very well, and he’s still able to bring the tenacity that got him to the NHL in the first place. He’s adapted his game to his new reality, and the result is a 30-goal pace so far through 13 games.
His contract is one that the team is likely stuck with through its end date, even if he does manage to reach that 30-goal plateau this season. The last time Gallagher was able to reach that mark was the 2018-19 season, before his current deal kicked in. The previous regime was likely hoping that he would be able to keep putting up seasons like that when they gave him the deal, and though injuries derailed any hope of that happening, he’s now back to playing some very useful hockey for them with two more years remaining on the deal.
And that’s very important for this hockey club. They can’t expect him to magically return to being a legitimate top-six winger, but getting good quality minutes from him will help them as they look to finish the rebuild.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back on Thursday night, when the Habs will visit the New Jersey Devils.