1. The Habs won the Nesterov trade
After a good showing in his first game in the bleu-blanc-et-rouge, the 23-year old Russian made an impact last night, scoring his first goal as a Hab on a one-timer on a perfectly laid out pass from Andrei Markov. He impressed last night, and if this keeps up he’ll be solidifying his place as the team’s sixth defenceman.
2. The Canadiens started strong but then fizzled out
After taking a one goal lead, the Canadiens took a step back while the Flyers steadily built their game plan. The Habs had the jump on the Flyers to start the game, out-possessing the home team 10-4 in shot attempts by the time they scored the game’s opening goal. The Canadiens would only get 34 more shot attempts for the rest of the game, while the Flyers ended with 60 in total.
3. This:
Gudas tries to line up Radulov… pic.twitter.com/hgkQbhT1lq
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) February 3, 2017
4. Andrew Shaw’s penalty in the second period
Is Andrew Shaw putting his team in trouble more often than not? That’s up for debate, but most certainly last night his penalty in the second period turned the game. Michel Therrien reportedly (according to Sergio Momesso on the live TSN 690 radio broadcast) gave Shaw a death stare as he left the penalty box after the Flyers tied the game. He was benched for the entire third period and refused to be available for the media after the game.
5. The Art of Benching
Michel Therrien is not a coach who shies away from benching someone when he feels they need it. Shaw’s penalty was unnecessary and put his team in a pivotal position in which they failed to come out on top. How will Shaw react to this? That remains to be seen, but Michel Therrien seems to think he knows what he’s doing.
6. Carey Price getting beat one on one
Apparently it’s possible to beat Carey Price if your shot is absolutely perfect like Matt Read demonstrated on the Flyers’ second goal.
7. I heard someone singing the Olé song in the crowd during the third period
I hope they’re still alive.
8. The Art of Blending
The third period saw the end of Phillip Danault on the first line, with Alex Galchenyuk reuinted with Alex Radulov and Max Pacioretty. Unfortunately, that line had difficulty getting anything going.
In the final minute of the game with Carey Price on the bench, the trio was on the ice and failed to make anything happen. It’s hard to put a finger how exactly to spark offence from your lines, but hopefully last night was a closed-loop anomaly and we’ll see a different team on Saturday versus Washington.
9. The Canadiens lose in Philadelphia again
They are now 1-10-0 in their last 11 games there, dating back to Montreal’s last regulation win in Philadelphia which was April 2, 2010 when Jaroslav Halak put up a 35-save shutout and Tomas Plekanec scored the game’s only goal.
10. There’s a lot of work to do to get ready for this weekend
The Canadiens play two afternoon games at home this weekend, Saturday against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals and Sunday against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. That’s four points on the line in forty-eight hours. With the Ottawa Senators on the Canadiens’ tail, and with games at hand, the Canadiens can’t afford to come out of the weekend empty-handed.
