Canadiens vs Blue Jackets Top Six Minutes: Max Pacioretty is captain clutch

For our new readers and members, the Top Six Minutes is a continuation of the discussion in the game thread. We try to keep it light and entertaining. Full recaps are up the morning after every game.

Pregame:

The last time I took over Top Six Minutes, the Habs ended their 9-game winning streak in a 5-1 loss to Vancouver, so I imagine things can only go up from here.
Whatever the opposite of rivalry is, that is what exists between Montreal and Columbus. The only interesting part about the visitors is seeing if Torotella will explode on a questionable officiating call.
Tonight for me is all about the Galchenyuk line, he’s been killing it and Sven Andrighetto is the rare combination of a player who is entertaining to watch and his name is fun to say. It’s usually one or the other.
It’s strange to feel secure with Price out for so long, but with a 10-point lead on their division and the team playing sound hockey on the ice for the first time since 2013, that’s where we are!

1st Period

Tortorella “Changed the culture” apparently by inspiring his goalies not to have an .840 save percentage. Useless hockey cliche 10 seconds into the game!
PBP reminds us Nick Foligno has 1 goal this season, but don’t mention he’s making 5.5M a year, which is really bad when you think about it for 1/50th of a second.
LORD BYRON!!! Tips it past Bobrovsky on a lovely feed from Christian Thomas! 1-0 Habs!
Can’t do that Savard, Habs head to the PP. Which is very dangerous, which I still have to remind myself of sometimes.
Habs are moving the puck around, but are forgetting the whole “shoot the puck” bit on the PP.
Is it bad that I had to check Emelin’s box score to see if he had any actual shots on goal this season? (8 coming into tonight for those wondering)
GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF CONDON YOU RUFFIANS!
Until someone tells me otherwise I am assuming that Karlsson is the equivalent of Smith in Sweden.
There should be an NHL Gamecenter option that just offers Isocams on players like PK Subban.
In case you hadn’t noticed, Paul Byron has Ludicrous Speed.
If I’ve told myself once, told myself a thousand times don’t rubbish overpaid players until a game is actually over. Foligno ties the game up at 1.
Emelin? WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Not sure that’s 5 and a game given what the league has allowed in the previous week but that was still completely unnecessary. Going to be a lot of minutes for Markov and Beaulieu for the rest of this game.

2nd Period

If you want to talk about a safety issue in the NHL, let’s restrict shoulder pad size. He’s 5’6″ and looks at least 6′ on a headshot with those. Imagine what the big guys are wearing.
How about a Pacioretty-Plekanec shorthanded goal to kick the period off?
PBP “Columbus is built a differently than most teams”, poorly you mean?
That was a very nice kill by the boys, and as minor a nitpick as it may be, Galchenyuk should be your option out of the box on these kills because he can dangle a goalie if he gets the opportunity.
Does anyone else find Boone Jenner’s “38” a rather weird number? Normally I don’t care much but that one just seems off.
Nothing on the PP, as good as it has been, having guys in shooting positions remains an issue.
Yep, 67-51-22 are back. I really don’t understand why Desharnais is a sacred cow to Therrien.
Plekanec with Fleischmann and Byron.
Did you know 14.4% of past and retired NHL players have now played on Plekanec’s wing?
No that’s not a real stat but you were ready to check weren’t you?
Beaulieu, your team is already down to 5 defencemen. DO NOT DO THAT.
Dirty hit by Foligno or not, Beaulieu just but the Habs in a horrible spot defensively for 5 minutes.
Following a fight, players should take the concussion protocol. No exceptions.
Torts arguing for an instigator is a damn joke if I ever saw one.
Galchenyuk draws a penalty, now let’s hope he gets some time there.
A drawback of reuniting DD with Max is that you see the return of the league’s most reluctant shooter.
Losing track of how many passes Weise has flubbed tonight.
Wow that Foligno knee looks horribly dirty on the replay. That’s “leadership” of the Shane Doan school.

Third Period

Beaulieu on the bench to start the 3rd, hopefully he is OK and didn’t just tell the team he is.
First good shot of the period actually goes to Beaulieu, nice to see.
Can’t be the only guy who wants Justin Falk to be traded to Carolina so their PBP can have an aneurysm over Falk/Faulk.
You can tell it’s a Tortorella team with the shot blocking going on. You want to talk about slowing the game down…
Well that’s the lucky break of the game, 2-on-0 and Saad misses.
Pacioretty rings the goalpost, this game is way too close for my liking.
It’s all Habs in this period in the shots department save for that one rush by Columbus, so naturally Habs can’t get a bounce their way.
Still don’t know what the line blender was meant to accomplish, aside from making Desharnais feel better.
Yet another game where you’re just… is it over yet? How is an entire division of NHL teams this boring?
Playing the bagpipes may be on the list of special skills for Mike Condon, but puck handling is not.
Subban DRAWS a penalty? This really is a different season than the last couple.
This would be an opportune time for the Habs to regain the lead. Actually would there be an inopportune time to regain the lead? Probably not.
CAPTAIN AMERICA! 2-1 HABS!!!
And just when I was about to rubbish Weise being on the 1st PP unit, guess that works both ways.
JJ Daigneault owns nothing but ugly ties.
And that’s a win. Way closer than it should have been but Columbus went Full New Jersey. You should NEVER go Full New Jersey.

EOTP Three Stars

3. Poor Saad, hopefully he’s not too…

2. Well played.

1. Always more puns.

The Highlights

Follow @@RobertB_Rice