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Canadiens vs. Islanders Top Six Minutes: Habs score four, give up one more

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.

Pre-Game:

  • I managed to fall asleep during the last hockey game I watched, so I made my tea already to prevent this from happening again.
  • The New York Islanders are a fun team to watch if you like watching a high-tempo offence. Remember that. /

First Period:

  • The New York Islanders are a one-strike offence. They are fast and all they need is one shot to score. They rarely had zone time in the first, but when they did those shots counted.
  • Having not watched much of the Habs this year, it is amazing to see what they are doing differently from their time under Michel Therrien. There are far fewer stretch passes and many more short passes. They are also quite aggressive on the forecheck which led to both of their goals.
  • 95% certain Nicolas Deslauriers scored a between the legs goal. That is pretty rad and fun and hockey should always be those two things. /

Second Period:

  • The Montreal Canadiens managed to allow two goals against within two minutes again. But there’s more! One was short handed and this is an oddly glorious thing to say I have witnessed. Trust me, this is not the most goals I have seen in a seen from the Islanders in a short amount of time; they make hay doing this.
  • End offsides in 2018. They are pointless and should be unreviewable. Outside of that one time when Matt Duchene used other dimensions to move the blueline so he would remain onside, the linesmen have done a great job of calling the lines since the beginning of time and now we get to watch rulers and protractors look at shadows to determine if a players blade is a millimetre off the ice.
  • David Schlemko has earned the nickname Schlemdog Millionaire tonight.
  • Jonathan Drouin finally earned the Habs third goal that should have been their fourth. The Habs deserved that after having a goal called back and then having Paul Byron get a penalty for breathing. /

Third Period:

  • There is little more that the Habs could have done in this game except for limiting shots in close. If that is the only complaint that I have about a team, I am happy. I say this as someone who watched Ondrej Pavelec and Mark Stuart for too long.
  • The true MVP of this game was Mike Johnson for laughing when Tomas Greiss let in the second Habs goal and then taking a gentle shot at the Edmonton Oilers for trading Jordan Eberle by pointing out how he is the exact type of player they could use on the wing right now.
  • They might not line up in the correct positions, but Alex Galchenyuk and Jonathan Drouin are very good at playing hockey together and should do so for a long time.
  • Max Pacioretty has 12 goals in a down year and the man is still fine, yo. Keep him, Marc.
  • This was their highest shot total in a game since 1990 according to Mike Johnson.
  • Overtime ended because Carey Price could only save almost everything. /

Three Stars:

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