Luckily, it was in the calm of my office and not in the frenzy of the Bell Center that I followed the very exciting duel that the Canadian finally won (5-4) in overtime at the expense of the Rangers from New York .
Because if I had been perched on the press box, my heart might not have been able to keep up with the frenzied pace of this game and who knows: I might have ended up on the injured list again long term where I have been confined for the last few months.
No, but what a match!
Not a great match technically, tactically or in execution. But on those of intensity, involvement and resilience, first and foremost on the part of the Canadian, the fans were spoiled.
Very spoiled even!
The fans also demonstrated this by 1000 by starting a wave in the stands in the third period while their favorites… however trailed by a goal.
They loved the game. They loved the third third. Like the head coach of the Canadian in fact.
“We were behind in the table, but I don’t think they beat us. I liked the chances we gave ourselves compared to those we gave ourselves and that’s what allowed us to win in overtime and get the two big points,” explained Martin St-Louis after the match.
With good reason!
The importance of “coming back strong”!
Victims of seven consecutive goals scored by the Leafs on Saturday night, seven goals which erased a lead that seemed sufficient at 3-0 and transformed what promised to be another victory at the expense of a big club into a bitter setback, the Canadiens players had to bounce back. They had to “come back strong” as the saying goes.
They did it.
And they did it four times rather than once by responding to the four goals scored by the Blue Shirts. Blue Shirts who didn’t really deserve the four one-goal leads they obtained during a game during which the Canadian dictated the pace much more than he suffered it.
But hey!
This probably explains why we saw a wave break into the stands in the last third despite the score 4-3 favoring the Rangers.
Especially with the recent successes of their favorites, the fans then had every reason in the world to believe in the Canadian’s chances of not only coming back once again, but of escaping with victory.
Which finally happened!
Series hockey
The Habs’ comeback in force the day after a setback which hurt and could have left its mark and the four comebacks in the duel against the Rangers also confirm the Habs’ place in the “mix”.
“We want to give our hockey fans a playoff,” assured Brendan Gallagher during his interview with Marc Denis on the ice as the first star of the game.
-A well-deserved first star.
Not just because of the goal (his 11th) he scored and the assist (his 8th) he collected. But for the very high quality of his evening of work.
It’s true that Gallagher spent only 12 minutes or so on the ice Sunday night. This is little compared to the time spent by Suzuki, Caufield, Matheson, Hutson who also put their shoulder to the wheel to make people forget Saturday’s debacle.
But this is one of the biggest transformations of the Canadian over the last few weeks. Support players no longer pull the club down. They push it up. They no longer waste the work of “leaders” who, no matter how good they are, cannot make a team win alone. At least, not on a regular basis.
Nick Suzuki confirms his status as the Canadiens’ number one center.
Cole Caufield confirms his maverick status. Just like Patrick Laine.
We are waiting for Slafkovsky to blossom and for confirmation that Kirby Dach is indeed the player we believe he is capable of becoming. But the two big guys are giving encouraging signs.
And what about Lane Hutson who is in the thick of the race for the NHL rookie of the year award? Not just because of his statistics, but much more because of the very high quality of his performance in both directions of the ice, the maturity he displays and his way of maximizing the talent that the Gods of hockey have given him gave a gift.
Hutson’s magic and the performances of the team’s other leaders had a lot to do with Sunday’s victory over the Rangers. In the awakening of the Habs for a month.
But to beat the Blue Shirts and to win 12 of his last 16 games (12-3-1), the Canadian was able to count on the involvement of all his players at one time or another throughout all these games.
From Kaiden Guhle to Alexandre Carrier, from Jake Evans to Josh Anderson, from Joel Armia to David Savard, from Samuel Montembeault to Jakub Dobès – his two saves in overtime and the frenzy they caused made us forget the four goals he scored. was a victim as part of his baptism at the Bell Center – supporting players often had as big an impact as the leaders on victories.
That’s why the Canadian is playing well. This is why the Canadian now wins more often than he loses.
Will it be enough to offer playoff hockey to fans as Brendan Gallagher wanted after Sunday’s victory?
No need to look that far ahead. Because Gallagher and his teammates are already offering playoff hockey to their fans. The wave they raised in the third period, even before being able to celebrate the victory, is there to testify to this.
Upper body injury
As I pointed out at the beginning of the text, it is an upper body injury that has kept me sidelined since the beginning of November. Various life events accumulated over the last few months, including the death of my mother, have exhausted my energy reserves. My heart served up a warning that my cardiologist took very seriously. He imposed a work stoppage on me which was as necessary as it was beneficial.
After various examinations and the prescribed rest, I obtained the green light which allows me to reconnect with you this morning and to dive back into the action for a second half of the season which promises to be as exciting as it is interesting.
Very happy to see you again.
