2) Max Pacioretty: For me, it’s not even the quantity of the goals he’s
scoring (which is impressive in its own right) but rather the knack for scoring
timely ones.  That skill alone is something that can come in handy come
playoff time.
(Previous: 9  Average:
5.00)

3) Hal Gill: What really can be said here?  It was about time he
finally scored and then he goes and scores first in the next one as well. 
That may be a career week for him.
(Previous: 12  Average:
14.52)

4) Andrei Kostitsyn: His hot stretch continues; not only did he get a
goal but he was the only Hab to pick up an assist in all 3 games.  He has
quickly developed some chemistry with his new linemates.
(Previous: 3  Average:
10.71)

5) David Desharnais: Mark Houle had a note earlier on Desharnais’

efficiency and the same trend continued over this stretch of games.  He
averaged under 11 minutes per game, and still picked up a point in each one.
(Previous: 13  Average:
9.38)

6) Scott Gomez: His game against Tampa Bay was terrific and he played
reasonably well in the other two as well.  We now know he’s playing through
an injury so it’s safe to assume he won’t be able to duplicate Saturday’s effort
regularly though.
(Previous: 20  Average:
10.10)

7) P.K. Subban: The points weren’t there for the most part but I was most
impressed with the way he simplified things in his own end – less risks leads to
more success for him.
(Previous: 6  Average:
7.95)

8) Tomas Plekanec: His production woes continued for 2 of the 3 games but
the feistiness in his play that we usually see at home was there in every game;
a big positive sign for sure.
(Previous: 5  Average:
5.24)

9) James Wisniewski: Like Subban, he kept things more simple in his
own end and it worked to his benefit.  Offensively, he was a little more
daring, leading to his PPG in Florida.
(Previous: 11  Average:
7.89)

10) Brian Gionta: He found his way onto the scoresheet in 2 of the 3
games but was by far the quietest on his line.  He made up for it somewhat
with some quality defensive play at least.
(Previous: 8  Average:
6.67)

11) Roman Hamrlik: It was a quieter week but still a good one for
him, as he shored up his defensive coverage noticeably.  It’d still be good
to get his ice time cut down a little down the stretch though.
(Previous: 2  Average:
8.55)

12) Lars Eller: I’m dropping him this far due to the penalty issues
he had.  Aside from that, he had one of his better weeks and was strong at
the faceoff dot as well (17/29 for 58.6%).
(Previous: 7  Average:
13.65)

13) Travis Moen: He complements Eller and Kostitsyn well in terms of
creating space but in the offensive zone, he continues to show why he was never
used as a top-6 forward…aside from his time with the Habs of course.
(Previous: 22  Average:
15.86)

14) Jeff Halpern: His greatest asset to the Habs, at least in my opinion,
is his faceoff prowess.  When he isn’t winning the draws, he’s not doing a
whole lot else that gets your attention.
(Previous: 10  Average:
11.19)

16) Mike Cammalleri: There’s no real way to sugarcoat it, he was just
basically invisible out there in every game.  I’ll give him a bit of a pass
as he probably isn’t at peak conditioning right now but he needs to be better.
(Previous: 1  Average:
7.47)

17) Alexandre Picard: Another decent game from him, albeit a quiet one. 
He seems to be most effective after sitting for stretches of games, that’s a bit
of a rarity in itself.
(Previous: N/A  Average:
16.31)

18) Benoit Pouliot: If there was one player who could challenge Eller for
the most inopportune penalty times, it was Pouliot.  He drops lower than
Eller for a little less production along with the fact he got benched in every
game.
(Previous: 19  Average:
10.62)

19) Brent Sopel: I thought he’d be a perfect fit for the Habs’ system but
so far, he has been really tentative and prone for bad giveaways.  It’s
still early though.
(Previous: 16  Average:
17.50)

20) Ryan White: Well, he hit a few people at least but did little else. 
Whenever Mathieu Darche comes back, his spot on the roster will be in serious
jeopardy. 
(Previous: 21  Average:
18.40)

21) Yannick Weber: After sitting a couple of games, I thought there would
be more urgency to his play.  There wasn’t.  With Jaroslav Spacek set
to be back near playoff time, it’s looking more and more like his spot in the D
rotation will be diminishing.
(Previous: 18  Average:
15.36)

– If there was one player who benefited the most from Nigel Dawes joining the
Bulldogs, it was Olivier Fortier.  He had been in a checking role all year
but was thrust into an offensive one as a result of the trade and he fit in
quite well.  Of that line, he was the most dominant in that game.

– On that note, I was expecting a lot more from Dawes.  Yes, he has some
offensive skills, but there were 3 glaring issues I noticed.  1) His
backchecking often involved leaking out and cherrypicking, that’s not going to
fly either with the Habs or in Hamilton. 2) If a pass to him wasn’t precise, it
was handled like a live grenade. 3) Skating – I gave up counting how many times
he slipped and fell without help when it passed double digits…late in the 2nd. 
I’m pretty sure he was just having an off game, but all of a sudden I’m not
quite as enthused about seeing him get called up.

– Gabriel Dumont was very impressive in this one.  He’s a feisty little
guy, as advertised.  On the penalty kill, of which the Bulldogs had a lot
more of those than powerplays (but I digress there), he was the most dominant. 
Whenever the puck came near him, it found its way down the ice.  He handled
himself reasonably well in his fight as well.

– To say Alexander Avtsin has hit the rookie wall would be an understatement. 
He did very little in the game at either end, took 2 dumb penalties, and
rightfully was glued to the bench after the 2nd one.  All of a sudden, I
can’t help but wonder if he may be a loan candidate prior to Monday’s AHL trade
(loan) deadline.

– There are a lot of people who feel that Alex Henry can take a regular shift on
defence at the NHL level.  I just don’t see it.  Yes, he does well at
angling players and can hit but I can see him getting blown by repeatedly if he
were to be called up with the Habs.  His skating was painful to watch at
times and it got to the point where he didn’t want to cross the centre line
unless the Bulldogs established pressure in Toronto’s end.  As a 5 minute
forward, he could be of use but certainly not as a defenceman.

– Aaron Palushaj and Andreas Engqvist also stood out positively for me in this
game.  Palushaj is easy to knock off the puck but his offensive instincts
are impressive.  If he gets a little stronger, he could be useful down the
road.  As for Engqvist, the puck wasn’t in the defensive zone much when he
was on the ice, largely due to his work back checking.  I’d feel safe with
him as a 4th line regular with Montreal next season.

– I’ve been saying for weeks that Hamilton’s blueline is weak as a whole. 
This game showed me I was onto something.  The pairing of Henry-Petruic had
me and other Hamilton fans in my section cringing every time they touched the
ice down the stretch due to their skating woes (Petruic in particular who has no
business being a regular and was directly responsible for a Toronto goal), while
Kyle Klubertanz clearly doesn’t have the confidence of the coaching staff to
play significant minutes either.  For this team to make some noise in the
playoffs, they need to get another quality blueliner in the fold prior to the
Clear Day deadline on Monday.