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It wasn’t pretty at times but it was still a productive week for the Habs who won two of their three games.  In Laval, their inconsistent play as of late continued as they managed to pick up three of six points but let a big lead slip away late that proved costly.

Spotlight Players

Paul Byron: It doesn’t seem to matter what line he has been on so far, he just plays well regardless.  I didn’t think he’d have a shot at coming even close to 20 goals again this season but he’s off to a decent start in that department as well.  With the team scuffling in general offensively, he’s a candidate to be moved around some more but I’m sure the coaching staff will take comfort in knowing he’s going to be a consistent player no matter what line they put him on.

Alex Galchenyuk: He posted his first two three-shot games of the season this past week and wound up with his first multi-goal week of the campaign.  I don’t think that’s a coincidence.  He’s one of Montreal’s better shooters but he has been hesitant to take the shot a lot.  In the role that he’s in now, he’s the go-to guy and the one that needs to be aggressive.  He showed some flashes of that this past week which is a good step in the right direction.

Tomas Plekanec: Early on in the year, he had some jump in his game which at least provided a bit of optimism that he might have something left in the tank, especially with this being a contract year.  That hasn’t been there lately though and with Phillip Danault coming on as of late, he looks entrenched as the third line centre moving forward.  If that’s the case, I wonder if the Habs could try to utilize some of that cap space and move him sooner than later with the team retaining on his contract.  Right now, he still has a decent reputation around the league but if his struggles continue over the next couple of months, his value will only decrease.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIMS	SOG	ATOI
6	Shea Weber	3	2	2	-3	0	16	24:58
8	Jordie Benn	3	0	1	E	0	2	17:52
11	Brendan Gallagher	3	1	2	-1	2	13	14:39
14	Tomas Plekanec	3	0	0	-2	2	6	15:35
17	Torrey Mitchell	1	0	0	E	0	1	8:39
22	Karl Alzner	3	0	0	E	2	2	19:57
24	Phillip Danault	3	2	3	+2	0	9	17:40
26	Jeff Petry	3	0	0	+1	2	4	19:54
27	Alex Galchenyuk	3	2	0	E	0	7	13:05
34	Michael McCarron	3	0	0	-1	2	3	9:30
38	Nikita Scherbak	2	0	0	E	0	0	7:58
41	Paul Byron	3	1	0	E	2	5	15:12
53	Victor Mete	3	0	0	-1	0	2	15:39
54	Charles Hudon	3	0	0	-4	4	8	12:20
62	Artturi Lehkonen	3	0	1	-1	2	7	16:02
65	Andrew Shaw	3	0	3	+2	2	6	18:30
67	Max Pacioretty	3	2	0	+1	0	15	20:12
88	Brandon Davidson	3	0	1	+1	0	5	16:06
92	Jonathan Drouin	3	0	3	-1	0	10	18:54

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
31	Carey Price	2-1-0	3.00	.889	0

Team Leaders:

Goals: 6 tied with (3)
Assists: Jonathan Drouin (6)
Points: Jonathan Drouin (8)
+/-: Nikita Scherbak (E)
PIMS: Andrew Shaw (20)
Shots: Max Pacioretty (48)

Laval Report

Like Montreal did on Saturday, Laval also blew a three-goal lead (on Friday in Rochester).  However, unlike the Habs, they weren’t able to pull out the win and wound up finishing the week with a 1-1-1 record.

News and Notes:

– Jeremy Gregoire resumed skating as he continues to recover from his undisclosed injury but he did not play in any of the games.  Thomas Ebbing was recalled from Brampton of the ECHL and got into a game before being sent back down on Sunday morning.

– Daniel Carr has already equalled his goal output with St. John’s from last season (six) and did so in 11 fewer games.

– While he started and finished the week on the wing, Nicolas Deslauriers did drop back and play defence for a game.  It’ll be interesting to see if they try that again at some point as he fared pretty well in that spot.

– Lines from last game:

Forwards:

Terry – Audette – Holland
Carr – Froese – Baun
Deslauriers – Petti – Waked
Broll – Boucher – Veilleux

Defence:

Taormina – Lernout
Jerabek – Parisi
Bourque – Leblanc

Results:

October 25: Rochester 5, Laval 2
October 27: Rochester 4, Laval 3 (OT)
October 28: Laval 3, Toronto 2

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	SOG	PIMS
2	Eric Gelinas	1	0	0	-3	4	0
3	Jakub Jerabek	2	0	1	+2	2	4
4	Simon Bourque	2	0	0	-1	2	0
5	Tom Parisi	3	0	0	+3	6	0
6	Stefan Leblanc	3	1	1	+1	4	0
11	Daniel Carr	3	2	2	E	11	0
12	Kyle Baun	3	0	3	+5	2	0
14	Brett Lernout	3	0	0	-2	6	2
15	Thomas Ebbing	1	0	0	-1	0	0
18	Martin Reway	1	0	0	E	0	2
19	Antoine Waked	3	0	0	-1	3	4
21	Byron Froese	3	1	1	+1	8	4
22	Chris Terry	3	1	1	-4	6	0
23	Niki Petti	3	0	0	E	3	2
24	Daniel Audette	3	0	0	-2	6	4
27	Peter Holland	3	1	1	-5	12	4
28	Yannick Veilleux	3	0	0	E	4	19
34	David Broll	2	0	0	E	3	2
38	Markus Eisenschmid	1	0	1	+2	0	0
39	Jordan Boucher	3	1	0	E	6	0
40	Matt Taormina	3	0	1	-6	4	4
44	Nicolas Deslauriers	3	1	0	+3	5	2

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
30	Zach Fucale	0-1-0	5.00	.815	0
35	Charlie Lindgren	1-0-1	2.94	.921	0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Carr/Terry (6)
Assists: Matt Taormina (10)
Points: Taormina/Terry (11)
+/-: Kyle Baun (+9)
PIMS: Broll/Veilleux (19)
Shots: Chris Terry (35)

Upcoming Schedule:

November 1: Toronto vs Laval
November 3: Syracuse vs Laval
November 4: Syracuse vs Laval

Final Thought

Despite a winning week, there isn’t still a lot of optimism surrounding the team.  It’s fair to note that their two wins came against backup goalies but we also saw some of Montreal’s more important offensive players come up with some timely production which should help with their lack of confidence.  Carey Price was better at times as well (although he’s still nowhere near the goalie he has been in the past yet).  Things aren’t going to turn around for the better all at once; it’s going to be a gradual process in all likelihood (unless they go on a long winning streak).  There’s a long way to go but this was a step in the right direction for the Habs, regardless of the qualifiers that can be put around their wins.