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With the games all but meaningless now, the Habs have started to rack up the points, collecting a pair of wins and extra time losses over the week. The same can’t be said for Laval as their depleted roster picked up a win but dropped their two other contests in regulation.
Spotlight Players
Jonathan Drouin: There are times where he looks great and there are others where one can wonder if he’s even paying attention. His defensive zone abilities aren’t really getting much better, at least to the point where they could ever think that they could trust him in that zone. It is not acceptable for him to simply float around in his own end but that continues to happen. If Claude Julien and his coaches still believe in him as a centre, here’s a crazy idea – start playing Drouin on the penalty kill. Force him to pay attention in his own zone by putting the extra pressure that a screw-up could immediately result in a goal allowed. If it doesn’t work, no harm, no foul given where the Habs sit in the standings.
Noah Juulsen: He wasn’t ‘papered’ back to Laval following the trade deadline so one way or another, he’s up with the Habs for the duration of the year. He certainly is making quite the impression to the point where they wouldn’t want to send him back even if they could. Juulsen has not looked out of place at all and is even getting involved offensively by jumping in to pinch at times instead of just playing it safe. These final few weeks could go a long way towards solidifying a full-time roster spot next season.
Antti Niemi: It’s hard not to be happy for him. After the atrocious start to the season he had, Niemi has really turned things around with the Habs under Stephane Waite and is at least giving himself a shot at another NHL deal, a notion that seemed ludicrous a few months ago. Even with Charlie Lindgren signed, I wouldn’t rule out Montreal offering Niemi another cheap contract. Lindgren is still waiver-exempt for next season (the one-way contract has nothing to do with waiver eligibility) so if they want to keep Lindgren playing at least somewhat regularly, I could see them asking Niemi if he wanted to stick around in a role similar to the one he has had with the Habs for most of the season (where he plays about every eighth or ninth game) and have Lindgren shuttle back and forth with Laval.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | PIMS | SOG | ATOI |
| 8 | Jordie Benn | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 2 | 18:48 |
| 11 | Brendan Gallagher | 4 | 2 | 2 | +4 | 0 | 10 | 15:48 |
| 20 | Nicolas Deslauriers | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 1 | 11:57 |
| 21 | David Schlemko | 3 | 0 | 1 | +3 | 0 | 3 | 19:19 |
| 22 | Karl Alzner | 4 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 4 | 21:27 |
| 24 | Phillip Danault | 4 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 4 | 16:06 |
| 25 | Jacob de la Rose | 4 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 6 | 8 | 13:09 |
| 26 | Jeff Petry | 4 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 2 | 21:47 |
| 27 | Alex Galchenyuk | 4 | 3 | 2 | +3 | 0 | 11 | 17:00 |
| 28 | Mike Reilly | 3 | 0 | 2 | +4 | 4 | 3 | 20:16 |
| 38 | Nikita Scherbak | 3 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 4 | 13:41 |
| 41 | Paul Byron | 4 | 2 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 6 | 15:47 |
| 42 | Byron Froese | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 3 | 14:24 |
| 43 | Daniel Carr | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 2 | 11:05 |
| 49 | Logan Shaw | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 2 | 10:31 |
| 53 | Victor Mete | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 2 | 14:51 |
| 54 | Charles Hudon | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 7 | 14:54 |
| 58 | Noah Juulsen | 4 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 6 | 20:23 |
| 62 | Artturi Lehkonen | 4 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 0 | 15 | 17:51 |
| 65 | Andrew Shaw | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 6 | 13:05 |
| 67 | Max Pacioretty | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 4 | 2 | 16:14 |
| 92 | Jonathan Drouin | 4 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 6 | 4 | 16:33 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 37 | Antti Niemi | 1-0-1 | 1.48 | .962 | 0 |
| 39 | Charlie Lindgren | 1-0-1 | 1.44 | .956 | 1 |
Shootout – Skaters:
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 21 | David Schlemko | 0/1 |
| 27 | Alex Galchenyuk | 0/1 |
| 41 | Paul Byron | 1/1 |
| 54 | Charles Hudon | 0/1 |
| 62 | Artturi Lehkonen | 0/1 |
| 92 | Jonathan Drouin | 0/1 |
Shootout – Goalies:
| # | Player | SVS/SF |
| 39 | Charlie Lindgren | 4/6 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Brendan Gallagher (23)
Assists: Alex Galchenyuk (24)
Points: Brendan Gallagher (40)
+/-: Nicolas Deslauriers (+10)
PIMS: Andrew Shaw (49)
Shots: Brendan Gallagher (215)
Laval Report
Laval was a bit more productive in the goal scoring department compared to what we’ve seen recently but their struggles keeping the puck out of their own net proved costly as they were only able to pick up a single win.
News and Notes:
– The injury woes continued for Laval as Daniel Audette suffered a leg injury on Friday while David Broll sustained an upper-body injury on Friday as well. As a result, the team signed forward Jackson Leef and blueliner Tyson Wilson for the weekend. Leef played one game and was released. Defenceman Willie Corrin was brought in earlier in the week while defenceman Matt Petgrave was released. All of these players you may not have heard of were from Brampton of the ECHL.
– Charlie Lindgren was the only player ‘papered’ down at the trade deadline so he is eligible to return if Carey Price comes back this season.
– While he still isn’t ready to play just yet, winger Jeremiah Addison was activated off season-opening injured reserve with the Habs and was sent to Laval. The team remains hopeful he’ll be able to return before the end of the season.
– Lines from last game:
Forwards:
Rychel – Cracknell – Terry
Boucher – McCarron – Waked
Petti – Eisenschmid – Gregoire
Ebbing – Blain
Defence:
Gelinas – Lernout
Bourque – Leblanc
Gelinas – Corrin
Wilson
Results:
March 2: Bridgeport 4, Laval 2
March 3: Laval 5, Syracuse 4 (OT)
March 4: Rochester 4, Laval 2
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 2 | Eric Gelinas | 3 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Rinat Valiev | 1 | 0 | 1 | E | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Simon Bourque | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | Tom Parisi | 3 | 0 | 3 | +1 | 10 | 2 |
| 6 | Stefan Leblanc | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | Willie Corrin | 2 | 1 | 1 | +3 | 5 | 2 |
| 12 | Kyle Baun | 3 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 3 | 0 |
| 14 | Brett Lernout | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Thomas Ebbing | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | Kerby Rychel | 3 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 7 | 2 |
| 19 | Antoine Waked | 3 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 2 | 5 |
| 20 | Jackson Leef | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Chris Terry | 3 | 1 | 4 | +1 | 7 | 0 |
| 23 | Niki Petti | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 6 |
| 24 | Daniel Audette | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Michael McCarron | 3 | 0 | 1 | -4 | 9 | 6 |
| 27 | Adam Cracknell | 3 | 2 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 0 |
| 34 | David Broll | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Tyson Wilson | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Jeremy Gregoire | 3 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 5 |
| 38 | Markus Eisenschmid | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 5 | 2 |
| 39 | Jordan Boucher | 3 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 3 | 2 |
| 41 | Luc-Olivier Blain | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 30 | Zach Fucale | 1-0-0 | 3.73 | .892 | 0 |
| 33 | Michael McNiven | 0-2-0 | 3.04 | .906 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Chris Terry (23)
Assists: Matt Taormina (36)
Points: Chris Terry (50)
+/-: Rinat Valiev (+14)
PIMS: Michael McCarron (97)
Shots: Chris Terry (157)
Upcoming Schedule:
March 7: Providence vs Laval
March 9: Belleville vs Laval
March 10: Belleville vs Laval
Final Thought
The Habs didn’t make use of their extra contract spots at the trade deadline so they remain well below the limit of 50 (they’re at 43). There are still a couple of ways to use this to their advantage down the stretch.
1) The space gives them more incentive to offer to burn the first year of an entry-level contract to any player they look to sign out of the college ranks (such as Jake Evans). The extra financial benefit will give Montreal’s offers a bit of a leg up on other teams who aren’t always willing to do that. I wouldn’t be shocked if they’re more active than normal in the NCAA market in the weeks to come.
2) They can still take an expiring contract off another team’s hands via a trade if there’s a college player the other team wants to sign but doesn’t have the contract flexibility to work with (or wants to preserve the limited flexibility they have). Yes, you can still trade past the deadline but the players involved can’t play in the postseason. Considering the Habs won’t be involved in the playoffs, that shouldn’t be a deterrent. Montreal wouldn’t get much (maybe a late or future seventh-rounder) but it’s at least something.
Neither of these are particularly exciting uses of what is a quickly-dwindling asset but Marc Bergevin still has a chip or two to play in the next month or so that it would be nice if he could use to his advantage.
