The week didn’t start well for the Habs but it ended on a better note with a pair of strong wins against Tampa Bay and Vancouver. As for Laval, their week went the opposite way – two straight losses to kick things off before picking up a victory at the end.
It appears Antti Niemi’s time with Montreal will last for a while longer as following the Habs’ shootout victory on Thursday over Tampa, they traded backup goaltender Al Montoya to Edmonton.
The 2018 World Juniors took place from December 26th through January 5th. The Habs had a trio of players participating in defenceman Victor Mete plus 2017 draft picks Ryan Poehling and Joni Ikonen. Here is how each player fared.
The Habs ended 2017 with a week to forget as their offence dried up completely, squandering solid performances from Carey Price. The same can’t be said for Laval as they won all three of their games while getting some offensive contributions from unexpected sources.
There are times where several of Montreal’s top prospects are years away from making an impact. That isn’t the case this time around as most of our top-five prospects are right on the cusp of being regular NHL players.
Fresh off the Christmas break, the Habs headed to Carolina looking to get over the .500 mark on this road trip on Wednesday night. They really only showed up for one period and it wasn’t enough as the Hurricanes took it 3-1.
Although the week ended in an ugly fashion, it was still a pretty successful Western Canadian road trip for the Habs who took two of three games. Laval managed to pick up a win but their penchant for allowing untimely goals and struggling to score consistently continued as they continue to fall in the standings.
After a bit of a delay, we’ve reached the top-ten in our annual prospect rankings series. This group is highlighted by a first-rounder who may be nearing the end of his rope plus a mid-round selection who has vastly exceeded expectations.
Montreal’s scoring woes continued this past week although they were at least able to pick up a win in spite of that. Unfortunately, Laval wasn’t able to accomplish even that as they had a mix of bad offence in one game and bad defence and goaltending in the other that contributed to a pair of losses.
The Habs headed outdoors to kick off their road trip for the NHL100 Classic. The game was anything but a classic as the Canadiens failed to show up and the Senators skated home with a 3-0 victory.