While the Habs still have an uphill battle to get back into the playoff picture, they did their best to keep afloat in the chase, picking up wins in all three games to gain a bit of ground in the Wild Card standings.
The Habs played their first home game in more than two weeks on Tuesday, hosting Carolina. The contest didn’t feature many scoring opportunities, but Montreal took advantage of what they had, picking up the 4-0 win.
Last week was a tough one for Laval as their injury-riddled roster wasn’t able to take full advantage of a lighter week on the schedule in terms of their opponents. As a result, they no longer hold down the top spot in the North Division.
After a long break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Habs kicked off the stretch run on a winning note but they will need to get on a bit of run if they want to stay within striking distance of the playoffs with the trade deadline looming large.
One of Montreal’s prospects is set to make his season debut on Wednesday night. The Habs announced that defenceman David Reinbacher has been activated off season-opening IR and has been assigned to Laval.
A beaten and banged up Laval team had a tough last few games, only managing one win out of three while losing handily to a pair of division rivals as well.
January was a mixed bag for the Habs as they started off strong and faded toward the end. Nonetheless, several players still had strong showings, earning enough votes from our readers to land in our three stars.
The inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off has arrived with the NHL taking a break for the next week for the tournament. The Habs will have three players taking part. We’ll keep track of their stats here.
Coming out of the All-Star break, Laval kept its winning streak intact as they went into Toronto for a pair of games and came out with two more wins to sit atop the AHL standings.
The Habs needed a big week heading into the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off to stay within striking distance of a playoff spot. They didn’t get it as their home struggles continued while they only managed a single victory on the road.