It was a rare winning week for the Habs as they picked up a pair of victories over Tampa Bay and Columbus while playing a strong game against the league-leading Bruins that came up just a little short.

The first period on Saturday night was a close one but it was all Montreal from there. The Habs scored six unanswered in the final two periods, headlined by Rafael Harvey-Pinard’s first career hat trick as the Canadiens picked up an 8-2 victory over Columbus.

The Canadiens battled hard in Boston on Thursday night, outshooting and outchancing the Bruins along the way. However, Jeremy Swayman was sharp between the pipes, helping Boston collect the 4-2 victory.

After a tough road trip that ended in Tampa Bay, the Habs were back home on Tuesday to face, well, Tampa Bay again. Montreal put forth one of their better performances in recent weeks and the end result was an impressive 3-2 victory.

Defence was most certainly not the name of the game for the Habs this past week. They allowed an average of more than six goals per game and somehow managed to win one of them along the way. Plus, some commentary on the Jonathan Drouin benching.

The Habs had the lead a couple of times in Tampa Bay on Saturday night but the Lightning were able to come back with three unanswered tallies in the third to skate away with the 5-3 victory.

Thursday’s contest in Florida was a wild affair that saw both teams combined for ten goals in the first period alone. However, seven of those came from Florida which helped pace them to a 9-5 victory.

After a tough outing on Monday, the Habs were back in action on Tuesday night as they travelled to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins. This one got off to a rough start but the offence battled back as the Canadiens snapped their seven-game losing streak with a 6-4 victory.

The defending Stanley Cup champs were in town and had something to play for as they battle for seeding in the Central Division. The Habs don’t have much to play for and the difference in importance showed as Colorado doubled up Montreal by a score of 8-4.

The Habs returned home from their trip on the West Coast but things didn’t get any easier as they had three tough matchups against the top teams in the Metropolitan. In the end, they were only able to come away with two points through a pair of shootout losses.