Because of his grueling six-game trip in 12 days, the Canadian was expected to have a tough game. On the contrary, Claude Julien's troupe has rarely delivered such an emotional match this season.
A rain of hits, two fights and two goals by Artturi Lehkonen punctuated the Habs' 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars last night at the Bell Center.
The Canadian who gets his shoulders (48 hits) against a formation of the Western Association, in addition, there is a lease that we had not seen that. The saddest result of this furious encounter is Andrew Shaw's injury, possibly another concussion, suffered by serving a hard-hitting shoulder to Greg Pateryn.
A sequence that ended with two Stars defender mornifles while his rival lay on the rink.
The Canadiens striker, who already has a history in this category, had to leave the rink with the help of Graham Rynbend, the team's chief therapist, and two of his teammates.
"These are things you do not want to see. Let's say I was crunching. I told him at the punishment bench. He [Pateryn] seemed to mumble. So I do not think he wanted to explain, "said Nicolas Deslauriers, author of 11 checks.
The revenge of special teams
Cast the day before by their special teams, Montrealers used this facet of the game to defeat rivals in the middle of a fight for a playoff spot.
With a tie of 1 to 1, the locals took advantage of a numerical superiority of four minutes to take the lead. Thirty-four seconds later, Brendan Gallagher opened the gap during a massive attack by two men.
Later in the match, it was Nikita Scherbak's turn to take advantage of a man's advantage to deceive Kari Lehtonen's vigilance with a brilliant feint.
Conversely, the Canadiens managed to maintain their lead by two goals, despite a three-man penalty (the Stars had withdrawn their goalkeeper) for the last 73 seconds of the game.
"It had already happened to me in Halifax. Dominic Ducharme trusted me in this situation, in the junior, "said Jonathan Drouin, in a burst of laughter.
Moreover, the Quebecker has had one of his best games since wearing the tricolor uniform. Called to counter the trio Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov, he accomplished a remarkable defensive job.
"We knew we were going to play against them tonight. We had to be smart with the puck and avoid reversals in neutral territory, "said Drouin.
Niemi still solid
Called to face his former training, Antti Niemi was, once again, very well acquitted of his task. The Finn blocked 36 shots en route to his fifth win of the season. In his last nine decisions, Niemi maintained a 5-1-3 record.
In the last six starts of the 34-year-old goalkeeper, the Canadian has collected at least one classification point (3-0-3).
The Stars' visit also marked Alexander Radulov's first game at the Bell Center since his departure to Texas via the free agent market on July 3rd. The Russian striker received a shy, but positive, reception when his face was shown on the giant screen in the first moments of the match.
Radulov took advantage of a questionable massive attack to become an accomplice of Jamie Benn's 24th goal of the season. A goal that could have changed the pace of the game as it narrowed the gap to one goal.