Canadiens Rout Bruins 5-1

BREAKING NEWS! 

The Montreal Canadiens have scored a powerplay goal! 

Canadiens fans were beginning to think they would never score on the powerplay again. What a game to do it in too. This was by far the Canadiens most all around, complete game this season and it couldn’t have come against a better opponent in a 5-1 rout of the archrival Boston Bruins.

As is tradition by this point, the Habs came out in the first period slow, allowing the Bruins to score the games first goal on the PP. Dougie Hamilton blasted a knucklepuck past Carey Price, who had no chance at stopping it. Montreal began to take the game back slowly after that and had a couple of great chances before the period ended.

After the intermission however, it was a game between boys and men. Dale Weise, who was playing his first game against Boston since the Lucic handshake incident last spring, tied the game up for the Canadiens on a penalty shot. He also added an assist and a fight to the score sheet to complete the Gordie Howe Hat trick. This was easily Weise’s best game as a Canadien.

The Canadiens poured it one from there on and dominated the Bruins on the scoreboard as well as in the physicality department.  Dale Weise leveled Gregory Cambell with a clean check and then pounded him to the ice with no effort at all when Campell took exception to the hit. PK Subban made Milan Lucic look like a pansy when the Bruins power foreword refused to be drawn into a fight with the Habs’ best defenseman.

The Canadiens were able to able to play their speed and transition game against the lifeless Bruins, who have appeared to have lost their “Big Bad Bruins” identity.  Coming off a 6-1 dismantling at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs the night before, the Bruins were hoping to get back on track and prove that the Canadiens are not in their heads. Is this what the post-Chara Bruins will look like, or was this a case of exhaustion for the Bruins, who were playing their third game in four nights?

Lost in all the post game hype was the debut of Sergi Gonchar in a Canadiens uniform. The 40 year old veteran looked like his younger self, playing almost 20 minutes on the Habs backend and adding some much needed structure to the Canadiens powerplay.

Jiri Sekac continues to show he blongs in the lineup, scoring a PP goal and using to speed and size to his advantage. Lars Eller also scored his third goal in as many games and has seemed to gain new life with the addition of Sekac to the third line, after the demotion of Rene Bourque. That Canadiens third line has become the heart and soul of the team.

Carey Price had a rare quiet night, facing just 22 shots, to earn his 10^th win of the season.

Max Pacioretty also scored twice in the win.

Up next the Canadiens host the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.