Canadiens: Finally, A Three Game Winning Streak

Martin St-Louis only revealed the name of his starting goaltender with a little over an hour to go before the game and of course, when he did, the Montreal Canadiens' bench boss was asked to elaborate about his goaltending deployment, he simply said: "I'm trying to concentrate on going to coach a game here".

He didn't feel like explaining why Samuel Montembeault was starting a ninth game in a row and to be fair, he didn't need to. It's obvious, the organization, the players and the fans all have very little faith in Cayden Primeau. It's a shame, but a new beginning elsewhere might be what the young netminder needs.

Related: Canadiens Must Be Careful Not To Overload Montembeault

On the brighter side of things, the pilot made sure to include new blueliner Alexandre Carrier in the starting lineup tonight for his first game at home and he received quite a welcome from the Bell Centre crowd and more applause when he collected his first point in red, white and blue later on.

Unlike last night when Montreal scored first in its 4-3 win, the Detroit Red Wings were first to get on the scoreboard. While the Canadiens' managed to kill the penalty assessed to Mike Matheson, it wasn't long afterwards that Joe Veleno was left all alone by the side of Montembeault's net and he scored his fourth of the season, his second in as many nights.

Once again, the Canadiens didn't panic, they went back to work. It took them a while but when they managed to get one past Alex Lyon, they opened the floodgates. Juraj Slafkovsky got his fourth of the year by deflecting a Nick Suzuki shot. A little over a minute later, Jake Evans scored for a second game in a row and then, ever the crowd pleaser, Patrik Laine scored his eight of the season and of course, it was on the power play.

After 20 minutes, the shots were 11-9 Montreal and the Habs had a 3-1 lead. It's impossible to say if Laine will be able to keep scoring as he does on the man-advantage, some say other teams will eventually adjust, but they never did adjust to Alexander Ovechkin or Steven Stamkos (in his prime). It is a valid comparison; Laine's shot, the velocity of it, can rival those great of the game's.

The two assists the captain recorded in the first period were number 200 and 201 of his young career. We tend to forget, but Suzuki is still only 25 years old, the same age as Primeau. In fact, the goalkeeper is only a day younger.

Related: Canadiens Show Improvements In Key Areas In Win Over Red Wings

In the middle frame, even though the Canadiens only took six shots on net, they found the back of the net twice. Emil Heineman scored for a second time in as many nights, that quick release of his really is deceptive. When two members of your fourth line score goals two games in a row, you're getting really impressive secondary scoring I must say. In his post game media availability, St-Louis had a lot to say about the young Swede:

He's exactly in the chair he should be, to be both comfortable and confident, responsible. We're putting him in scenarios, on the power play , when he has a chance to shoot, it's dangerous. I know they [the second wave of the power play] don't get to go as much, but that's in part because of how well the first unit is operating right now [...] He's with two players extremely responsible defensively, that understand what Emil brings to their line. He brings a lot of pace and with pace comes physicality, those three players work very well together. Emil is able to finish plays, his shot is fast, he doesn't need much space.

Then, Brendan Gallagher, who started the season on fire but hadn't scored in 13 games found the back of the net with a slapper on a Josh Anderson drop pass. It was his ninth of the season and the 227th of his career, giving him sole possession of the 18th best goal scorer rank in the franchise history. He is now six goals behind Tomas Plekanec who's 17th with 233.

The score remained unchanged in the third frame, the Canadiens did have a couple of power plays, but it was clear Laine was trying not to be greedy and wanted to feed his teammates. He tried with Slafkovsky on the doorstep, Cole Caufield on the other side and even Lane Hutson by the blueline, but to no avail.

For the first time this season, the Canadiens have a three-game winning streak. Of course, it wasn't acquired against powerhouse teams, they beat the poor Buffalo Sabres and the Red Wings, but the truth of the matter is, the Canadiens had an habit of playing down to their opposition and this past week, they did not.

After the game, St-Louis was asked about the kind of difference it makes on Slafkovsky's game when he's moving his feet, the bench boss explained:

I would say these two games the back-to-back they're probably the best hockey we've seen from him. You know with Slaf, he's such a big boy, but you can't use your size unless you move your feet. You cannot bring physicality unless you have pace. It's just the law of physics, a moving object, a big one, is going to cause more trouble for whatever is on the other side of that. He's doing that right now, so he's able to retrieve a lot of pucks, keep pucks alive and he creates a lot of room for Suzy and Cole, but also, he extends the possession because of what he did first and now he gets another touch in space and now you can see that Slaf does have skill. And he can make plays, he sees the ice. So it's a bid domino effect that starts from him moving his feet.

That's quite an in-depth explanation and perhaps Slafkovsky's prolonged stay on the second line was in part to make him realize what speed and pace can actually do. His unit was lacking it while on the first line, he could see Newhook providing it for Suzuki and Slafkovsky. Maybe that's why St-Louis took so much time to make the swap, to make the youngster see what he had been trying to teach him.

The Canadiens won't be practicing tomorrow, that three-game win streak has earned them a day off the ice, they'll only be travelling to Columbus where they've got a Dec. 23 date with the Blue Jackets for their last game before the Christmas break. Bringing that winning streak to four games and taking that momentum into that four-day stretch with no match would be huge and help them have a very merry Christmas.

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