Poor Len Canayen salutes the Habs' "expendables"

National Sports Editor, Poor Len Canayen, needs to make amends for Friday's post.

Truly. In "Montréal Canadiens: it's OK to panic now" (WWW 22/10/21) I shat all over the Habs' General Manager Marc Bergevin for hiring a bunch of what I called "expendables" to fill the size 13 shoes of Phillip Danault, Corey Perry and Shea Weber. I thought "expendables" was less pejorative than "stiffs", but I think it was clear that I wasn't impressed with the performance of the motley crew that M Bergevin assembled, hoping that Dominique Ducharme could somehow make them a team.

I owe the "expendables", and (perhaps) M Bergevin, an apology, and this is it. Last night in Montréal, this season's edition of les Glorieux made a 180-degree turn from their losing trajectory, trouncing the visiting Detroit Red Wings 6-1. Newcomers Mike Hoffman and Christian Dvorak scored, and Matthieu Perreault, un gars de chez nous, had a hat trick! And he was 71% at the faceoff dot too!

Sami Niku, playing in the bleu-blanc-et-rouge for the first time, was a bit soft on defence (IMHO) but had two assists. The other goal was potted by Ben Chiarot, who is earning his place alongside Jeff Petry on the top defence pair. Well done, les boys! 

I must also give a big pat on the back to goalie Jake Allen, not that I criticized him in the previous post. What I said then was that he wasn't getting any support from the guys in front of him. Allen was solid last night. The goal he allowed, early on, was a fine shot from Wings' Dylan Larkin. After that, Allen was steady between the pipes, making a number of good saves and two that were spectacular. Let's hope he can keep on playing like that until Carey Price returns to share the duties.

All in all, it was a fine performance, albeit against one of the weaker teams in the NHL. The Canadiens head west today for a week in lalaland. It is too early to start planning a parade down the Main next spring, but missing the playoffs is no longer a foregone conclusion. Well done, les boyz!