Game 42: Canadiens 7, Jets 4

Notes on the Canadiens 7-4 win against the Jets.

--I'm afraid of the Jets.  They're the big type of team that can hurt us, physically, as in injure us.

--Only one Mike McCarron is not enough on a night like this.  This is when you'd hope that Jacob de la Rose and Brett Lernout were ready.  And Connor Crisp.  And Jarred Tinordi.  And Jason Missiaen.

--I fear Mark Barberio and Ryan Johnston will expire, on some of those shifts they're trapped in their zone.

--Although the Jets seem to focus on Alexei Emelin, like they've got a score to settle, like they took his number for something that happened before.  He's taken a couple of big hits.

--Torrey Mitchell's delay of game penalty is a bad one.  He's taken some poor penalties lately, hooking and slashing calls, unnecessary.  That flip of the puck over the glass was careless, and it cost the team.  I wonder whether he still had in mind a previous shift when he backhanded a puck against the glass and caused an icing, and tried to finesse this one.

--That "hit" by Dustin Byfuglien on Daniel Carr wasn't a hit, it was an elbow to the face.  Of course, no penalty was called.

--Nikita Scherbak undoubtedly earned a ticket back to St. John's with his decision to take the puck, wheel around his net and try to rush the puck out of his own zone.  He got easily caught from behind, lost the puck, and almost cost us a goal.  I didn't realize he was that ponderous, I figured he could skate better than that.

--I'm glad I'm not the only one who caught that lazy half-hearted pokecheck by Dustin Byfuglien on Phillip Danault's end-to-end goal.  Jeff Petry, I absolve you of your sin on that goal by Evgeni Kuznetsov.

--Tomas Plekanec is sick of me ragging on him, of posting how I wish he'd been traded years ago.  He's doing something about it.

--Michael Hutchison?  When did the former lead singer of INXS start goaltending in the NHL?

--We're in awe of the stockpile of talented young players on the Jets, but comes at the cost of years of futility and high draft rankings.  We convince ourselves that they're a great organization that finds great talent, but when you're drafting ninth overall, you just bend down and pick up Nik Ehlers, it's not rocket science.

--At 6-3, I expect Big Buff or Adam Lowry or Chris Thorburn will decapitate someone.

--Someone remind me how goaltending is easy to find, and not crucial in the NHL?  Use the Jets in your answer, and be sure to discuss Ondrej Pavelec.

--I don't want to get carried away with Phillip Danault.  The kid is doing great now, but ultimately, our roster will be Cup-ready when he's (at best) our third-line centre.  I really liked when he and Torrey Mitchell were the left-right faceoff combination on our fourth line.

--Shawn Matthias is in Winnipeg?  After Vancouver and Toronto?  Is he on the Matt Stajan/Lee Stempniak career path?

--I'd put the over-under on the word 'foxhole' at 1 on Twitter tonight.

--Not that mad at the fourth Jet goal.  It may keep their focus on hockey, instead of their attempts at the dismemberment of Daniel Carr.

--We can't get Andrei Markov and Greg Pateryn back soon enough.

--Alright I give: keeping Artturi Lehkonen was the right call coming out of camp.  I worried we'd lose players on waivers as a result, and that he wasn't really superior to Sven Andrighetto, for one.  I may have misjudged that one.

--I'll say it again: I'm glad that Blake Wheeler blossomed once he was gone from Boston.  I'd hate to face him so often as a Bruin.  This way, the Bruins wasted a first-round pick on him, and didn't end up with the player.  Perfect.

--Good win by the boys, although Al Montoya's stats take it on the chin again.