Game 47: Canadiens 3, Devils 1

One of the advantages of Gary Bettman's rapacious greed is that, by forcing me to watch 'Canadiens Express' instead of the full broadcast of the Canadiens 3-1 win against the Devils, he saved me a couple hours of boredom, like he did for the Detroit game recently.  Thanks Gary for queering the deal, you're a champ.

Maybe the highlight of the game was Henrik Sedin tallying his 1000th point on a beautiful goal on former teammate Roberto Luongo, and on a nifty pass from his brother Daniel.

This occurred to me as I watched the game:

27-Alex Galchenyuk
47-Alex Radulov
67-Max Pacioretty

27, 47, 67?  As in 727, 747, 767?  The Boeing Line?

And I noticed Jacob de la Rose tonight.  So did Pierre Houde and Marc Denis, who ventured that he might have played his best game in a Canadiens uniform.  A noticeable Jacob is a pleasant change.  And it's not like he piled up points or anything, but he kept going to the net, causing heck, coming close a few times.  Maybe he's very comfortable defensively, playing 'positionally', but that's not enough.  We need him to do what he did tonight, which is want the puck, and want to go to the opposition net.

When Nathan Beaulieu and Jeff Petry are on, they're a joy to watch, strapping young men who can fly around the ice, fast and mobile and assured with the puck.

And Al Montoya gets an easy win, stopping 16 of 17 shots.  It's his fourth consecutive win.  Maybe the 10-0 debacle in Columbus is fading in his memory.

Not a signature win, but the Canadiens did what they had to do, capitalize on their powerplays to put away a weak sister and bank two points.