The Canadiens win home-ice advantage for the opening round, securing at least fourth place and giving themselves a chance at second in the Conference. Huzzah.
Not necessarily a strong, convincing win, they capitalized on a crestfallen team that learned in the second intermission that they had been eliminated by virtue of the wins by the Rangers and Senators.
Carey Price was solid, seemingly coming out of his funk. He was aggressive in net, coming out far to challenge shooters on a couple of noticeable occasions. His puck handling was superb, as it usually is, and he helped out his defencemen in clearing out the zone quickly.
If anyone had any doubts as to how big and strong Dustin Byfuglien is, the way he ragdolled Josh Gorges a couple of times should remove and doubt.
Kid line! Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher play beautiful music together, let's keep them on the Lars Eller line, and maybe dial up the ice time a touch. Max and David aren't back yet, but maybe pairing them with René Bourque or Michael Ryder will spark something.
Jarred Tinordi didn't do anything outstanding, except bringing his very particular set of skills to the table. He hit and got hit, played physically, but didn't embarrass himself with the puck like Mark Stuart, the Human Stick Foul Machine, did.
So let's win the game on Saturday against the guys who try to pretend they have a rivalry with us to bask in our reflected glory, and watch the Bruins fumble away second place on Sunday.
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