BY JOSH FLECK – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
In a week that had its highs and lows, highs being a pair of wins over the New York Rangers and the domination of the Toronto Maple Leafs and lows being losses outside of regulation to the New York Islanders and the Ottawa Senators, these are the things you need to look for in the next week for the Montreal Canadiens.
1. Ryding high – Michael Ryder returns to the Habs after a five year hiatus. In his four seasons with the Habs he scored 99 goals. Since his departure he has won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins and has seen his goal scoring play jump rope around the 25 goal mark.
2. Discipline – Over their past five games the Canadiens have only had 12 minor penalties. It hasn’t necessarily translated into wins, but if this team can continue to stay out of the box and find ways to score they will keep their spot atop the Eastern Conference standings.
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3. Waiting in the wings – The Hamilton Bulldogs haven’t had much to brag about this season, but some of the young guns for the Habs are contributing at a young age: 20-year-old Nathan Beaulieu has 18 points from the blueline this season; Big defenceman Jarred Tinordi is only a minus-six on the second worst team in the AHL, and he’s a mere 21; and Gabriel Dumont is leading the team in points at the age of 22.
4. He’s back! – Max Pacioretty really did get the monkey off his back with his centre ice goal on Cam Ward by scoring five goals in the last five games to be one of the hottest goal scorers in the NHL right now.
5. It’s the depth – In the win over the Leafs nobody on the time had less than 11 minutes of ice time and nobody had more than 22, outside of Andrei Markov’s 25. Michel Therrien has shown no problem with putting his whole team on the ice, which goes to show the depth of this squad.
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