Wilde Horses
- Pacioretty showing once again that the value of a full 3 week camp is overrated. You would think Pacioretty would get off to a slow start without his full camp and double down on the theory with him recovering from an injury; instead it's vintage Pacioretty with the one timer as the Habs open the scoring for a 4th straight game. After that, just to show everything is right in his world, he actually gets a power play goal. Huge in that it gave the Habs the lead and just as huge as it gave the maligned power play a lift with, believe it or not, an actual goal.
- David Desharnais with a tremendous back check to save a goal as he hustled back hard to break up a sure one. Price gave him a stick tap right away on the play. Well deserved. Desharnais then with an assist on the 3rd goal. The odd defensive difficulty but the guys in black kind of have some world class talent to contend with.
- The rolling of the four lines with the Habs giving their opposition no break from facing talented players. 12 strong forwards. No easy match ups. No rest. No match ups to exploit. For the opposition with 4 lines rolling, the Habs are no damn fun to face. And how strong is your team when the 4th line is still being used with a minute and change left. How many teams can say they can do that?
- Torey Mitchell with the assignment on Crosby's line for many shifts. Mitchell dispossessed Kessel once in open ice actually catching up to Kessel which was kind of striking to see. On another occasion in the 3rd, an excellent set up by Mitchell to Flynn who couldn't finish an easy one. Mitchell showed his full value in this one.
- Carey Price with his usual thing. They didn't rely on him like they did last year but they needed him and as usual he was there. The save on the Crosby one time with 2 minutes left was simply sensational.
- Emelin with some booms for the first time in a while. Perhaps with a top flight partner to cover for him Emelin will be able to time these hits better. His best game in a while going back to last season.
Wilde Goats
- Not really a goat here considering Galchenyuk Eller and Semin are rocking and rolling, but Semin keeps passing up gorgeous clear looks. The Habs end up getting the second best option when Semin feeds it to a line mate at a poorer angle. Semin at times shows why he struggled in Carolina. I am not sold yet. I am not flat out criticizing but I do have my radar up. Get some shots on goal for a start.
Wilde Wild Cards
- A lot of comments about Bergevin having 10 3rd and 4th liners and it did seem like he was over loading on them but the bottom line on it is the Habs are giving their opponents no relief. Every line can own a shift. This is a helluva Habs team. 4 straight on the road and in the 4th they were facing a hungry Pens team and still the Habs were a huge handful.
- This is only the 4th time in franchise history the Habs have started 4 and 0 and the first time in 106 years that they started 4 and 0 on the road. Oh, by the way, the other 3 times the Habs won the Stanley Cup.
