We’re now at the midway point in our Prospect Rankings series. Included in this group are some players who were rated fairly high not long ago but have seen their stock slip with weaker performances and additions to the system.
The Habs were even more shorthanded than usual with two more regulars out for Thursday’s contest against the Rangers but were able to put forth a strong effort. However, New York was able to skate away with the extra point in a 4-3 shootout victory.
Our latest edition of the podcast discusses the recently-past trade deadline and Montreal’s inactivity, the strong performance of Rafael Harvey-Pinard since his recall from Laval, and much more.
While the All-Star break and bye week took away some of the spotlight, the Habs had some strong performances in February which helped lead them to a winning record. Here is who our readers voted for as the stars of the month.
The fourth line gave the Habs a boost in Tuesday’s contest against Carolina. However, a late goal from the Hurricanes tied it up before Jesperi Kotkaniemi potted the shootout winner to secure them the 4-3 victory.
It was a nice bounce-back week for Laval. Although they didn’t gain any ground seedings-wise in the standings, they picked up five of six points to creep a little closer to third place which is the target position to avoid a play-in series next month.
Montreal’s trip out West started off on a winning note but it didn’t stay that way as they dropped a trio of one-goal games to finish the week despite putting up some decent efforts.
The Habs wrapped up their West Coast road trip on Sunday with a trip to Vegas. They were sluggish early on but got better as the game went on. However, they weren’t able to overcome a three-goal deficit in the third as the Golden Knights picked up the 4-3 win.
Last season, pretty much everything fell into place for the Habs and GM Kent Hughes who was able to extract strong value in several moves. This year, things went sideways quickly on that front and unfortunately, there wasn’t much they could do about it.
With the trade deadline now behind them, the Habs were in Anaheim on Friday to wrap up a back-to-back stretch. However, a pair of goals from the Ducks in the third period created a deficit that was too much to overcome as Montreal fell 3-2.