Stu Cowan: Welcome to Montreal moment for Canadiens’ Chris Wideman
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Stu Cowan: Welcome to Montreal moment for Canadiens’ Chris Wideman “Hey, man, you’re pretty good. Where do you play?” youngster says after skating with Habs defenceman on an outdoor rink. Photo by John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette
Article content It was a pretty cool welcome to Montreal moment for Chris Wideman.
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Article content The Canadiens defenceman grew up in St. Louis, so he never skated on an outdoor rink as a kid. We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Stu Cowan: Welcome to Montreal moment for Canadiens’ Chris Wideman Back to video But with the Canadiens shutting down all activities for a week because of COVID-19 after their 5-2 loss to the Panthers in Florida on New Year’s Day, Wideman decided to put his skates on last week and hit one of Montreal’s many outdoor rinks. “I never had a chance to do that growing up, so I think it’s awesome,” Wideman said after the Canadiens’ morning skate Wednesday in Boston. “Driving through the city and you can kind of see that different parks have rinks and the city maintains them, which is even cooler. I think that’s just unbelievable how lucky these kids are to have that.” Wednesday night was Wideman’s first game since Dec. 11 as the Canadiens lost 5-1 to the Bruins. It wasn’t a good night for the Canadiens or Wideman, who was penalized for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct in the third period after head-butting the Bruins’ Erik Haula during a scrum along the boards. On Thursday, the NHL suspended Wideman for one game.
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Article content There was more bad news for the Canadiens when goalie Jake Allen had to leave the game at 17:11 of the first period with what appeared to be a lower-body injury. On Thursday morning, the Canadiens called up goalie Cayden Primeau from the taxi squad on an emergency basis ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Blackhawks in Chicago. We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
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Article content Wideman went on a pretty wild ride during his long break between games, including the birth of a first child with his wife, Caroline. Henry Stone Wideman was born on Dec. 14. “Pretty much the all-time high of your life with the birth of our first child, which was amazing, and the team letting me have two days to be at home with my wife and kind of get them settled in,” Wideman said about returning home to St. Louis to witness the birth of his son. “Then rushed back for the game against Philadelphia (on Dec. 16, a 3-2 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre). I had travel delays, so I didn’t make it in time for the game. Was able to skate the next day with a few guys, a team practice and then shut down for Christmas.
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Article content “So rush home (to St. Louis) and then spend Christmas at home,” Wideman added. “Rush back to Montreal to test positive for COVID (on Dec. 27) and be in my apartment alone for 10 days. It’s been definitely up and down, but stayed in contact with the guys on the team. Just try to stay positive. But the hardest part’s just being away from my wife and son. Thank God for FaceTime. I’m not sure how I would have done this five, 10 years ago. So super thankful for that. But really excited to get back playing. Hockey players don’t do great with time off.” Félicitations aux Wideman! ❤️
Congrats to @Chris_Wideman and his wife on their growing family!
📸 https://t.co/Ma8Hpz2Kdh pic.twitter.com/la5ZYVXfre — Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 16, 2021
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Article content Wideman will get more time off because of his suspension. In 23 games this season, the 32-year-old defenceman has 2-7-9 totals and a minus-7 differential. Wideman signed a one-year, US$750,000 contract with the Canadiens as a free agent during the off-season after spending last season in Russia with the Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo, where he led all KHL defencemen in scoring with 9-32-41 totals in 59 games. He flew to Russia to join the Torpedo 13 days after getting married. Caroline couldn’t join him right away because of COVID-related visa issues. “That was a tough sell … the honeymoon in Russia,” Wideman said during training camp before the start of this season. “The time change is obviously difficult. Newlyweds, trying to stay up, catch each other before we go to sleep. We’re super close and she’s somebody that I really lean on, especially the last couple of years when hockey’s been tough.”
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Article content Wideman is back to keeping in touch with his wife — and their new baby — on FaceTime, but he’s not complaining. Wideman figured he had gone about 15 days without putting his skates on when he headed to the Montreal outdoor rink. “I was excited to be out there,” he said. “I was out there maybe four or five minutes and a younger kid skated up to me. He was like: ‘Hey, man, you’re pretty good. Where do you play?’ And so we had a good chuckle.” Wideman absolutely loved the time he spent on the outdoor rink. “It’s just so fun to work with some of the kids on shooting and passing,” he said. “I think the first day I was out there for about an hour and a half by myself and with some of the neighbourhood kids. It’s something I really enjoyed. I think more than anything just having a chance to be in the community and interact with people who are our true fans. The kids that watch the games on TV and really enjoy hockey.” scowan@postmedia.com twitter.com/StuCowan1 More On This Topic In the Habs’ Room: Michael Pezzetta making most of his opportunity About Last Night: Rusty Habs lose Jake Allen in 5-1 loss to Bruins Stu Cowan: Canadiens’ Jake Allen makes the best of a lost season
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Romanov provides spark but Canadiens fall in controversial fashion
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Leave it to Alexander Romanov to breathe air into a game a ventilator wouldn’t have saved.
The Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks put Thursday’s contest on life support for 37 minutes before Romanov lined up Sam Lafferty, dipped his shoulder down and delivered the type of hit regularly glorified in the Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Era of hockey. The Canadiens had two shots and zero scoring chances through one period, and the Blackhawks slept through most of the second before the young Russian woke them up with a bang.
Romanov’s board-bending check on Lafferty came five minutes after he helped the Canadiens tie the game 1-1.
“That’s what Romy does,” said Jeff Petry, who scored his first goal of the season by slamming home the rebound off the boards from Romanov’s missed shot. “He catches a guy like that, it seems, like once a game, and it does bring energy. At different points of the game, (he’s) getting the bench alive again. That’s something that he does pretty much game-in and game-out.”
If Romanov hadn’t done it, this would have been one of the most forgettable evenings in Canadiens history.
Instead, the action picked up right after Romanov crumpled Lafferty – with a fight instigated by Ryan Carpenter.
“It’s too bad for Romanov,” said Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme. “He’s a guy that hits hard and clean, and it’s part of hockey. So, if you don’t want to be on the ice and get hit, do something else. It was a clean hit. Just a hard hit. That’s part of hockey.”
What Carpenter did is a part of the NHL game we wish didn’t exist.
But he did it anyway, celebrated thereafter like he won the heavyweight championship of the world, and then parked himself in the dressing room where he undoubtedly watched the Canadiens score on the ensuing power play.
Carpenter probably wasn’t flexing when Montreal’s Mike Hoffman notched a slump-busting first goal in 13 games.
The Canadiens went to their dressing room up 2-1 with 20 minutes to go.
Patrick Kane responded with a 13-game drought breaker of his own early in a back-and-forth third period, and this game continued to run wild with the life Romanov gave it.
The suspense trickled into overtime and built to a crescendo when a great show turned into Theatre of the Absurd. What ended up becoming Philipp Kurashev’s winning goal for Chicago started as one of the most perplexing review sequences in NHL history.
On the play, Hoffman chased down Kurashev, checked his stick and then his body, and both players went careening into Canadiens goaltender Samuel Montembeault. The puck went off Kurashev’s leg, Kurashev’s leg connected with Montembeault’s as Hoffman knocked the goaltender off-balance, and the net came off right as the puck began to cross the goal line in the space that would normally have been covered by the net.
Official Dean Morton emerged from the lengthy review to tell fans at United Center the puck had officially crossed the goal line for a good goal. And then he told them to stop celebrating because they still needed to review the goal for offside.
Replays showed that Kurashev had crossed the blue line before the puck, but Morton eventually explained that the NHL’s situation room deemed him to be “in control” of the puck while doing so.
Subjective? If you asked 100 NHL players if Kurashev was actually in control of the puck, presumably at least 50 would have said he wasn’t.
If you asked Ducharme, we know what he would’ve said.
When the coach was asked whether he was most surprised that the officials felt it was Hoffman who knocked Montembeault out of the play, or that it was ruled onside, the coach responded, “What surprises me most is we were 0-for-2 on the calls.”
“You know,” Ducharme said, “we’ve got to be 0-for-10 on calls that get reviewed (in the last year).”
Heck, even his post-game interview was a lot more exciting than it appeared destined to be through more than half the game.
The night was shaping up to be a complete dud, too, before Romanov did his thing.
The 22-year-old, who came into the game behind just Florida’s Radko Gudas for hits among defencemen this season, wasn’t even supposed to be playing. Had Chris Wideman not been suspended earlier in the day for head-butting Erik Haula in Montreal’s 5-1 loss to Boston Wednesday, Romanov would have been hitting the snack bar in the press box instead of Lafferty.
Though definitely not by choice.
“I told coach that I could do this anytime,” Romanov said. “Anytime, I’m ready to go.”
Never mind that he had just gotten over COVID-19 and had participated in just one morning skate in two weeks before suiting up to play the Blackhawks.
But Romanov, who always has boundless energy, played 19:22, had one assist, one fight, two shots on net and finished plus-one. He had six hits in the game.
Without the one he threw on Lafferty, this column appeared destined to be about one of the worst hockey games ever witnessed at this level.
Vote Tyler Toffoli for NHL All-Star
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MONTREAL – Nick Suzuki is already heading to the NHL All-Star festivities, and he could be joined by Tyler Toffoli.
Fans can vote to send Toffoli to Las Vegas by submitting Last Men In ballots now through Monday, January 17 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
You can submit up to 10 ballots per day at NHL.com/vote.
Toffoli is seeking his first appearance at the NHL All-Star Game, which will be held on February 5 at T-Mobile Arena.
Video: VGK@MTL: Toffoli fools Lehner and scores on backhand
The 29-year-old Scarborough, ON native has 17 points (5 goals, 12 assists) in 26 games this season.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins - NHL (1/12/22) | Faceoff, How to Watch
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Two teams that have been heading in opposite directions, but have a long history against each other, meet on Wednesday night in the heart of New England, as the Boston Bruins play host to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Bruins have been moving up the Atlantic Division after a slow start to the season. “The Perfection Line” of captain Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak have a lot to do with it. The trio have combined for 89 points, with Marchand leading the team in goals (16), assists (20) and points (36) through the team’s first 32 games of the season. Their run at the end of the December and into January has sent Boston passed the Detroit Red Wings into fourth in the Atlantic, and a Wild Card spot.
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Less than a year removed from a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, the Montreal Canadiens have seen a night-and-day difference. Without captain Shea Weber and star goaltender Carey Price, the Habs stumbled out of the gate, and have not been able to gain any footing this season. Their 7-23-4 record is the worst in the Eastern Conference, and are just one point ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for the worst record in the entire NHL.
This will be the second meeting of the season between the two longtime rivals, as the Bruins beat Montreal in Boston back on November 14. This will be the 928th meeting between the two long-standing franchises, with the Habs holding a 469-345-103 against the B’s.
What: NHL Hockey
Who: Montreal Canadiens (7-23-4) vs. Boston Bruins (19-11-2)
When: Wednesday, January 12
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden (Boston, Mass.)
Channel: TNT
Stream: DirecTV Stream
Check out the NHL standings and results on NHL.com
Nick Suzuki will be the Montreal Canadiens’ All-Star representative
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The NHL has announced its 2022 NHL All-Stars, and the Montreal Canadiens will be represented by Nick Suzuki at All-Star Weekend, which runs from February 4 to 5.
Suzuki leads the team in points this season, with 19 in 35 games. He’s tied for the Habs’ lead in both goals and assists in his third season in the NHL. That slightly better than half-a-point-per-game pace is far from what anyone expected following a season with 41 points in 56 games and then 16 points in 22 playoff contests, but offensive struggles have hit every member of the Canadiens this season.
Suzuki will play for the Atlantic Division’s three-on-three team with the likes of Auston Matthews, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Victor Hedman. We can also expect to see him in several events in the Skills Competition that takes place the night before the all-star tournament.
See the full rosters of the four divisional teams here.