Playoff Heroes Emerge | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Joel Armia, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Carey Price

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA — Hello there, folks! Back with another edition of my three stars of the week column!

Players will earn points each time they appear as a star in this column and at the end of the year, I will award my three stars of the season.

After falling 3-1 in the series, the Canadiens have evened it up and forced a game seven. How did the Habs get here? Here are my three stars of the week.

☆ THIRD STAR: Joel Armia

I think it would be fair to say that Joel Armia has been the Habs most consistent skater in the series. He had two goals in the Canadiens game five victory and his line, with Corey Perry and Eric Staal, has been an effective trio. There is seemingly always some frustration from Habs fans that surrounds Armia, but he has been consistent against the Leafs.

Armia can be streaky at times with his offensive production, but frustration with him has always felt a little bit off to me. He plays a reliable two-way game, he has a big frame to protect and cycle the puck in the offensive zone and the effort is relatively consistent as well. We saw the diving play he made in game one to spring Paul Byron on the breakaway that led to his goal. His activity with a good, strong defensive stick has been there all series.

Armia is currently tied for the Canadiens lead in post-season scoring with Tyler Toffoli. Given the lack of production the Habs have gotten from Brendan Gallagher in particular, Armia’s picked a wonderful time to step up and provide some offense.

With game seven looming, it will be interesting to see how Armia performs. Anything can happen in game seven and it is often the case that an unexpected hero emerges in a game seven. Given the way he has played to this point in the series, maybe that hero will be Armia.

☆ SECOND STAR: Jesperi Kotkaniemi

Who leads the Canadiens in goal-scoring to this point in the playoffs? That would be Jesperi Kotkaniemi. The same Jesperi Kotkaniemi that was a healthy scratch in game one of this series. Kotkaniemi has returned to the lineup and given the Canadiens the exact same boost that he did in the Toronto playoff bubble last year.

The narrative that surrounded Kotkaniemi as he closed out the season was an unfavourable one. He had just one point in his final 16 games. Yes, that is not the type of production you would hope to see, but was Kotkaniemi playing poorly? Not really. The effort never went away, he was still driving possession, was creating opportunities but the Habs could not finish. That was not just a Kotkaniemi problem.

So, the Habs insert Kotkaniemi back into the lineup, under unfortunate circumstances with the Jake Evans injury, and he came out and scored just under eight minutes into game two. He has brought life to the Canadiens the same way he did in the Toronto bubble last summer.

The Canadiens were on the verge of a debilitating loss in game six. They were just holding on. A Leafs goal felt inevitable, but then Kotkaniemi gave the Habs life with an OT winner to let them live another day.

The Canadiens lack of patience with young players reared its ugly head again to start this series, but as it has gone on, the Canadiens youth has given the Canadiens a chance here. Kotkaniemi has been a big part of that.

☆ FIRST STAR: Carey Price

Another week, another first star performance from Carey Price. I cannot stress enough that this series would be over, perhaps even long over, were it not for the magnificent play of the Canadiens franchise goaltender. But don’t take my word for it, take Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s who said exactly the same thing following game six.

This series has actually been quite simple when thinking about it. The Canadiens pay their goaltender the type of money the Leafs pay Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner and thus far the goaltender has won that battle. The Leafs, for large portions of this series have dominated possession, have hemmed tired Canadiens groups in, but the last line of the Canadiens defence is the best one they have.

What was true last week, even after back-to-back wins in games five in six, still remains true; the Canadiens simply need to provide Carey Price more support. Both in terms of goal scoring and their defensive zone coverage. But in spite of the lack of support in both those categories, the Habs are still here. They are here because Carey Price has been the difference this series.

This week, Jason Spezza said Carey Price is probably the “best goalie of our generation” and given the ridiculous paddle save earlier in the series, Spezza has good reason to think that. Carey Price is the reason this series is going seven games. The Canadiens have no business being here given their effort throughout this series. It has gotten better as it has gone along, but Price was still relied on heavily to get the Canadiens through that overtime in game six.

It comes down to a game seven and for the Canadiens skaters, it has to be a reassuring feeling knowing they head into that game with the best goalie of his generation behind them.

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By Joseph Whalen, Host, Canadiens Connection podcast
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