Montreal Canadiens: Can Pacioretty steal Latendresse's job?

What a preseason game Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings!

While I was eagerly waiting to see the Lang/Kovalev duo in action, it’s two other players that stole the show for me and many others I think: Carey Price and Max Pacioretty.

A second win against the Red Wings during this training camp, a second win in shootout! I guess that if you have to shell out money to watch a meaningless preseason game, you might as well be getting your money’s worth: a shootout.

It was Montreal’s 3^rdshootout win during this preseason schedule, and I had the chance to witness the win against the Florida Panthers at the Bell Center. I got my money’s worth.

I thought that Carey Price was simply amazing against the Red Wings and correct me if I’m wrong, I find he’s back to the Carey Price we knew last season when he was amongst the best goaltenders in the league in save percentage (5^th).

I’m a little bit worried about the lack of discipline of the team, as they seem to be getting a lot of penalties. But thanks to Carey Price, he did an amazing job to protect his crease.

But let’s get one thing straight: Carey’s amazing stick save wouldn’t have been a goal if you watch the replay closely and I did; the puck is clearly going outside the net. But it was still amazing to see from the TV screen, it must have been unbelievable to witness live at the Bell Center.

What about Max Pacioretty? This guy doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to go live in a Hamilton motel. He seems to be on a mission to prove wrong anyone that didn’t believe he could start the season in Montreal.  The more he plays, the more he impresses me.

And I was amongst the ones that didn’t believe he could start the season with the big team; I didn’t believe he SHOULD start the season in Montreal.  From all the games that I watched, listened to on radio, from all the news article that I read online and on paper, I thought he was not ready to steal a spot.

 ‘That was not an AHL goal, that was an NHL goal!’ screamed Pierre McGuire live on TSN, when Pacioretty scored his amazing shootout goal.

‘Bob Gainey, you gotta keep him in Montréal!’ added McGuire. That comment made me laugh; because it’s not something an analyst would have said while describing a game on french television.

With Max’s performance in the past two games, I truly believe that some regular players must be wondering if they will be with the Canadiens on October 10.

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