Forward's plans for bye week in team's schedule included workouts at the gym instead of fun and sun on a beach.

If there’s one Canadiens player who deserved to spend some time relaxing on a warm beach this week it’s Brendan Gallagher , who leads the team in scoring with 16 goals and seven assists and was one of the very few bright spots during a disappointing first half of the season.

But sun and fun weren’t part of Gallagher’s plans during the team’s break in the schedule that ends when the players report for a 4 p.m. practice Friday in Brossard to prepare for Saturday’s game against the Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690). Instead, Gallagher planned to spend the week in Montreal while getting in some gym workouts.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

“We’ve played a lot of games, so I think one of the things you’ve kind of been missing is that time in the gym,” Gallagher said after scoring a goal, adding an assist and being named the first star in a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks Sunday night at the Bell Centre. “So just kind of maybe get a couple of workouts in and just take care of your body and really just rest up and get ready for the next game.”

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Photo by Pierre Obendrauf / Montreal Gazette

If there’s one Canadiens player who deserves to play at the All-Star Game it’s Gallagher, but on Wednesday the NHL announced that Carey Price will represent Montreal on Jan. 28 in Tampa despite the fact the goalie has a losing record (13-14-2). Price ranks 31st in the NHL in goals-against average (2.89) and 25th in save percentage (.911) but he has rebounded after a terrible start. Since missing 10 games in November with a lower-body injury, Price has started 18 of the last 19 games, posting a 10-7-1 record with a 2.36 GAA and a .930 save percentage.

Still, Gallagher has been the Canadiens’ best and most consistent player this season.

The Canadiens got a scare during last Thursday’s 2-1 shootout win over the Tampa Bay Lightning when Gallagher was checked hard into the boards by defenceman Mikhail Sergachev during the third period. Gallagher left the ice and went to the locker room for more than five minutes, appearing to have suffered an upper-body injury. But Gallagher returned to the bench and on his first shift back on the ice drew a tripping penalty while driving toward and crashing into the Lightning net.

“It hurt,” Gallagher said about the check from Sergachev. “But pains go away. There’s hurt and there’s injured, and I was just hurt. So you come back and you do the same thing you’ve always done.”

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

The Canadiens (18-20-4) are on a two-game winning streak, but remain eight points out of the final wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and have a tough schedule ahead with five games in eight days, starting Saturday. Three of those five games are against the Bruins, a team the Canadiens have yet to face this season. The Bruins have a 23-10-7 record and are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games.

Saturday’s game will be Claude Julien ‘s first against Boston since he was fired by the Bruins last Feb. 7 and then hired by the Canadiens a week later. The Bruins have an overall regular-season record of 41-18-8 since Bruce Cassidy took over from Julien, while the Canadiens are 34-27-5 with Julien behind the bench.

“I’ll be ready,” Julien said after Sunday’s win about the coming game against the Bruins. “To me, it’s my former team. I don’t want it to be about me, I want it to be about our team winning a hockey game for all the right reasons. That’s the way I look at it. Those things don’t excite me or motivate me more. I want to win that game, next game, as much as I wanted to win tonight.”

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

The Canadiens held a players-only meeting after last Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks and the next day Julien had a meeting with the team’s leaders, including Gallagher.

“I think there’s got to be some dialogue between the coach and the leaders of the locker room because once he leaves, that’s the message,” Gallagher said about that meeting. “But at the same time, you can talk and talk … I think everyone understands the answer in here. We’ve just done a better job of really committing to it the last couple of games. We understand the way that we have to play and the identity of our group. When we stick to that, we’re pretty good. When we get away from that, you saw we can be a sloppy group.

“It’s one of those things … night after night it’s tough, but the position we’re in we have really no choice here if we want to make the playoffs,” Gallagher added. “It’s something that we’ve got to do night after night and really collect some points.”

You can always count on Gallagher doing his thing night after night. The Canadiens desperately need more players to follow his lead.