Wilde Horses

-Danault is playing with tremendous confidence and if he can keep this level of play, he's a different hockey player than the one the Habs traded for. He's at a level I am not even sure that he knew he had. He's bringing amazing speed through the neutral zone that backs up defenders. He wins pucks. He is smart on both sides of the puck. He seems to ignite whatever line he plays with. Fleischmann and Weise for Danault and a second might just be one of the best trades of Marc Bergevin's career. It's already a great one but if this fourth line winger turns into a second line centre, that would be a massive win.

- Andrighetto appears to have had a discussion with the head coach or management about what type of effort it's going to take in the league to stay in the league. His play has greatly improved recently. He's fighting harder for pucks and he is using his best asset—his speed— by actually not gliding for long stretches then bursting, but by skating constantly.

- Plekanec is having a good run. He's going to the net better and finding his linemates better than most of this season. It's been a season of offensive struggle but lately he's got some groove back. Habs fans hope it's not the last light of day.

- Radulov is having so many moments of extraordinary puck battling and strength on his skates. There are moments when two are against him and he still has more strength than the opposition to keep the puck and set up a line mate.

- Galchenyuk was gone for 18 games and the Habs put together a strong 9-5-4 record without him. Strong, because you can't replace skill—the skill of a waist-high deflection.

- Lehkonen is such an intelligent player. I say it every game. I hope it isn't tedious to read all the time but it's just so rare to see such a polished rookie.

- The leadership group - Pacioretty, Weber, Price, Therrien, whoever you want to add - because there was so much going against the Habs in this one but wow, they showed resilience. They could have folded over Shaw's goal called back, or Shaw's expulsion, or Price getting dragged to Saskatoon but it was still a goal, yet they kept fighting and kept staying hungry. You have to have the right words in the room and the right attitude or this one can't happen. Leadership. Character. Resilience. A statement game.

Wilde Goats

- There are times right now where McCarron doesn't have that big frame going on the transition. When he sets up in the offensive zone and puck battles or gets in front of the net all is good. When he is trying to lead the transition through the neutral zone it feels as if the game is slowing down for him.

- Did I mention how passive the PK is and it's awful? I'm sure I did. You'll probably think it was great on a five minute kill. It wasn't. The Rangers didn't score, that's all. They passed it around like a bottle of beer at a frat party.

- The refs Chris Rooney and Dan O'Halloran with a call so bad it will be seared into Habs fans memories for a long time. Hayes skate hooks into Price's pad and he drags Price so far into the corner that he would have a better chance saving a shot at the Scotia Bank billboard than a shot at his net. Price is interfered with so blatantly and completely, I spent the next half hour trying to figure out what I was missing. I read tweet after tweet in my mentions and there was nothing, but Price was out of the net when the contact began which is the only reason that I can find that is even plausible though it is wrong. A goalie is not fair game outside the crease. If you hit a goalie behind the net, you will get a penalty so that is not the reason. Intent is not the reason. Intent is irrelevant. When you trip a player, you can't just say "oh I didn't mean to". The NHL also said that Price initiated the contact which is simply ludicrous as he was in the process of making a save. I have no idea why that was not goalie interference except maybe those iPads are too small.

Wilde Cards

- I thought the Shaw hit on Fast was shoulder to shoulder but the problem was it was so late. You simply can't nail a guy when he hasn't had the puck for that long. If he makes that hit when Fast has the puck, it would have been a hard call for the ref, but with the puck already 40 feet up ice, 5 minutes is the NHL call when a player is injured. Also when a player is injured the NHL can award a game misconduct. All in all, Shaw was too pumped and raring to go and all that energy came out wrong in goalie interference activity and ultimately a game misconduct that I believe he fully deserved. Great energy player because he lives on the edge which is what the Habs have needed but when he crosses over that edge, he finds too often a cliff.