The story pervading the now 11-2-2 Boston Bruins all year has been the otherworldly play of their first line, to the point where they are popularly referred to as the “Perfection Line.” While Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Patrice Bergeron have certainly merited all of the plaudits that have come their way, Claude Julien and the rest of the Montreal Canadiens dealt the world a reminder that perfection, much like Tuukka Rask’s goaltending in Montreal, is always fleeting.
Phillip Danault has been one of the more underrated players to don the Canadiens sweater in the last few years, and while the statistics positioned him and his linemates Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Tatar at or near elite-level territory, it was always difficult to come to terms with the fact that someone who was traded for Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann could ever be in the same sentence as the word “elite.