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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Stu Hackel&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's been a miserable season in the birthplace of the NHL (as we've noted here and here, and SI's Michael Farber wrote about here), especially when the Canadiens\u00A0play on home ice. But Lars Eller's four-goal game on Wednesday night eased\u00A0Montreal's pain a little.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eller\u00A0conducted his prolonged First Star curtain call following the Habs 7-3 win over Winnipeg -- during which he tossed four\u00A0pucks into the stands, repeatedly applauded the Bell Centre crowd, exhorted the fans\u00A0to get louder, and then leaped to touch an overhang while exiting -- without a trace of self-aggrandizement. It was a joy to behold and reminds us why, despite its various blemishes, we love this game.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other than perhaps in his native Denmark, Eller is hardly famous outside of Montreal, but that might be because he's only in his second full NHL season. Until last night, his biggest claim to fame\u00A0was being traded\u00A0by the St. Louis\u00A0Blues for Habs\u00A0playoff hero Jaroslav Halak\u00A0in the summer of 2009, which at the time seemed unthinkable. \"Lars who?\" was the general and angry reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fans of Halak\u00A0and the Canadiens' other goalie, Carey Price, waged a long and loud local phone-in show/internet comment war over the relative strengths of each netminder\u00A0that continued even\u00A0after Halak\u00A0was shipped west.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eller also furrowed some foreheads earlier this season when he confessed after a game that\u00A0he didn't know the Maple Leafs had switched goalies at the start of the second period.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But Eller, only 22, has always been regarded as an outstanding skater with excellent defensive instincts, very good puck skills, and a\u00A0sharp\u00A0mind for the game. He regularly\u00A0matches up against the opposition's top line. He could well be on his way to developing\u00A0as one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL, but\u00A0he hasn't always displayed a natural scorer's touch. He did on Wednesday night\u00A0with his first goal, following a Kyle Wellwood turnover.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eller\u00A0didn't need to be a sharpshooter on his second and third goals, just an alert linemate. First, he went to the net to finish this great passing play with Andrei Kostitsyn\u00A0and Travis Moen...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[vodpod id=Video.15913820&amp;amp;w=425&amp;amp;h=350&amp;amp;fv=hlg%3D20112012%2C2%2C580%26amp%3Bevent%3DMTL515%26amp%3Bserver%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fvideo.canadiens.nhl.com%2Fvideocenter%2F%26amp%3Bpageurl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fvideo.canadiens.nhl.com%2Fvideocenter%2F%26amp%3Bnlwa%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fapp2.neulion.com%2Fvideocenter%2Fnhl%2F]&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;...then\u00A0he got right back to the left of Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec\u00A0for le tour de chapeau after Kostitsyn's snaky weave through the offensive zone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(According to one fan watching from Toronto, a Bell Centre partisan tossed something other than a hat during the celebration).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The coup de grace came on a penalty shot, a call some would question since all Jets defenseman Ron Hainsey\u00A0did was get his stick into Eller's\u00A0hands as Eller\u00A0broke in alone on backup goalie Chris Mason. But those things\u00A0get called all the time, and Eller was instructed to go to center ice with the puck and have at it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This time, Eller\u00A0said afterward, he knew that the goalie had been replaced and figured he'd try the spin-o-rama\u00A0move on\u00A0the cold netminder. As regular readers know, I'm no fan of these trick penalty shot/shootout moves, and the rules as amended only a few years ago to permit them. But the crowds do love them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It was\u00A0the second time this season that a player has scored four goals in a game. The Islanders' Matt Moulson did it against Dallas in early December.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Moulson's\u00A0performance didn't really spark an Islanders turnaround, as they still\u00A0languish in Eastern Conference's 14th spot. The Canadiens\u00A0are only three points ahead of\u00A0New York,\u00A0in 13th, so Eller's\u00A0great night is hardly a guarantee that the Canadiens' fortunes will improve. But, as Phillippe Cantin wrote in &lt;em&gt;La Presse&lt;/em&gt;, \" For the first time this season, we felt a real excitement in the great amphitheatre.\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And after the game, the Habs\u00A0embattled unilingual coach Randy Cunneyworth, who strangely didn't use Eller\u00A0during a late power play\u00A0so Eller\u00A0could shoot for five, used the language of the province's majority as he began his press conference, saying, \"Je suis tr\u00E8s content pour Lars!\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The media erupted in hearty laughter and Cunneyworth\u00A0responded, \"Merci beaucoup.\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For one night, at least, good times returned to\u00A0Montreal.\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nhl/home-ice/2012/01/05/eller-eases-habs-pain-for-one-night>