Post Game 25: Slump Busters!

It was a good night at the Bell Centre.

Not only did the Montreal Canadiens find a way to beat the struggling Seattle Kraken by a score of 4-2 Monday night, but several players ended significant scoring droughts.

The lines went into a blender again (by necessity) and even if it was for just one night, everything seemed to click.

For the first time in five games, the Habs scored the first goal of the game after both Mike Matheson and Jake Evans forced turnovers. And for a second straight game, even though he was searching for his first goal of the season, Josh Anderson made a solid pass, this time over to Sean Monahan who had a tap-in goal.

The Canadiens would jump out to a 3-0 lead following a Tanner Pearson goal and Monahan’s second of the game. The Kraken pushed back in the second half of the second period and made of a game of it in the third.

But playing with the lead is nice and the Canadiens were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Josh Anderson scored into an empty net. The camera shot of the Canadiens bench was great, every player and coach was celebrating emphatically and it wasn’t because they just secured the game. It was because a popular teammate and player won’t have to answer any more questions about a long scoring outage.

Pluses:

• The start to games was obviously a big talking point inside the locker room before the game. And even though Montreal didn’t come out flying, they began the game with a purpose.
• Sean Monahan scored for the first time in 14 games… And then he scored again.
• Tanner Pearson scored for the first time in 19-games…
• Juraj Slafkovsky looked great on the first line, reunited with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. He was strong along the boards, won puck battles and was confident with the puck. Even though it didn’t show up on the scoresheet, he had a strong game. “I don’t think I need to give Slaf confidence to be honest, I can help him but I don’t think I need to give him confidence,” said head coach Martin St Louis after the game.
• In his first game after signing his new contract with the Canadiens, Sam Montembeault was among the Canadiens’ best players. Nothing seems to faze him.
• Just about every player contributed in some way.
• Special teams were solid and it seems like when Montreal gets a powerplay goal, there’s a good chance they win the game.
• Jake Evans was promoted to the second line and had more ice time than in any game this season.
• In his 700th career game, Brendan Gallagher looked like he turned back the clock.
• Josh Anderson did score again! “That’s why you love playing a team sport, we care a lot about each other in this locker room, I really enjoy playing for this hockey club and everyone is my friend here,” said Anderson.

Minuses:

• They let Seattle crawl back in the game and didn’t lock things down while up 3-0.
• Mike Matheson took a goalie interference penalty on Philipp Grubauer that shouldn’t have been a penalty.

Montreal’s next game will be rematch with the LA Kings at the Bell Centre on Thursday night at 7pm.