Post Game 32: Picking up points

The Montreal Canadiens made adjustments after a tough first period and came from behind to earn a single point in the standings with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

Montreal has started their dreaded yearly holiday road trip with three of a possible four points against two quality teams.

While the Canadiens are usually matched up with teams that have more talent and skill, they’ve shown that they are relentless, work hard and never give up.

Pluses:

• Two points for Juraj Slafkovsky including a game tying goal late in the third period. He’s no longer just a complimentary player on a line, he’s helping drive play. The Canadiens’ top line was the only one that provided much of anything offensively.
• Another game and another goal for a defensemen. Nice shot by David Savard after some solid work by both Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.
• Kaiden Guhle was in beast mode at times. Huge hit on Kirill Kaprizov and he fought Marco Rossi who was trying to stand up for a teammate. He’s not fun to play against now, think of what he might look like in five years.
• Wins are important in the NHL, but if you’re going to lose a game, at least get it to overtime and get a point. The Habs have picked up points in four straight games.

Minuses:

• Terrible first period and start to the game for Montreal. Credit them for adjusting between periods, but it looked like the Wild were going to run a way with the game with ease. It took some poor discipline by Minnesota in the second period to let Montreal back in the game.
• How often do we see a failed offside challenge? Well Martin St Louis took a minor penalty challenging a play that was not overturned… Again, why do we allow challenges for this?
• The line of Brendan Gallagher, Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia was awful. They’re going to need a lot more from those guys as this road trip continued.
• Emil Heineman made his NHL debut, yet we barely got to see him play. Why do the Canadiens have young players on the fourth line playing under 10-minutes a game in a rebuild?
• Another game where you’re left wondering why the officiating in the NHL is so bad.

Next up for the Montreal Canadiens is a matchup with Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks in the final game before the Christmas break on Friday night.