Post Game Five: Turning back the clock

They won’t be awarded style points, but the Montreal Canadiens found a way to escape Buffalo with two points beating the Sabres 3-2 on Monday night.

The win came at a cost, David Savard will be out indefinitely with an upper body injury. He blocked multiple shots on a penalty kill in the third period and didn’t play the final 8-minutes of the game. The shift itself was making the rounds on social media, it displayed a great example of sheer determination and sacrifice for the betterment of the team.

The Canadiens were outplayed by a Buffalo team that has underperformed this season. With the chaotic upcoming schedule, they’ll take wins any way they can get them.

Pluses:

Jake Allen followed up his terrific performance against the Washington Capitals with an even better outing against the Sabres. Tough angle on the Jeff Skinner goal, but he settled in after that and at times stood on his head including in the second period when Montreal was severely outchanced.
Brendan Gallagher scored for a second straight game and it was once again a typical Gallagher goal, right on the edge of the crease. The third line is developing chemistry with Sean Monahan and Tanner Pearson also having solid performances. But for Gallagher in particular has to feel good contributing while playing limited minutes.
Justin Barron gave the Canadiens something they haven’t gotten so far this season, a goal from a defenseman. It was a nice shot after the puck found him at the top on the right circle.
The points haven’t been there but Juraj Slafkovsky continues to stand out for all the right reasons. He was noticeable early, is getting a lot of touches on the puck and eventually the production will come.
While the powerplay looks disjointed and unorganized, it’s still back-to-back games with a powerplay goal!

Minuses:

Savard is the latest player to head to the injured list. That’s three injuries (two significant ones) in three games. Ouch!
Another goal against the Montreal Canadiens for Jeff Skinner… What’s up with that?! He now has 24-goals against the Habs in his career, more than he’s scored against any NHL team.
They handed the opposition another five powerplays, this early trend can’t continue.

The Montreal Canadiens gets right back at it tonight taking on Jack Hughes and he New Jersey Devils. Game time is 7:15pm ET with staggered starts around the NHL with the league attempting to pull of their own version of the NFL’s “Red Zone,” with what their calling “Frozen Frenzy.”

24th Oct 2023 0

Game Five: A less than ideal situation

Jake Allen will get the call in goal for a second straight game when the Montreal Canadiens take on the Buffalo Sabres tonight.

The start is well deserved, Allen was outstanding in a 3-2 overtime win Saturday against the Washington Capitals. The back-to-back games make it an easy decision for the coaching staff, Sam Montembeault will likely play tomorrow night against the New Jersey Devils.

But Montreal still has three goaltenders on the roster and at some point, something has to give. Three other teams are carrying three goaltenders. It’s more likely they’re afraid of the Lightning striking on the waiver wire than this being an actual plan.

To add to the drama, Tampa Bay general manager Julien Brisebois was in attendance at the Bell Centre watching Allen put on a goaltending clinic on Saturday night. Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period told TSN 690 that he doesn’t see a scenario where the Lightning would be able to fit Allen in under the salary cap.

“Due diligence and wanting to get a handle on things… I don’t suspect given their cap situation that Allen would fall into what their looking at,” said Pagnotta about the Lightning. “But maybe Montembeault with a 1-million dollar cap hit would fit better for them.”

The Habs aren’t pressed to make a move but at some point they have to be fair with Cayden Primeau who might be happy earning an NHL pay cheque but has every right to be ticked off at the fact that he hasn’t seen any game action two weeks into the season. Montreal plays four times in the next six days and if he doesn’t play in at least one of them, you have to wonder what’s the point of having him on the roster? You might be terrified of losing him on waivers, but as a former agent, Kent Hughes has to realize that sometimes it’s okay to give a player an opportunity elsewhere that just wouldn’t have materialized with the current set of circumstances.

Regardless of the way the next week plays out, nobody seems to like the three goalie rotation. Especially goalies.

“There’s no pros to the three goalie system,” said retired NHL goalie Martin Biron during an appearance on TSN 690. “The cons are trying to get them all game action.”

23rd Oct 2023 0

Post Game Four: Allen key

Things aren’t that bad.

The Montreal Canadiens blew a two goal lead in the third period but got a Cole Caufield overtime winner to beat the Washington Capitals by a score of 3-2 Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

The headlines have recently been dominated by the fact that the Canadiens are the most penalized team in the league and have had issues on special teams. But they’ve picked up points in three of the four games, including two wins. At the end of the season, they don’t ask how, they ask how many…

Pluses:

It was one of Jake Allen’s best games in a long time and he was definitely much better than opening night in Toronto. Montreal’s starting goaltender made 31-saves and was named the first star of the game. They don’t win this one without him. Allen made saves of the highlight variety, including a right toe save on a 2-on-1 robbing Anthony Mantha of what looked like a sure goal and an old school double pad stack after Alex Ovechkin took a fake shot and dished it off to Nicklas Backstrom. He had no chance at stopping either of Dylan Strome’s goals.
Brendan Gallagher scored…!? Even though he’s been one of the least used forwards this season, it probably came as a relief when he got his first of the year. It was a great play by Sean Monahan, stalling long enough and putting the puck at the net as Gallagher came crashing in. It was the most Gallagher goal one could imagine, right on the edge of the crease both puck and player going into the net. His contract will always be an issue but maybe a goal gets the fans off his back for at least a couple of days.
Easily Nick Suzuki’s strongest game of the year. He made a beautiful pass to Monahan on a powerplay goal in the first period (that’s right, the PP got one!) He assisted on Caufield’s OT winner, won almost 70 per cent of his faceoffs and was Montreal’s most used forward. Most importantly, Suzuki was much harder to play against than in the previous three games.
Martin St Louis continues to be a quote machine: “I like my team, I care about my team and I feel like there’s so much good going on, the last two days was just focused on the negative,” said St Louis post game. “I was asked a question (about Suzuki) and the easiest thing for me is not to say anything but I’m honest, I try not to lie.”

Minuses:

For the third time this season Montreal let a third period lead evaporate. While they escaped with wins against both Chicago and Washington following third period meltdowns, the lack of killer instinct demonstrates their inexperience and how early they are in their rebuild.
Penalties, penalties, penalties. They gifted Washington five powerplays and even though that’s a slight improvement from the previous two games, if this was the Washington Capitals of old rather than the old Washington Capitals, the outcome would have been different.

The light schedule comes to a screeching halt this week. After playing four games in the first two weeks of the season, Montreal will play four games in six nights. Next up will be the Buffalo Sabres on the road on Monday night.

22nd Oct 2023 0

Post Game Three: Deja Vu

Nothing went right for the Montreal Canadiens in their 5-2 loss Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre.

The Habs had to completely shake things up because of the injury to Kirby Dach and nothing clicked. Granted, most of the game was played on the penalty kill which disrupted any chance at developing chemistry at 5-on-5.

Rafael-Harvey Pinard got a chance to play on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson went down to the third line with Sean Monahan and Brendan Gallagher while Alex Newhook centered Juraj Slafkovksy and Tanner Pearson.

None of the combinations worked.

Pluses:

The Canadiens outscored the Minnesota Wild at even strength by a score of 2-0.
Tanner Pearson scored for a second straight game with a beautiful shot upstairs past Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury made some old-school saves, including a double pad stack on Johnathan Kovacevic early in the third period. He made 27-saves in the win, was named the first star of the game and got an ovation from the fans that were left in the building in what might be his final game at the Bell Centre.

Minuses:

Montreal allowed two shorthanded goals in 25-seconds. The powerplay is so bad that they’ve now been scored on more while up a man than they’ve scored.
Discipline issues again, after giving the Chicago Blackhawks 7 powerplays on Saturday night, they followed it up by giving 8 to the Minnesota Wild. And many of them were bad decisions, Slafkovksy’s interference penalty 200-feet from his own net or Arber Xhekaj’s roughing penalty on Marcus Johansson well after the siren went to end the second period.
On the same day that Montreal announced that Dach would be out for the remainder of the season, Kaiden Guhle left in the second period with an injury and didn’t return. He has an upper body injury and needs to be evaluated… Great.

Next up for the Montreal Canadiens is the Washington Capitals on Saturday night at home. Washington might have the slowest team in the league, so you’d think the Canadiens don’t take another 13 penalties, but who knows?

18th Oct 2023 0

Canadiens Game Two: The Bedard Show

There’s nothing like the home opener at the Bell Centre.

But tonight’s festivities will be overshadowed by the presence of a generational talent, Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks.

All eyes will be on the future superstar and fans will be left wondering, “what if.”

What if the Canadiens accumulated less points in the standings last season?

What if they managed to win the lottery?

What if he was here in Montreal, rather than Chicago.

It’s a moot point now, but at some point it will cross everyone’s mind.

Bedard is off to a solid start to his career, picking up an assist in his first game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and scoring in his second game against the Boston Bruins. So… What will he do for an encore?

“Everyone says it’s a great place to play, it’s pretty electric and there’s passionate fans,” said Bedard after Friday’s practice. “It’s a pretty special first road trip and we’re excited.”

If one thing’s guaranteed, Bedard shines when the spotlight is on.

Lines:

Montreal Canadiens

Forward:

Caufield – Suzuki – Anderson

Newhook – Dach – Slafkovsky

Pearson – Monahan – Gallagher

Harvey-Pinard – Evans – Ylönen

Defence:

Matheson – Savard

Guhle – Kovacevic

Xhekaj – Harris

Montembeault

Allen

Chicago Blackhawks:

Forward:

Raddysh – Bedard – Donato

Johnson – Reichel – Athanasiou

Foligno – Dickinson – Perry

Katchouk – Guttman – Johnson

Defence:

Vlasic – Jones

Korchinski – Murphy

Kaiser – Tinordi

Mrazec – Soderblom

14th Oct 2023 0