Tag: NHL

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?

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Post game two: Injury concerns already

Connor Bedard’s first game at the Bell Centre, was rather uneventful.

The Montreal Canadiens spoiled the party beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in the home opener.

It took the rookie phenom until late in the third period to register a second assist on a Tyler Johnson goal that pulled the Hawks to within one. He finished with five shots on goal in 23:02 minutes of ice time.

The Habs played an undiscipline game giving Chicago seven powerplays in the game. The Blackhawk’s game plan was a little too predictable, get Bedard the puck. Credit to Montreal who boosted their penalty kill stats by shutting down the one man show at the other end. It’s something to built on, Montreal had one of the worst penalty kills in the league last year.

Pluses:

  • Sam Montembeault was solid. Although not as busy as Petr Mrazek at the other end, Montreal’s starting goaltender made 28-saves in the win. More importantly, no softies got by him. Maybe he should have started in the opener…
  • After scoring in the first game, Jake Evans followed it up by being a key piece on the PK, playing almost six minutes while down a man. He also dominated the faceoff circle winning 11 of 14 draws good for 78.6 per cent.
  • Sean Monahan had a much better second game of the season, scored a short handed goal and went 87.5 per cent in the dot.
  • Martin St Louis’ quote on what a healthy Monahan brings to the club: “Consistency, his bad games are not very bad, his bad is good, you know?”
  • Tanner Pearson scored his first goal as a Montreal Canadien. And it was a beauty, shooting in stride, top shelf on Mrazek.
  • Rafael Harvey Pinard doesn’t care where you put him or what you ask him to do, he stands out. He won’t be on the fourth line much longer.

Minuses:

  • Kirby Dach left the game with a lower body injury and didn’t return. His status will be evaluated on Sunday. It’s impossible to know when the injury happened, he was hit into the Blackhawks bench by Jared Tinordi. An injury to Dach would be catastrophic and significantly disrupt Montreal’s lineup. After all the injuries suffered last year, hopefully not the first of many.
  • The Canadiens play in the third period left something to be desired. Playing a little too comfortable with the lead, they let Chicago make it a game. Back to back games with goals surrendered at 6-on-5 is another unsettling early trend.
  • Brendan Gallagher had another subpar game, and only ended playing 10-minutes.
  • The opening night ceremonies. No torch, no light effects and no special appearances?! The Canadiens are known for always doing it right when it comes to pre game festivities. Saturday night lacked imagination and was more fitting for a place like Ottawa.

Next up is the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

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