After two ugly losses the week before, the Habs followed it up with two more particularly ugly defeats this past week. At least this time, they snuck in a win between their poor performances.
The Week That Was
Apr. 4: Red Wings 5, Canadiens 0 – After Cayden Primeau had a decent outing against the Flyers, he was rewarded for his efforts with another start in this one. He didn’t fare as well this time around. Detroit didn’t pepper him with shots but five of them beat him which isn’t the type of impression he was looking to make. Montreal couldn’t muster up much offensively and really, there isn’t much more that’s worth covering here.
Apr. 6: Canadiens 6, Capitals 2 – The Habs couldn’t get much going early and it looked like their tough stretch could be continuing. However, the penalty kill generated some rare positive momentum with shorthanded goals from Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia which gave Montreal a boost and took the wind out of the sails for the Capitals. Armia was able to pot his second career hat-trick in the win, nearly doubling his season goal total in the process.
Apr. 8: Maple Leafs 7, Canadiens 1 – Toronto had more goals in the first period than the Habs had shots and things didn’t get much better than there. An early goal from Johnathan Kovacevic in the second had a chance to make it interesting but the Maple Leafs scored two more within two and a half minutes to put it out of reach before popping three more in the third.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | PIMS | SOG | ATOI |
| 6 | Chris Wideman | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 3 | 15:54 |
| 8 | Mike Matheson | 3 | 0 | 4 | +4 | 2 | 10 | 27:15 |
| 11 | Brendan Gallagher | 3 | 1 | 0 | E | 4 | 11 | 14:28 |
| 14 | Nick Suzuki | 3 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 2 | 8 | 19:11 |
| 25 | Denis Gurianov | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 | 14:57 |
| 26 | Johnathan Kovacevic | 3 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 10 | 19:01 |
| 27 | Jonathan Drouin | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 0 | 2 | 15:27 |
| 32 | Rem Pitlick | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 13:47 |
| 40 | Joel Armia | 3 | 3 | 0 | +2 | 0 | 6 | 17:02 |
| 44 | Joel Edmundson | 3 | 0 | 1 | -4 | 6 | 4 | 20:01 |
| 49 | Rafael Harvey-Pinard | 2 | 0 | 1 | +3 | 2 | 2 | 16:19 |
| 52 | Justin Barron | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 | 18:02 |
| 55 | Michael Pezzetta | 3 | 0 | 0 | -4 | 14 | 3 | 9:55 |
| 56 | Jesse Ylonen | 3 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 1 | 12:33 |
| 57 | Sean Farrell | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 15:34 |
| 64 | Corey Schueneman | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 1 | 13:15 |
| 67 | Chris Tierney | 3 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 4 | 12:58 |
| 68 | Mike Hoffman | 3 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 5 | 16:59 |
| 71 | Jake Evans | 3 | 0 | 2 | E | 2 | 2 | 15:25 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 30 | Cayden Primeau | 0-1-0 | 5.02 | .762 | 0 |
| 35 | Samuel Montembeault | 1-1-0 | 4.53 | .875 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Cole Caufield (26)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (40)
Points: Nick Suzuki (64)
+/-: Harvey-Pinard/Matheson (+7)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (101)
Shots: Josh Anderson (164)
News And Notes
– There were no new injuries for the Habs this week. In a season where that has rarely been the case, that’s worth a special mention.
– Following Saturday’s loss, Montreal assigned Cayden Primeau, Corey Schueneman, Jesse Ylonen, and Rafael Harvey-Pinard to Laval. Unless some injured players are going to be able to suit up for the final two games, at least some of these players are going to be recalled again.
– Nick Suzuki has reached a new career high in points with 64. He has matched his benchmark in assists (40) from last season as well.
– Johnathan Kovacevic is going to finish second on the team in games played and first among defencemen. Who would have seen that coming six months ago?
Last Game’s Lines:
Harvey-Pinard – Suzuki – Armia
Gurianov – Drouin – Gallagher
Pitlick – Evans – Hoffman
Pezzetta – Tierney – Ylonen
Matheson – Barron
Edmundson – Wideman
Schueneman – Kovacevic
The Week Ahead
Wednesday at NY Islanders – This game is going to mean a lot to New York as they look to get back into a playoff spot (and perhaps knock out a certain team whose first-round pick belongs to Montreal in the process). Former Hab Alexander Romanov is currently injured and it doesn’t look like Mathew Barzal is going to make it back before the end of the season. Brock Nelson’s career year has set him up to lead the team in scoring; he has 73 points so far.
Thursday vs Boston – Considering the Bruins have had first place locked up for a while, it stands to reason that they’re likely to rest some players for this one. One player who should be suiting up, however, is Taylor Hall as he was activated off LTIR on Saturday, ensuring he’ll be ready for what they expect will be a long playoff run. Interestingly, Boston only has one 30-goal scorer; top teams usually have more but their roster is certainly quite balanced up front.
Final Thought
I’m a believer in not really taking much of anything in a stretch run like this seriously but I am a bit concerned with how easily the Habs have rolled over for teams over the past couple of weeks. Yes, they’re undermanned and then some and clearly, there’s nothing to play for but pride. But we’re not even seeing much in the way of pride.
I’m not saying that I expect the Canadiens to come out and win a bunch of these games. With this roster, that’s simply not realistic. But for most of this season, they have shown a consistent compete level that has sorely been lacking recently. That’s not exactly the right note to head into the summer on. Here’s hoping that the level of effort is there over the final couple of games, even if they’re not going to emerge victorious.