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After a disappointing third period on Monday, the Habs looked to get back in the win column on Thursday as they hosted Los Angeles. However, their struggles against the Kings continued as they fell 4-1 while losing a key veteran in the process.
Although Jayden Struble has now recovered from the upper-body injury that kept him out for the first four games, Martin St. Louis opted to make no personnel changes from their loss to the Penguins so he was a scratch. The team did, however, shake up the pairings on the blueline, starting with the setup they’ve finished a couple of games with already. The team lined up as follows:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Dach – Armia
Anderson – Evans – Gallagher
Heineman – Dvorak – Kapanen
Matheson – Barron
Hutson – Guhle
Xhekaj – Savard
10 Thoughts
1) It was interesting to see the Habs start with those defence pairings since the logic of switching mid-game before was apparently to counter the opposition having multiple scoring lines. Los Angeles doesn’t exactly have the most dangerous attack but there’s no denying the revised pairings were better in the other games when they were deployed.
2) That said, if the goal was to make it a little easier on Samuel Montembeault, that didn’t happen. Instead, the Kings peppered him with several quality scoring chances early on, highlighted by a Kevin Fiala breakaway where he had plenty of time and space to make a move. Full credit to Montembeault for not faltering early as Montreal could have been down a couple fairly quickly.
3) One of the beneficiaries from the revised pairings is Justin Barron. Instead of seeing limited ice time with Arber Xhekaj, he saw a regular turn with Mike Matheson. It’s an odd pairing given they have similar strengths and weaknesses but it worked in the first period as he jumped up into the attack and was able to convert a wraparound past David Rittich to open up the scoring seven minutes in. Nick Suzuki got an assist on the play but I’ll give him a second one for the pretty blatant cross-check on Vladislav Gavrikov in front of the net that opened the area up for Barron.
4) While the general importance of faceoffs can be overstated, situational draws still have their utility – special teams and late-period/game situations in particular. However, Montreal doesn’t exactly have a good group of faceoff takers. St. Louis sent out Christian Dvorak with the second line for a defensive zone draw on his strong side late in the period. However, he lost it clean and seconds later, Mikey Anderson sent a point shot off Kaiden Guhle past Montembeault to tie it up. These types of situations are going to be an issue for them this season without a higher-end option like they had in Sean Monahan for most of last year.
5) The blueline took one hit before the second period started with Mike Matheson not coming out due to an upper-body injury, one he didn’t return from. They nearly took another one on the opening shift when Kaiden Guhle took a hard hit from Adrian Kempe. Fortunately, he stayed in the game but the defence pairings were getting frequently shuffled from this point on.
6) Barely a minute later, the Kings took advantage of the jumbled pairings. Once again, it was a point shot that did some damage Jordan Spence’s point shot was tipped by Alex Laferriere. Xhekaj lost him in coverage as the puck was worked back to the point and he wasn’t able to get back to him in time to tie up the redirect.
7) With Matheson out, many fans got their wish with Lane Hutson moving onto the top power play unit. It wasn’t pretty. Kirby Dach took a penalty just 14 seconds into the first advantage and on their next opportunity later in the period, Montreal put up arguably their ugliest power play of the early season. The good news is that it can only go up from there.
8) The second line has struggled offensively this season but they had their chances in the third. Dach had the puck in alone but it caught him by surprise and he didn’t get a great shot off. Meanwhile, the Kings had a partial breakaway the other way. Later on, Alex Newhook had room in the slot and didn’t get a great shot off. That, then, led to a breakaway where Hutson hooked Fiala (arguably twice), leading to a penalty shot which Montembeault stopped. Not too long after, Dach made a perfect deke around a defender and had Rittich down and out. He made the right play to pass it cross-crease but Spence tied up Newhook just enough to prevent what would have been a tap-in goal. That line’s more than due.
9) Unfortunately for the Habs, the faceoff issue came back to bite them. Dvorak was sent out with the third line for a strong-side draw with a little over three minutes left. He lost it clean again; the puck worked its way to Andreas Englund and his point shot went through a Dvorak screen and in to effectively seal it.
10) Montreal got one last late chance with the power play and Cole Caufield had a good chance early on but that was about it. This time, it was Newhook losing the left-side situational draw in the offensive zone, leading to an empty-netter from Kempe. As a whole, Montreal won nearly 60% of their faceoffs in this game but in the end, those key losses on the draw played a big role in the end result.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Lane Hutson – I know the power play minutes weren’t great but Matheson’s absence basically forced the coaching staff to nearly double-shift for more than half the game. That’s an incredibly difficult thing to ask of someone playing their seventh career NHL contest. I’d say he handled it pretty well all things considered.
Stats: 0 points, -2 rating, 1 shot, 2 hits, 3 blocks, 30:05 TOI
2nd Star: Samuel Montembeault – The end stat line doesn’t look the greatest but Montembeault did his best to keep the Habs in this one. He made several key stops early on and made the huge stop on the Fiala penalty shot to keep it a one-goal game. He wasn’t the reason the Canadiens lost this one.
Stats: 28 saves on 31 shots, 3.10 GAA, .903 SV%
3rd Star: Justin Barron – He had Montreal’s lone goal in this one so that has to earn him this spot. In the first period with Matheson, he played to his strengths and we got a good sign of the potential he has. In the other two periods, his minutes were managed more carefully and he was a lot more tentative. I liked the early glimpses, now it’s about finding a way to do that with other partners.
Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 2 shots, 2 hits, 17:45 TOI
