The Habs kicked off the third week of the season by honouring the dynasty of the 1970s in a nice celebration of the championships that once decorated the franchise. On the ice, they were trying to right the ship after an abysmal second week to the season. They did so against the reigning President’s Trophy winners as the New York Rangers visited the Bell Centre.
They also faced this tall task with the injuries continuing to pile up. While the injury story is an all too familiar chorus in Montreal, one must admit that the ability to stay healthy is quickly becoming a legitimate concern for some of the young Habs. These injuries caused the coach to finally insert Michael Pezzetta and to juggle the lines around. The changes that had to be made created an even larger skill gap between the two teams that was highlighted further by the fact that the Habs were not ready to engage physically with the Rangers. The result was an ugly 7-2 loss and a completely unacceptable effort by the Habs.
Montreal’s Lines
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach
Alex Newhook – Oliver Kapanen – Joel Armia
Brendan Gallagher – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson
Michael Pezzetta – Christian Dvorak – Emil Heineman
Mike Matheson – Justin Barron Lane Hutson – Logan Mailloux
Jayden Struble – David Savard
Samuel Montembeault
10 Thoughts
1) The Rangers were ahead 2-0 three minutes into the game after one good save by Igor Shesterkin, one good scoring chance, and one completely botched icing call by the officials that caught the Habs napping no matter the call. A few minutes later, Hutson got picked off and got no help as Reilly Smith beat Montembeault who was not bailing out his teammates early.
2) The Habs took a penalty when Anderson was undisciplined and committed a cross-check while coming off the ice. The Habs killed most of the penalty until they allowed them to tic-tac-toe up the ice untouched and make it 4-0 on a goal from Filip Chytil which was the end of the evening for Montembeault who allowed four goals on nine shots.
3) The Canadiens cut the lead to 4-1 with seven minutes to play when Anderson made a nice play to the slot where Captain Nick one-timed it passed Shesterkin. Suzuki would hit another post before the end of the period. Montreal matched New York in shots for the period, but the Rangers really pushed the Habs around all period long.
4) The Rangers came out hard again in the second, but the effort was not sustained as the Habs quickly took control of the period. They got a power play early and Suzuki made an outstanding solo effort in skating through the entire Rangers zone before out-waiting Shesterkin to score his second of the game.
5) The Habs controlled the play until Braden Schneider beat Primeau with a shot from far with Dvorak covering no one committed the perfect screen on his own goaltender. After that, it was all New York for the rest of the period.
6) When half of the team isn’t willing to deliver a hit or take a hit, they are an easy opponent and far too many players are part of that group for the Canadiens. The way this team has played for the better part of a week now leads this writer to suggest that a 32nd-place finish is possible for this group. If they keep playing like this, the Habs aren’t beating the Ducks, Sharks, Flyers, Jackets, or anyone else.
7) The Canadiens were manhandled all night long as the Rangers had their way physically and were happy to continue to deliver shots after whistles and behind the play with the Habs only complaining to the officials about it instead of responding in kind. Every replay and discussion after this game will center around the Jacob Trouba dirty check to Barron’s head, but the reality is that the entire game and poor officiating led to this event. And if we want to be honest about it, this is as much about the Habs providing zero pushback than it is about the Rangers flirting with the line to being dirty or the officials not calling it.
8) The Rangers piled on two more goals after Montreal’s third advantage of the game. The complete lack of heart displayed by the team after the Trouba actions was truly disheartening. The game was over, yes, but the team should have been emotional. Instead, we saw a team, for the most part, wilt and become afraid of getting hit.
9) I want to make sure that one group doesn’t get out of this game without my condoning their actions and that group is the coaching staff. This is St. Louis’ third year, and it is fair to say he is far from having the most skilled group under his tutelage. This could explain the team’s lacking offence and getting out-skilled on certain nights. It doesn’t explain the team’s complete lack of defensive structure or a complete lack of heart when games become physical. This team has a ton of work to do, and it is becoming more and more obvious that the team’s overall strategy should be starting to come under question.
10) For all the complaining we have heard over the last two seasons about Josh Anderson, every single fan in the fan base should recognize that he’s the only player who tried to hold Trouba accountable. The Rangers captain cowered behind the officials claiming that the game was over, but the truth is that the game was over when he delivered his cheap shot on Barron. Kudos to Anderson for at least trying. The league needs to give its head a shake to be defending Trouba in that situation.
HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars
1st Star – Nick Suzuki
Suzuki hasn’t had a great start to the season, but this was an honest effort where he scored two goals, hit a post, and was just about the only Hab that looked dangerous in any way whatsoever offensively. I definitely want to see him string together a few efforts like this, and maybe St. Louis can motivate someone to play with him and Caufield during Slafkovsky’s absence… maybe.
Stats: 2 goals, even, 2 shots, 1 hit, 19:00
2nd Star – Jake Evans
Imagine being a borderline third-line player and being the second-best player on your team, an undersized player but one of the only players on the team unwilling to accept being pushed around. That was Evans on this night. I don’t know what more Evans, Anderson, and Gallagher can do more to try to drag the rest of this sorry bunch into battle because they’ve been doing it, and the rest simply haven’t followed.
Stats: -1, 2 shots, 2 hits, 16:26 T.O.I.
3rd Star – Josh Anderson
Yes, the penalty in the first period was stupid. Arber Xhekaj takes stupid penalties too. I will take stupid penalties while not accepting to get pushed around over whatever the hell the rest of the team was doing on this night. At some point, they must push back regardless of the outcome of doing so.
Stats: 1 assist, even, 1 shot, 16:22 T.O.I.