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After a frustrating road weekend where the Habs certainly deserved a better fate than zero points, they returned to the Bell Centre to host their next five games. This started on Tuesday as Patrick Roy’s Islanders visited, one of the few teams that is more offensively challenged than the Canadiens.
Montreal also held the edge on both special teams, though New York came in far more disciplined than the Habs, both in terms of penalties as well as overall defensive play. None of these statistical comparisons meant much once it was announced that Patrik Laine was making his season debut. This created a buzz in the rink that could be felt through the television screen and the home side responded. It was a full sixty-minute effort, and there were no passengers on this night as so many Canadiens had great nights. In the end, they needed overtime to get through the Islanders by a 2-1 score.
Habs Lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Alex Newhook
Juraj Slafkovsky – Kirby Dach – Patrik Laine
Brendan Gallagher – Christian Dvorak — Josh Anderson
Emil Heineman — Jake Evans — Joel Armia
Kaiden Guhle – Mike Matheson
Lane Hutson — Jayden Struble
Arber Xhekaj – David Savard
Samuel Montembeault
10 Thoughts
1) One of the things Laine’s presence created with the general health of the team was to lengthen the lineup. As the first period wore on, one of the most notable things was that when the Habs had an offensive zone shift, they had three lines capable of stepping in and continuing the offensive pressure. We haven’t seen that often this season.
2) The opening period was mostly low-event hockey with the shot clock reading 6-5 for the home side at its end. Both teams defended rather well, and both Ilya Sorokin and Montembeault made saves when needed. I think the Canadiens controlled a bit more of the pace of the period, but not by much. Meanwhile, New York really dominated the faceoffs in the period.
3) The teams exchanged power plays in the first. Montreal’s sequence had both units control play in the offensive zone, but the Islanders did an excellent job of clogging up the middle to defend. The Habs penalty was an atrocious call as Struble hit a player who was dumping the puck in. It happened in the final minute of the period too, which set up the Canadiens poorly for the second period.
4) The Habs started the second shorthanded and had to deal with a second penalty on the shift that followed the Laine goal on an Anderson interference call. On both occasions, the Islanders looked good as Jean-Gabriel Pageau hit the post on the first sequence while Montembeault had a few saves through traffic on the second.
5) Seven minutes into the period, Caufield got clipped with a high stick. Thirty seconds later, Laine got a chance from the faceoff dot and wired one bar-down to absolutely raise the roof of the Bell Centre. The energy high was obvious the following shift as the Habs were all over the Islanders until the Anderson penalty stopped the momentum.
6) The Habs would play with fire once more as Xhekaj was caught flat-footed on the offensive blue line and was forced to take a blatant interference penalty. This time, the Islanders were dangerous as Montembeault made a sensational stop on Brock Nelson right in the slot before making an even better one on Pageau while falling back.
7) New York would finally score with one minute left to play. Noah Dobson barely kept the play onside and found Anders Lee in the slot. Montembeault made a first great save before Lee put home his own rebound. This was after a blatant call for too many men against the Islanders was ignored by the officials. What a strange and frustrating end to the second period that reminded me so much about the Rangers game on Saturday.
8) In complete opposite to the rest of the game, the third period started with both teams exchanging some excellent scoring chances as Montembeault continued his excellent night, as did Xhekaj as he got it going for Montrealbefore Gallagher and Armia were also stopped by Sorokin.
9) After a period played at breakneck speed with great scoring chances, the Habs appeared to catch a break when Maxim Tsyplakov clipped Guhle in the face with his stick. However, the double-minor was negated via video review when it was determined that the reason for the high stick was a Matheson stick swat. On to overtime!
10) The overtime was played with the Habs controlling the puck and attacking the Islanders zone. In the end, it was a bit of a broken play that ended it. Suzuki, Matheson, and Caufield played catch at the Islanders’ blue line. Suzuki finally attacked and got far enough into the zone to get a shot off. He followed up and had the rebound hit him and then fall right on his stick. Suzuki didn’t waste any time in putting home the fortunate bounce and the game was over.
HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars
1st Star – Patrik Laine
Laine had the puck following him all night long, and every time he touched it, the Bell Centre crowd responded as the building was electric and the new number 92 was the cause of the commotion. Oh yeah, his absolute rocket of a shot for the Habs’ only goal in regulation on the power play sent the place into a frenzy. Interviewed after the game, Laine was clearly having fun and soaking in the moment of glory and even ended the sequence with a very clear “merci beaucoup” for a little cherry on top of the sundae that was this night.
Stats: 1 goal, -1, 2 shots, 2 hits, 17:27 T.O.I.
2nd Star – Josh Anderson
If Laine is the obvious and sexy pick as the game’s first star, Anderson was the player who played an inspired game for the entire 60 minutes. He was physical, was around the puck all night long, and continued his strong presence on the penalty kill. He’ll never be worth his contract (much like linemates Gallagher and Dvorak), but he’s so useful and fun to watch when he plays with this much intensity.
Stats: even, 4 hits, 13:02 T.O.I.
3rd Star – Samuel Montembeault
For the last five minutes of the second period and the opening five of the third, the Islanders could have scored half a dozen goals if Montembeault wasn’t as sharp as he was in this game. They weren’t just timely saves; they were of the highlight variety that got the crowd out of their seats and cheering loudly as he deserved every chant on the night.
Stats: 30 saves, 31 shots, 0.96 G.A.A., .968 save percentage, 62:26 T.O.I.
