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The Habs were right back in action in Tampa Bay on Sunday after a convincing win in Florida Saturday afternoon. This had all the makings of a trap game for the Canadiens who had to be feeling quite good about themselves after the effort provided Saturday and the rookie first game shutout for Jakub Dobes.

Luckily for Montreal, the Lightning were also coming off a convincing win on Saturday evening, so both teams lacked some mental sharpness in the first period. The Habs took over in the second period by winning the physical battles all over the ice. It was a strange sight to say the least, but it allowed a 5-2 win for the visitors. 

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook — Kirby Dach — Patrik Laine
Brendan Gallagher – Christian Dvorak– Josh Anderson
Emil Heineman – Jake Evans — Joel Armia

Lane Hutson – Mike Matheson
Kaiden Guhle — Alexandre Carrier
Arber Xhekaj – David Savard 

Samuel Montembeault 

10 Thoughts

1) The most noticeable detail in the first ten minutes was that both teams were risky and sloppy with the puck in the neutral zone. Both teams got some shots and zone time because of sloppiness from their opponents. That was likely the result of being allowed to take the foot off the gas pedal in their respective third periods yesterday.

2) The Habs opened the scoring with eight minutes to play because of strong zone play by Patrik Laine. Laine refused to accept the perimeter play that was offered by the defender. He attacked the middle of the ice which created chaos for the defenders. Laine got it back with defenders scrambling. He found Mike Matheson skating down who then found Alex Newhook in the bumper where he released a one-timer to score. 

3) The goal appeared to anger the Lightning who took over the rest of the period. Samuel Montembeault had to make a few stops from the slot as the period ended with the 1-0 Montreal lead, but an 11-8 shot advantage for Tampa Bay. The Lightning even got a man advantage on a rather weak hooking call to Arber Xhekaj but the better chances were off Jake Evans’ stick. 

4) Brandon Hagel scored on the second period’s opening shift when Carrier was rather soft on trying to get the puck out of the zone. One of Brendan Gallagher or Josh Anderson could have bailed him out, but they were trying to get out of the zone for a quick breakout. Instead, Hagel intercepted and skated to the slot to wire one home. The Habs almost buried themselves further by taking a penalty on the next shift. The penalty kill bent quite a bit as the Lightning spent most of the two minutes in the zone and fired a shot off a post. 

5) The Canadiens took over the period after the penalty and did so through physical play. Tampa Bay surprisingly did not push back. It was significant enough to even the shots at 16 by the time the Habs regained their lead with eight minutes to play. The goal came off a Kaiden Guhle point shot that was deflected by Christian Dvorak in the slot. 

6) The Habs continued to absolutely dominate the period and were rewarded with a power play as Erik Cernak tripped Cole Caufield deep in the Tampa zone, a call aided by Caufield throwing himself to the ground when he felt the stick in his feet. The power play got some zone time, but the Laine shot at this point is about as predictable as the Shea Weber bomb from years past. They must be willing to go elsewhere to really open that shot. They were telegraphed plays on that advantage. 

7) With only 90 seconds to play in the period, the teams exchanged goals. It started with an Evans goal in a fifth straight game, and anyone can stop me if they’ve read this in this space recently. Evans picked off the puck in the neutral zone and skated on a 2-on-1 with Armia. He opted for the shot, and it was a perfect pick of the top corner. On the next shift, Montembeault appeared to have made a save, but the official was perfectly placed to see the puck behind the netminder. None of the Habs saw the puck but Kucherov kept playing and grabbed the puck behind Montembeault to cut the lead to 3-2 heading to the third period (with the shots 23-18 for Montreal). 

8) The Lightning were not going to go away easily, and they brought out every dirty trick they could think of in the third period as they continued to be dominated in the physicality department. Instead, every contested puck saw the Habs wincing as they came away from the play as sticks were jammed in limbs on every play.   

9) It was an awesome play by Emil Heineman that finally restored the two-goal lead. Armia won his puck battle to get out of the zone. Heineman came flying from the other side to beat his defender to the puck, then he beat him physically to create a two-on-one where he found Armia to go up 4-2.  

10) After all the ridiculous things that went uncalled when the Lightning were behind by one, Nikita Kucherov was suddenly called for a ghost penalty on Kirby Dach as Dach tripped over himself a few times and Kucherov was sent off on the last one. The Habs were happy with a relatively cautious power play since there were three minutes left after it was over. Tampa pulled Jonas Johansson with three minutes to play, and Gallagher put the final nail in the coffin with the empty netter.

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Patrik Laine 

Laine’s influence was all over the Habs’ swagger in this game. His aggressive offensive play on the first goal, his strong physical back checking presence on more than one occasion. The second line is suddenly rolling, and Laine is the most responsible presence for their output. If the Habs could be less predictable on the power play to open his shot, this could have been an even more productive night for him offensively. 

Stats: 1 assist, +1, 3 shots, 15:29 T.O.I. 

2nd Star – Emil Heineman 

For everyone who has lamented the loss of Artturi Lehkonen over the last two-plus seasons, may I present Emil Heineman. Heineman continues to impress game after game. He plays in every zone, makes smart and intense plays, doesn’t get pushed off pucks, and creates offensively every chance he gets. The main difference is that up to this point, he seems to have a better nose for the finish. I have no idea if he’ll continue down this path, but he’s been one of the best Habs through December and a key member of the Evans line. 

Stats: 1 assist, +1, 2 shots, 2 hits, 10:52 T.O.I. 

3rd Star – Samuel Montembeault 

I really did not like the second goal on Montembeault. Sure, most of the time he gets that whistle. Credit to the official’s positioning because the puck was loose and it should not have been. He was bumped slightly by Nick Paul, but no way that caused the puck to get loose behind him like that. It’s simply a shot he must stop. He saved the team’s behind as they were quite late getting started for the second period. He was even better in the third. Lately, the team has been excellent, so the shot totals haven’t been crazy, but Montembeault remains focused and makes timely important stops that allow the Habs to regroup and regain their poise and regain momentum in games. 

Stats: 21 saves, 23 shots, .913 save %, 60:00 T.O.I.