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It was a 4 PM start for a Sunday matinee game at the Duck Pond, err, Honda Center, in Anaheim. The Canadiens have been in the doldrums since returning from their end-of-year road trip, and a game against the cellar-dwelling Ducks seemed like just the thing the doctor ordered. And yet, it was not to be, as the bleu blanc et rouge played yet another substandard game, and ended up losing 3-2 in regulation time.

Samuel Montembeault wasn’t at his best in goal and should have saved at least one of the Anaheim goals. However, the rest of the team was also unable to capitalize on their opportunities, scoring only twice when the expected goals suggested 2.75. Given the number of recent off days, one thinks that exhaustion should not be the issue here, but the Canadiens certainly need to find a way to maintain their energy levels–and their A-game–beyond the end of the first period.

Starting Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Laine – Dach – Newhook
Anderson – Evans – Armia
Pezzetta – Dvorak – Gallagher

Matheson – Carrier
Xhekaj – Hutson
Struble – Savard

Montembeault
Dobes

Ten Thoughts

1) Once again, the game started well enough, with half a dozen decent scoring chances in the first ten minutes. The best of those was a Juraj Slafkovsky tip attempt seven minutes in, but Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal got his pad out to keep the score at zero. Meanwhile, the Ducks recorded only two shots on goal in that same length of time.

2) Brendan Gallagher got sent to the box at 09:54 on what was unquestionably a questionable cross-checking call on Olen Zellweger. Gallagher, always a magnet for the referees’ attention, went off, then, and the Habs went on the kill. 40 seconds in, Jake Evans and Joel Armia broke out of the Montreal zone on a shorthanded rush. Once they reached the o-zone, Evans, on the right-side boards, found Armia between the hash marks, and the big Finn deked and lifted the puck over Dostal’s left shoulder for his second short-handed marker of the year.

3) Three minutes after Gallagher’s call, Frank Vatrano was penalized for a hook on Kirby Dach. The power play wasn’t much to look at for most of it, although Patrik Laine managed to release one of his trademarked cannon shots onto Dostal. However, it finally bore fruit just as Vatrano was about to jump back onto the ice. Mike Matheson launched a one-timer slap-shot from the top of the circle onto Dostal, and while the Ducks’ goaltender made a save, he could not prevent the rebound. With Dostal already down, Christian Dvorak lifted the loose puck over Dostal’s right pad to give the Habs a two-goal lead.

4) Shortly thereafter, Ross Johnston challenged Arber Xhekaj to tangle with him, trying to wake up his Anaheim teammates. Xhekaj obliged this time, and the two big men tangoed for a bit, Johnston appearing to win a decision on points in this match. On the ensuing faceoff, Trevor Zegras was called immediately for high-sticking Josh Anderson and sent off. That power play was even more feeble than the first and doesn’t deserve much editorial ink.

5) In fact, that fight was arguably the turning point of the match. After that, the Habs recorded not a single shot in the remaining five minutes of the period, only six in the second and seven in the third. That’s a total of 13 shots in 45 minutes, after putting 10 on Dostal in the first 15 minutes of the game.

6) After somewhat dominating the first fifteen minutes of the first period, the Canadiens could only muster a total xGF of 0.5 in the second. There were the aforementioned six shots, and none of them were particularly dangerous. The Ducks live in the cellar for a reason, and they didn’t exactly overwhelm the Habs’ defence, either. But it was still enough …

7) Anaheim’s first goal was arguably a bit of a fortunate one, as Alex Killorn’s shot from the top of the right circle hit the shaft of Mason McTavish’s stick in front of the net and changed direction enough to make its way past Samuel Montembeault. There was no egregious defensive mistake this time, but the Ducks were outworking the Habs in order to maintain pressure–and enable Killorn to take that shot.

8) The second Anaheim goal, just 40 seconds later, did address that issue with the lack of mistakes. This one had Ryan Strome and Vatrano rushing into the Montreal zone. David Savard covered Strome, but Kirby Dach seemed to think he needed help with that, so he ignored Vatrano, who was skating in all alone across the centre of the blue line. Jayden Struble, too, was far away, as somehow neither Dach nor Struble seemed to consider Vatrano to be their problem. And, yes, on this one Montembeault could have made a save, as much as Vatrano’s shot was a quick one-timer.

9) Finally, with nine minutes remaining, Killorn was at it again, shooting from the right-side faceoff dot and this time deflecting it into the net off the post to the left of Montembeault. Before making contact with the post, though, this shot, too, hit the shaft of a stick, this time that of Alexandre Carrier. There were three white sweaters in front of Montembeault and one orange one, but it was really the deflection off Carrier’s stick that ensured that he would not be able to stop it.

10) The Habs pressed again in the closing minutes, recording four shots on net. (That’s four of the 13 total in the last 45 minutes, so there were a grand total of nine in the 40 minutes between the Xhekaj fight and the end-of-game push.) You simply can’t win games by playing only 20 minutes.

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Joel Armia (1g, 0a, 3 shots, +0, 17:34 TOI) combined with Jake Evans on yet another excellent penalty killing effort and drew a penalty at the beginning of the second period. Sadly, we are unlikely to have both halves of this due again next season, so let’s enjoy their work while they still wear the CH.

Second Star: David Savard (0g, 0a, 0 shots, +0, 14:26 TOI) is now getting reduced usage, but he played a solid game today, arguably the best defender on the Habs for the afternoon, even accounting for Matheson’s slap-shot assist.

Third Star: Christian Dvorak (1g, 0a, 2 shots, -1, 17:30 TOI) has been–much like today’s other two stars–much maligned at times, and probably never more than this season. Yet he is still able to contribute: today, his penalty kill work combined with a Gallagher-esque goal to give the Habs a chance at a win, which the team sadly did not seize.