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The Habs looked to build on a win as they faced the Los Angeles Kings Wednesday night. The Kings presented a much tougher test than the Sharks so the Canadiens needed to step up if they wanted consecutive wins after barely getting by San Jose.
Los Angeles presented an interesting opponent as they came in with a 3-6-1 record in their last ten after a bad road trip. However, they are a formidable home team with a 15-3-1 record at Crypto.com Arena. The latter was closer to what Montreal saw on Wednesday as the home side struck quickly and with consequence, giving the Habs little room to create anything offensively. The result was a 6-3 win for the Kings.
Habs Lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Josh Anderson – Kirby Dach — Alex Newhook
Patrik Laine – Jake Evans – Joel Armia
Owen Beck – Christian Dvorak — Brendan Gallagher
Lane Hutson – Alex Carrier Mike Matheson — Logan Mailloux
Arber Xhekaj – David Savard
Jakub Dobes
10 Thoughts
1) The Kings absolutely destroyed the Habs in the early portions of this game. After five minutes of play, Los Angeles was leading in shots by a 10-1 count. That’s a pace of 120 shots in a game. Some of it was because Dobes’ rebound control wasn’t very good early on, but it was mostly because the Canadiens essentially looked like a team of deer in headlights watching the Kings skate around them.
2) The Kings did get on the board within the first two minutes as a Vladislav Gavrikov point shot beat Dobes who was completely screened on the play. Overall, I felt like Dobes was jittery and giving up rebounds throughout the first period, but he continued to battle and found a way to make saves. He held absolutely no blame him on the goal scored.
3) Dach was perhaps the most noticeable player in the period as he delivered a few big hits that created space for Newhook to create offensively. The Habs even got a power play that mounted absolutely nothing, something they likely need to start looking at in a practice time. They ended the period with a 13-7 shot deficit which wasn’t terrible considering the start.
4) Four minutes into the second period, Montreal tied the game as a Matheson point shot hit Drew Doughty before bouncing off the top of Darcy Kuemper’s helmet and finding its way to the back of the net. It was a lucky goal, but one the Habs were definitely happy to get. To be tied at that point after the first period they played had more to do with luck than merit.
5) A few minutes later, Mailloux got caught flat-footed and did a rather good job in getting back and stopping Warren Foegele’s breakaway. Unfortunately for the kid, the official’s arm was raised before Mailloux ever touched the King, and a penalty shot was called. Foegele made no mistake with his shot as he came in on the overactive Dobes.
6) The Habs started to take over control of the game as the second period wore on. The top line, and Slafkovsky specifically, has some strong moments in offensive creation. However, the Kings looked like the 1990’s Devils as they clogged up the middle of the ice and dangerous chances were generally few and far between making Kuemper’s night relatively easy.
7) The third period saw Montreal get overly aggressive offensively. To their credit, in worked in getting through the staunch Kings’ defensive system. However, as is usually the case with the Habs, offensive competency was accompanied with giving up a ridiculous amount of scoring chances at the other end of the ice.
8) The Kings would score four in the period. 15 seconds in, a Brandt Clarke point shot had eyes and beats Dobes. This was Dobes’ weakest goal on the night in my opinion. Dobes bounced back strong after the goal, but it just wasn’t in the cards. With 9:30 left to play, Quinton Byfield ran over Hutson, got his stick in Hutson’s face which went uncalled, and the Kings skated up the ice and took advantage of terrible defensive coverage by Evans to complete a one-timer goal from Kevin Fiala. They repeated the one-timer later in the period when Mailloux got excited and careless after scoring his goal leaving Newhook to cover for him defensively which didn’t happen with competence, leading to Fiala’s second of the night.
9) Not long after the Clarke goal, the Habs made sure to keep the game interesting. A Carrier point shot floated toward Kuemper and was tipped by Mikey Anderson. The strategy on Kuemper seemed obvious: Shoot from the point. Three minutes after the Fiala goal, a strong forecheck by Newhook allowed him to find Mailloux at the point who skated in and fired a rocket of a wrist shot over Kuemper’s should as the Habs refused to roll over which is likely the main positive point to come out of this game.
10) Dobes played an excellent third period as the Habs pushed offensively and gave up chance after chance at the other end. Dobes gave them a chance at a comeback. With 2:30 to play, the Habs pulled Dobes, but Trevor Moore scored immediately to effectively end the game.
HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars
1st Star – Kirby Dach
Dach followed in Josh Anderson’s footsteps and was a physical presence all night for the Habs. There were some defensive miscues, notably in the third period. However, I will take this type of effort from Dach every single game and live with the errors and hope he eventually learns from them. He was invested and played a big boy game against an opponent that required him to do so. Against smaller and weaker defensive opponents, he would have dominated that game by playing this style. For everyone complaining about the return of Anderson to this team’s top-six, I look at this effect on Dach and if it can keep Dach at this level, I vote to keep Anderson there for the rest of the season, regardless of how many chances Anderson misses at the offensive end of the ice.
Stats: 1 assist, -1, 4 hits, 16:22 T.O.I.
2nd Star – Alex Newhook
Newhook has been playing quite well of late and that continued on this night. Newhook has been using his speed in all three zones, and he’s become difficult to handle for opponents as a result. The Mailloux goal in this game was a direct result of his using his speed to win a board battle against a much bigger opponent and then having the patience to find the right play once he finds himself in a position to create offensively. I’m still unsure if it’s Newhook on a heater or him figuring out how to play to his strengths, but if it’s the latter, then the bottom-six will remain a threat for years to come even if the Habs do decide to move on from Evans and/or Armia.
Stats: 1 assist, even, 15:35 T.O.I.
3rd Star – Jakub Dobes
As has been the case for most of his time with the Canadiens, this one wasn’t perfect for Dobes. He was overactive and overaggressive in his crease for much of the first period. However, as has been the case for most of his time with the Habs, Dobes settled down, made big saves down the stretch that allowed for the team to make this game competitive for a longer period of time than they likely deserved.
Stats: 31 saves on 36 shots, 5.03 G.A.A., 0.861 save %, 59:38 T.O.I.
