Martin St-Louis has been working on getting the Canadiens back on track, on the track they were on in December and early January, when they played some of the best teams in the NHL. Yet the New Jersey Devils would never be an easy target for that recovery, as they fight to stay in third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Should have, could have, would have .. and yet the Habs didn’t win. There is no doubt that the Canadiens played well against the Devils on Saturday afternoon, and had the better scoring chances, and yet they left the rink beaten by a 4-0 score. The goaltender is part of the team, too, and on this day Jake Allen clearly did a better job than Samuel Montembeault, the former Hab stealing victory for the Devils.
Starting Lines
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Laine – Evans – Armia
Newhook – Dach – Anderson
Beck – Dvorak – Gallagher
Matheson – Carrier
Hutson – Mailloux
Xhekaj – Savard
Montembeault
Dobes
10 Thoughts
1) After two days off, one would have thought they would have the jump on the Devils, but they looked somewhat sluggish from the start and were being badly outshot in the first half of the first period. The game was not quite so unbalanced, though, and just past the halfway mark, Owen Beck and Lane Hutson got a scoring opportunity set up for Brendan Gallagher and Christian Dvorak. Jake Allen was up to the task, though, and kept the Habs off the scoresheet, as he would continue to do throughout.
2) While the Habs’ team structure has been recovering somewhat, the breakdowns remain costly, and the first New Jersey goal was an excellent example. Dougie Hamilton beat Brendan Gallagher to the puck on the left-side boards and sent it behind the net. Tomas Tatar–yes, the ex-Hab turned into a Habs menace–then beat both Arber Xhekaj and David Savard to pick up the puck from behind the net and sent it to the front, where Jesper Bratt was ready to go and ripped it past Samuel Montembeault for the initial lead of the game.
3) Mike Matheson was sent off for a high stick with just over three minutes remaining in the period, but the penalty kill units continue to work well for the Habs. Jake Evans, Joel Armia, and Josh Anderson (is that the J-team?) repeatedly cleared the puck, and kept the Devils’ power play away from any real scoring opportunities. And Evans followed up with a breakaway rush just as the penalty expired, albeit once again saved by Allen.
4) Johnathan Kovacevic took a holding penalty two minutes into the second period, giving the home team an excellent opportunity to tie up the game. They did have their opportunities, with four shot attempts–Cole Caufield at the right edge of blue ice probably had the best chance–but it took them four tries to manage a controlled zone entry in spite of the man advantage. Patrik Laine has a seeing-eye shot from the left side, but you can only take advantage of it if you can gain control of the puck in the offensive zone.
5) The second period was much stronger for the Habs, with the home team outshooting New Jersey 14-6 and edging them 2.2-0.9 in expected goals. And did it pay off? Alas, no, all they got out of the period was another New Jersey goal, as Bratt, controlling the puck in the Montreal end of the ice, spotted Jack Hughes coming off the bench and sent the puck to the Swedish winger. Bratt put the puck on net and Paul Cotter beat Lane Hutson to the rebound and scored on Montembeault with a backhander as he was falling down.
6) Kovacevic attracted another penalty at the end of the second period after giving Cole Caufield the hook. With only eight seconds left, it was effectively a 1:52 power play at the start of the third period. That power play produced only a single shot on goal, and that was a shorthanded one by Brett Pesce on Montembeault. The bleu blanc et rouge were having a great deal of trouble getting set up, as their usual drop-pass-followed by-cross-ice method was being effectively countered by the Devils. With the level of scouting in the NHL today, it’s necessary to have more tools than just one, as opposing teams will quickly figure out how to neutralize plays that are consistently the same.
7) Worse yet, as Kovacevic’s penalty was about to expire, Pesce stole the puck in the New Jersey zone and sent Jack Hughes on a two-on-one break along with Bratt. Mike Matheson was able to prevent the pass to Bratt, but Hughes shot the puck high on the far side, above Montembeault’s blocker, to give the Devils a 3-0 lead. I suspect Montembeault might want to have a do-over on this play.
8) Halfway through the final frame, Luke Hughes added insult to injury, making the final score 4-0 for the Devils. Joel Armia covered the always-dangerous Jack Hughes and Jake Evans had Dawson Mercer, but there was no one paying attention to Luke Hughes, who was able to snap a shot past Montembeault from the top of the left circle. Who was that third forward on the ice? Not Laine, was it?
9) As the seconds in the final minute of the game were ticking down, Hutson made a pretty pass to reach Owen Beck in the neutral zone, freeing up the rookie centre for a breakaway. Luke Hughes had to resort to holding to prevent Beck from scoring and was called for a penalty shot by the referees. Beck, executing his first NHL penalty shot of his career, ended up being foiled by Allen, but it was an excellent finish for the Port Hope native in only his sixth NHL game.
10) Shut out for the second game in a row, that now makes it seven-plus periods of scoreless hockey at the Bell Centre for the Canadiens. After the 4-1 loss to the Jets, they have given up two consecutive 4-0 shutout losses now, to the Wild and the Devils. As much as the goaltending hasn’t been stellar–Montembeault and Dobes have given up four goals more than expected in the three games–it’s been the lack of scoring that has cost them the wins. 0.33 goals/game in the last three home games? The advanced stats say they should have scored nine in that stretch, which surely would have netted them at least two or three points in the standings.
HW Habs Three Stars
First Star: Josh Anderson (0g, 0a, 5 shots, +0, 14:21 TOI) was the most dangerous of the Montreal forwards in this game, working well with linemates Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook to create opportunities. 1.09 xGF was a solid result, even if he was unable to put the puck past Jake Allen. The trio also kept the New Jersey offensive chances to a minimum.
Second Star: Logan Mailloux (0g, 0a, 2 shots, -2, 17:39 TOI) is showing his progression from a pure offensive defenceman role to also being defensively responsible. At just age 21, he still has much work to do, but he is showing that he can combine offence with defence. Even as he was playing with Lane Hutson, an offensive wizard if there is one, Mailloux managed to minimize the breakdowns, particularly from the offensive zone.
Third Star: Owen Beck (0g, 0a, 1 shot, -1, 11:54 TOI) had the late scoring chance, followed by a penalty shot, but was not able to convert on either. However, much like Mailloux, he is looking much more comfortable playing at the NHL level, and St-Louis is now rewarding him with a regular shift.