HabsWorld.net -- 

The Habs made a brief stop at home on Saturday before embarking on a four-game road trip as they hosted Colorado.

The game got off to a particularly rough start and things were looking bleak when they were down by three in the third.  However, they made a terrific comeback, scoring three to force overtime but ultimately fell in the shootout, losing 5-4.

There weren’t any changes from last game’s lineup as Martin St. Louis elected not to, by his words, send a message to Samuel Montembeault by resting him for this one.  The team lined up as follows:

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Laine – Newhook – Roy
Gallagher – Dvorak – Anderson
Heineman – Evans – Armia

Matheson – Carrier
Struble –Hutson
Xhekaj – Savard

10 Thoughts

1) Montreal’s first two shifts were good which is worth noting because not much else was good for them in the opening 20 minutes.  Colorado got a good chance after that second shift with Miles Wood being sent in all alone but he missed the net.  After being a healthy scratch for several games, that probably wasn’t the first impression he was looking to make.  But it largely didn’t matter as the Avs took over from there.

2) The Habs survived the first wave of Colorado’s prolonged attack but at the seven-and-a-half-minute mark, David Savard turned the puck over deep in the offensive zone, sending the Avalanche back in transition.  Ross Colton did most of the work, skating it in before sliding the puck to Joel Kiviranta.  He went back to the point for Sam Malinski who hammered one through a sprawling Savard who had just got back and it got past Montembeault as well to open up the scoring.

3) Not even three minutes later, Colorado got on the board again.  Artturi Lehkonen won a board battle and got the puck to Brock Nelson in close.  With Ryan Lindgren pressing from the blueline, it was effectively a stationary two-on-one on Christian Dvorak.  Nelson opted for the pass and Lindgren fired one home.  One adjustment the Habs needed to make quickly was how they were allowing the Avs to activate their blueliners in the offensive zone.  Montreal’s defensive coverage creates openings for that to happen and they quickly figured out how to exploit it.

4) The Canadiens did eventually get out of the fog they were in for about 10 minutes and played a bit better as the rest of the period went on.  A power play yielded a good look from Cole Caufield while the bottom two lines had some offensive zone time to at least stall what had been an onslaught to that point.  That was hardly the opening 20 minutes the Habs were hoping for.

5) Montreal had a decent start to the second, avoiding the early collapse they had in the first.  However, a little before the five-minute mark, Juraj Slafkovsky came off the bench too early, yielding a too-many-men call.  Colorado’s power play made quick work of the penalty kill with Jonathan Drouin one-touching a pass across the crease to Martin Necas who had an open net and made no mistake.  Samuel Montembeault couldn’t do anything about that one.  To Slafkovsky’s credit, he didn’t let the mistake get to him.  On the next shift following the goal, his line got set up in Colorado’s end.  Nick Suzuki sent the puck to Jayden Struble at the point and he put a quick wrister toward the goal.  Slafkovsky outworked Lindgren to get the redirection on it and it was enough to get past Mackenzie Blackwood to get the home side on the board.  That’s about as good of a response shift as the coaching staff could have asked for.

6) The Habs had a great chance to get back into the game with a little over seven minutes left.  They got a power play following an after-whistle scrum and on that advantage, Lane Hutson was tripped up, yielding a two-man advantage for 1:06.  But Montreal proceeded to do nothing with it.  As is the case with their five-on-four unit, Plan A is to get it to Patrik Laine and Plan B is to make something up on the fly if Laine is covered.  Colorado didn’t have to work too hard to kill off both advantages.  Instead of a one-goal game with a full period and a bit left and some momentum, it was a major opportunity squandered.  Laine’s power play prowess on his shot has masked the fact that the rest of the power play continues to be a big weakness for this team.

7) The start of the third was disappointing, to say the least.  Needing two goals at the start, they couldn’t get anything going and before the Habs even had a shot on goal, they needed three goals after Brock Nelson redirected a point shot from Devon Toews past Montembeault.  With how things had gone to this point, it looked like this one was over.

8) But it wasn’t.  A little before the midway mark of the period, Alex Newhook used his speed to generate a shot on goal while pulling Blackwood toward the side to stop the shot.  The rebound was right there for Joshua Roy who had a pretty easy one as he tapped it into the open net.  Then, 30 seconds later, Slafkovsky was given plenty of space and he skated into a shot that Blackwood would probably like another crack at but all of a sudden, it was 4-3 and a game again.  Ten minutes earlier, that outcome felt improbable at best.

9) The Habs kept pushing, generating several more chances including a crossbar from Hutson as they looked for the equalizer.  It took a few minutes but it came from an unlikely source.  Brendan Gallagher sent a pass to Christian Dvorak who had plenty of room to skate in and roof a backhander past Blackwood.  Somehow, this game was tied.  Montreal kept its foot on the gas for a few more minutes before Colorado settled down and started to push back.  The Canadiens held on to force overtime and bank a crucial point which is an outcome pretty much everyone would have happily taken heading into the period.

10) The overtime saw the teams trade chances early before Colorado got a power play when Slafkovsky was sent off for a hold on Cale Makar.  The Avs had a strong effort on the advantage but Montembeault stood tall to help force a shootout.  But even with Patrik Laine scoring on a must-score shot to keep the Habs alive, Nelson potted the winner in the fourth round.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: Juraj Slafkovsky – I’m a little conflicted about putting him here given that he effectively took two bad penalties (one was a bench minor by his doing so it’s not directly counted against him), one of which directly led to a goal but he did get that one back quickly and scored a key a goal in the third.  His line is at its best when all three players are scoring threats and his touch on that front is starting to come back at the right time.

Stats: 2 goals, +1 rating, 2 PIMS, 3 shots, 19:23 TOI

2nd Star: Mike Matheson – He wasn’t anywhere on the scoresheet but he was all over the ice.  With Hutson taking on the bulk of the offensive workload this season, we haven’t seen Matheson’s dominant nights as often as a year ago.  But he was at his best in this one, helping create several good chances while using his speed to break up some chances defensively as well, including a key stick check on Nathan MacKinnon in overtime.  More games like this would definitely bolster Montreal’s playoff chances.

Stats: 0 points, +1 rating, 2 PIMS, 2 shots, 26:35 TOI

3rd Star: Christian Dvorak – There are a few different ways I could have gone with this pick and going with the one with the worst possession stats on the night might be an odd one.  But his game-tying goal was absolutely pivotal, to say the least.  It completed the comeback and gave the Habs a point that didn’t seem possible just a few minutes beforehand.  Even though the rest of his game was a bit of a struggle, that goal changed the overall outlook.

Stats: 1 goal, even rating, 3 shots, 12/22 faceoffs, 16:21 TOI