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After an ugly loss in St. Louis, the Habs hoped to get back on track Thursday in Philadelphia. Instead, they got off to another tough start and never fully recovered, falling 6-4.
Martin St. Louis made a change between the pipes for this one with Jakub Dobes getting his first start in nearly two weeks as they looked to give Samuel Montembeault some overdue rest. Kaiden Guhle isn’t quite ready to return yet while there were no changes up front either, meaning the team lined up as they have a lot in recent weeks:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Roy – Newhook – Laine
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Heineman – Evans – Armia
Matheson – Carrier
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Savard
10 Thoughts
1) For a team looking to make the playoffs, the type of start they had against St. Louis last game can’t happen. They were nearly as bad to start this one. Before the game was two minutes old, the Flyers got control of the puck on a dump-in. Joshua Roy was supposed to be covering Matvei Michkov but instead was puck-watching behind the net. That allowed Travis Konecny to get a pass out right and Michkov, one of Philadelphia’s top talents, had plenty of time to beat Dobes to open the scoring.
2) Alex Newhook has played better as of late as his speed seems to be more effective with him playing down the middle. But despite using that speed to generate some high-end chances, he hadn’t done anything with them. Until just before the eight-minute mark, that is. He took a quick pass from David Savard in the neutral zone, blew by the defensive coverage, and roofed one past Samuel Ersson. Despite a poor start, they were back in it.
3) Or so it seemed. While it took them a little longer than it did against the Blues to give it back, it barely took two minutes before Jake Evans got caught puck-watching after Arber Xhekaj lost a board battle to Rodrigo Abols. That allowed Olle Lycksell to find Nicolas Deslauriers in front uncovered and he beat Dobes who was caught off guard by the puck going to the front instead of being reversed. Then, a minute later, Michkov sent a shot through a tight screen that changed direction off Sean Couturier and beat Dobes to make it 3-1. For a team fighting for its playoff lives, the attention to detail was sorely lacking to this point.
4) Dobes certainly looked rattled for most of the opening frame. He was fighting the puck even on slow dump-ins which wasn’t confidence-inspiring. But some of the blame for this has to lie with the coaching staff. You can’t take a young goalie who’s used to being a starter (in college) or at least a regular platoon piece (in Laval) and only give him two starts since March 2nd and expect him to be sharp. That’s not to absolve Dobes of any blame by any stretch but they let him get too rusty and it showed. To his credit, he at least finished the period strong, stopping Michkov on a breakaway and Couturier with a big glove save just before the final minute of play.
5) The second period wasn’t much to write home about. In the early going, they were better on the detail side, keeping the Flyers limited in the offensive zone while, if nothing else, they got some zone time in the offensive end. It didn’t yield much nor did it last as Philadelphia started to find their legs as the period went on though nothing was added to the scoreboard.
6) The period did feature a trio of penalties, all of the slightly questionable variety. Montreal’s first power play featured the usual strategy of give it to Patrik Laine and hope for the best aside from a late look from Juraj Slafkovsky. Their second saw Nick Suzuki ring one off the crossbar with ten seconds left, something that could have really changed the outlook of the game going into the third had it gone in. The Habs did a decent job on their lone penalty kill as well.
7) With not much to focus on in the second, a quick thought on something on the Philadelphia side. I’ve heard of benching a player for a bad play, something that Cam York did on Tuesday against Toronto where he played all of 3:50 and was glued to the bench. But to have that bleed over into a second game is much rarer. He didn’t play a single shift. I know that they didn’t have any extra players available and they’re out of recalls but if you’re going to do that, wouldn’t it have been better to simply not dress him instead of putting him in uniform to sit the whole time? An odd call from a new interim head coach, that’s for sure.
8) Things looked up briefly in the third when the Habs finally caught a lucky break. Cole Caufield took a shot with him being behind the goal line. That rarely works but it did this time as he banked it off Ersson and in. With more than 17 minutes left, they were right back in it but they couldn’t muster up a whole lot on the shifts after the goal. Admittedly, taking two quick penalties to give the Flyers a five-on-three didn’t help.
9) Dobes made several key saves in the first half of the third but he faltered down the stretch. Just past the midway mark, he made the initial stop off a redirected point shot but kicked out a perfect rebound to Tyson Foerster who snuck a shot past Dobes’ outstretched pad. Montreal challenged for goalie interference – a risky but understandable move – but the call on the ice stood even with Bobby Brink making contact in the crease on the play. Philadelphia hadn’t scored on the power play in over 30 attempts but they made the Habs pay this time. After Montreal had a Grade-A chance on an odd-man rush, Joel Armia’s centring feed went right to Couturier, springing him on a three-on-one. He kept it and fired the back-breaking shot past Dobes.
10) The Canadiens did push back with Christian Dvorak scoring a goal in tight on a nifty move. But again, any possible hope was quickly lost on the very next shift with Mike Matheson turning it over in the neutral zone, springing Michkov in on a two-on-none. Dobes was thinking pass, Michkov was thinking shot and snuck it five-hole. A brutal mistake at a brutal time. Laine got one late with the goalie pulled to make it look a little closer but this was a game the Habs had to have and they didn’t bring it.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Lane Hutson – While Michkov won the battle in the points department among the rookies, Hutson had himself a night as well. Offensively, he had a hand in two of the goals while also creating a few more chances while he was one of their better defenders on a night where there were too many defensive miscues.
Stats: 2 assists, +1 rating, 1 shot, 28:40 TOI
2nd Star: Alex Newhook – I keep liking what I see from Newhook over these last few weeks. I can’t see it being as simple as going back to playing centre but he seems to have figured out a way to be more impactful in the transition game and using his speed to create chances. That’s a big part of how he’s going to have success in the NHL. Now, he needs to figure out ways to finish those chances as he did in this one.
Stats: 1 goal, -1 rating, 2 shots, 4/8 faceoffs, 12:50 TOI
3rd Star: Patrik Laine – I really didn’t like the first half of the game from him but in the second half, he was Montreal’s biggest threat. Notably, several of the chances came at five-on-five. The Habs need him to be more than just a weapon on the power play and this was a promising sign. He needs to keep this up for the final stretch.
Stats: 1 goal, even rating, 5 shots (12 attempts), 16:54 TOI
