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While there was plenty of excitement off the ice on Tuesday in Montreal, there was still a game to be played as the Habs hosted Detroit. They survived a disastrous first period and scored four unanswered after that to secure the 4-1 win.
Martin St. Louis made a pair of lineup changes from Sunday’s victory over Nashville. Samuel Montembeault got the start in goal after getting the game against the Predators off. Meanwhile, David Savard returned from his undisclosed injury, replacing Arber Xhekaj. Emil Heineman remained unavailable for this one, however. The team lined up as follows:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Laine – Newhook – Kapanen
Pezzetta – Evans – Armia
Matheson – Carrier
Guhle – Hutson
Struble – Savard
10 Thoughts
1) With bad starts being an issue lately, I was curious to see how Montreal would come out for this one. Even St. Louis alluded to it pregame, wondering if his team would have its fastball. It turns out it did, just that it was their batting practice fastball. Before the first TV timeout, the Red Wings had double-digit shots while J.T. Compher beat Montembeault but not the goal post. That was a sign of things to come for the rest of the opening frame.
2) Just before the midway mark, Patrik Laine sent a soft pass around the boards, attempting to get it to Mike Matheson. Matheson got stuck trying to figure out whether to go get it or retreat into coverage. He eventually went to get it but Moritz Seider chipped it out, sending Detroit in on a three-on-one. Patrick Kane sent a quick feed to Dylan Larkin, and the captain tapped it home on a play that Montembeault had no chance on. One team looked like they were fighting for their playoff lives while the other looked like they were already on fumes.
3) Late in the period, Josh Anderson got called for knocking the stick out of Ben Chiarot’s hands. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one thinking back to the final minute against Philadelphia back on Saturday. Detroit’s power play put a lot of pressure on but Montreal was barely able to hold on. The final shots for the frame were 23-5. For context, the Red Wings average 27.2 shots per game this season. They nearly got there in 20 minutes. Yikes.
4) Early in the season, the best way to assess Oliver Kapanen’s play would be surviving. In his first few games since returning, he looks a lot more positioned to contribute. He’s making the right reads and showing a lot more confidence. Is that enough to keep him in the lineup? I’m not sure about that, but St. Louis should feel a lot more comfortable going to him than he might have been just a week ago when Kapanen returned.
5) The Red Wings have the worst penalty kill in the league so a pair of power plays presented a great chance for the Habs to tie it up. But instead, the top unit struggled big time on both chances, struggling to handle Detroit’s pressure. This was something Montreal had issues with on Saturday against Philadelphia and it won’t take long for teams to pick up on this.
6) While the Habs couldn’t get anything going on their man advantages, they at least tightened things up defensively. (Or Detroit ran out of gas from all the early pressure but I’ll give the home side some credit here.) Five-on-five play was much more balanced which was an important step in the right direction after how much they struggled in the first half of the game.
7) Fortunately, the Canadiens eventually got a break to go their way. Well, two, to be specific. The first came with three-and-a-half minutes left when Matheson’s point shot bounced to Cole Caufield and he was able to sneak it past Cam Talbot to tie the game. The second came soon after. There was a bad bounce off the boards on a Detroit dump-in, trapping Montembeault behind the net with Compher having the puck in the slot and an open net to shoot at. However, he fired it well over the yawning cage to keep it tied heading to the second intermission, an outcome that they should have felt quite lucky about having considering the first half of the game.
8) After a pretty timid start to the third, Detroit had their best chance of the final frame but Lucas Raymond fired wide on a breakaway. Juraj Slafkovsky took a bad penalty a little past the midway point but the Canadiens did a good job killing that off. They saved their best defensive period for last.
9) More importantly, they saved their best offensive period for last as well. The Christian Dvorak line had several good shifts in the final frame and they were eventually rewarded for their efforts. Albert Johansson lost his helmet and since you can’t play without a helmet, his options were to pick it up and put it back on or go to the bench. He chose the former but in doing so, he left Josh Anderson uncovered. At that precise moment, Dvorak sent a perfect cross-ice feed to him and Anderson had a tap-in to give the Habs their first lead of the night. That line doesn’t score a ton but boy, do they get timely ones.
10) Full credit to the Habs’ defensive efforts in the final few minutes. Detroit had some offensive zone time with Talbot on the bench for the extra attacker but they didn’t threaten too much. Eventually, Montreal was able to pad the scoresheet a bit with Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki potting empty-netters. The game was anything but a blowout, however, despite what that final score might suggest.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Samuel Montembeault – What a first period he had. Yes, the Habs were down one but it could have been a whole lot worse had it not been for his strong play. He didn’t have to do much the rest of the way but after getting Sunday’s game off, he got about a game-and-a-half worth of shots in this one to get his 30th win.
Stats: 35 saves on 36 shots, 1.00 GAA, .972
2nd Star: Josh Anderson – While the Habs couldn’t muster up much in the first two periods, Anderson’s physicality stood out to me. It wasn’t the frequency of the hits but the ones he threw were quite noticeable. Of course, it’s his game-winner that nets him this selection.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +2 rating, 2 PIMS, 2 shots, 3 hits, 17:24 TOI
3rd Star: Cole Caufield – He had the other non-empty-netter and it was also a big one. Consider that the Habs were basically being tripled up in shots at this point and simply getting this one took a bit of pressure off; they didn’t have to keep chasing the game as they did with little success early on. I didn’t think he had a great game overall but his goal was certainly a timely one.
Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 2 shots, 16:57 TOI
