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It was another classic Saturday night setup, with the Canadiens visiting Toronto in what is increasingly looking like a renewed rivalry. Coming off an OT loss to Winnipeg, followed by an OT win vs Utah, head coach Martin St-Louis was looking for more attention to detail, particularly on defence. That might have been hampered by Mike Matheson being on the IR again, and Adam Engstrom filling in for him, however.

At first glance, the final score looked like a solid 4-2 win for the Habs, but there was a bit more to it than that. The shots were even, and the Leafs held a modest xGF advantage, but Jacob Fowler was solid in net, much more so than Sergei Bobrovsky in the blue sweater. However, there were moments (and more than just moments) of Toronto pressure that had all the Habs fans on the edge of their seats, so there is certainly still work remaining to be done.

Habs Lineup

Caufield — Suzuki — Slafkovsky
Bolduc — Danault — Texier
Kreider — Evans — Beck
Newhook — Kapanen — Dach

Hutson — Dobson
Guhle — Carrier
Xhekaj — Engstrom

Fowler
Dobes

Game Points

– Six minutes into the game, Oliver Kapanen cut off a Gavin McKenna pass to create a scoring opportunity. Kapanen passed the puck from the right-side boards to Alex Newhook, who was skating across the front of the net. Newhook passed it back toward Kapanen, who was driving for the net, but the puck ended up bouncing up off Jake McCabe and then off Sergei Bobrovsky into the back of the net. Certainly two lucky bounces, but they were made possible by the takeaway off McKenna, and then a nice passing play to create the opportunity. Newhook was credited with the 1-0 goal.

– Newhook recorded his second of the game and fifth of the season thirteen minutes in, tipping a Kaiden Guhle shot down and past a helpless Bobrovsky. Much like the first one, this was not a sniper’s goal, but every one counts, and this gave the Habs a two-goal edge in the game.

– The Canadiens got the first power play opportunity of the game late in the period after Troy Stecher cross-checked Cole Caufield into the boards, face first. One can argue that the home team had a bit of luck in that the referee did not make the penalty a major. As it was, the two minutes was enough to demonstrate that the top unit is still not working, even with the return of Nick Suzuki to the lineup. The second unit at least managed to maintain possession in the Toronto zone, but neither was able to make anything of the man advantage.

– The two goals by Newhook made the fourth line look good indeed in the first period. Good enough, in fact, that in the second period Jim Hiller started matching them with the John Tavares line. This is what depth does for you: it forces the opposition to shuffle their defensive lines, freeing up other Habs lines to create more offence.

– Toronto fans didn’t have to wait long for their own team’s opportunity, as Alexandre Carrier was sent off three minutes into the second after he got his stick into the face of Colton Sissons in front of the Montreal net. The home team’s power play was not particularly effective, either, with Jake Evans’s shorthanded breakaway arguably as dangerous as the two shots the Leafs managed on Jacob Fowler.

– Soon after that, things got considerably more dangerous for the bleu blanc et rouge, as they were hemmed in their own end for more than two minutes, with the home team recording seven shot attempts, including Auston Matthews’ second goalpost of the game, in that stretch. The best that can be said is that the tired defenders still managed to keep the shots to the outside–and avoid penalties.

– After another Evans shot on Bobrovsky, the Leafs gained the Montreal zone, starting to apply pressure again, when McKenna, he of the #1 overall pick fame, sent across a cross-ice pass just inside the Habs’ blueline, intended for McCabe. The rookie is surely still working on the adjustment to the pace of the NHL game, and did not anticipate Chris Kreider being able to take a step and intercept the pass. Kreider said “thank you very much”, picked up the pass and took off into a breakaway with Darren Raddysh giving chase a few strides behind. The veteran winger had all the time he needed, though, and beat Bobrovsky cleanly on the blocker side to move the Habs ahead by three.

– After holding that three-goal lead for some 12 minutes, things started to unravel when the referees called Arber Xhekaj for unsportsmanlike conduct. The penalty was rather mind-boggling: Xhekaj had driven the net and delivered a hard hit on McCabe, after which a melee ensued behind the net. During that tangle, Teddy Blueger delivered some half a dozen hits on Kirby Dach, and yet it was Xhekaj who was called for unsportsmanlike on Blueger. St-Louis was justifiably mystified by this call.

– This time the penalty kill did not manage to hold the fort. The system worked largely as expected, but a Matthews-Raddysh-William Nylander passing play quickly moved the puck to the opposite side of the net, and Nylander’s one-timer beat Fowler and put the Leafs on the board. It was admittedly a good power play setup and goal by the home team, but that penalty really was ridiculous.

– McKenna redeemed himself less than a minute later, on a play from a faceoff in the Montreal zone, swatting in a loose puck from a scramble in front of Fowler. It looked like Adam Engstrom had McKenna covered, but the Leafs forward slipped away and was able to get to the puck first to get the score within one.

– Stecher hooked Phillip Danault behind Bobrovsky’s net to earn his second minor of the game, with little more than eight minutes remaining. And this time the first power play unit got things working. It was a pass from Cole Caufield to Lane Hutson, and then from Hutson to Zachary Bolduc, who drilled a one-timer under Bobrovsky’s glove and into the net to halt the late-game collapse in its tracks. Bolduc brings some unpredictability into the power play, making sure that not only Caufield and Suzuki are shooting, and it paid off here.

– Finally, Juraj Slafkovsky was penalized for four minutes with three and a half minutes remaining in regulation, as his stick made contact with Jack Roslovic’s face (and drew blood). Some might call this a dumb penalty but in Slafkovsky’s defence, Roslovic had lost his balance and his face was barely waist-high. Nevertheless, it made for a tense finish to the game as the Leafs pressed first on a five-on-four and then six-on-four power play. However, the penalty killing units limited them to three shots, and Fowler made saves on each one of those. Kreider might have scored an empty-netter yet but his shot was maybe a second too late to cross the line before the buzzer sounded.

HabsWorld Habs Three Stars

First Star: Alex Newhook (2g, 0a, 2 shots, +2, 14:15 TOI) played an outstanding game alongside Oliver Kapanen and Kirby Dach. Very much not the prototypical fourth line, they played well enough for Toronto to set the John Tavares line on them, and to free up some space for the Habs’ top line. Oh, yes, there were two goals to boot.

Second Star: Jacob Fowler (28 shots, 26 saves, .929 save%, +1.54 GSAx) kept a clean net for nearly half the game, and held the fort in the late going when the pressure went up. Cool and unflappable, and particularly so for a rookie netminder, Fowler continues to rank among the top netminders in the NHL for goals saved above expected.

Third Star: Noah Dobson (0g, 0a, 3 shots, 3 blocks, +1, 21:27 TOI) played another solid game, mostly paired with Lane Hutson. No goals or assists, but three shots, three blocked shots, and a highly responsible game that helped secure the two points for the Canadiens.