The Habs spent much of Thursday night defending, but they scored when it counted as they followed a red-hot Samuel Montembeault through another 49-save performance to an 4-3 overtime loss at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights.
For a team sitting dead last in the league, it was generally thought that Montreal had hit rock bottom. Monday afternoon’s contest against the Coyotes proved that this was not exactly true just yet as the Habs looked completely disinterested in a 5-2 loss.
The Habs had good starts to periods and played physical enough to make it interesting on Wednesday in Boston, but their veterans once again left the kids out to dry while the veteran Bruins took advantage of the gutless effort offered by some of the so-called leaders on the Habs, skating away with a 5-1 victory.
It was a solid effort but the outcome was all too familiar as the Habs lost 5-4 in overtime on Tuesday night despite playing with an inexperienced roster that still worked hard enough to push around the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
Thursday’s game came with many surprises as Cayden Primeau got the start, fans were excluded from the building, and the power play looked dangerous again. In the end, the new line of Drouin, Dauphin, and Ylonen came up big in both the third and the shootout as the Habs finally snapped their seven-game losing skid, beating the Flyers 3-2.
The Habs played a high effort game on Tuesday, and it was far more entertaining than some recent games. In the end, they couldn’t execute offensively and hit the post when they did create scoring chances. The outcome was the usual as they once again lost, this time 5-2 to the Penguins.
Thursday’s game versus Chicago looked every bit like two teams who are not close to making the playoffs. But even in that context, Montreal was unable to muster up any offence as Marc-Andre Fleury got his 500th career victory via the shutout as the Habs were far too happy shooting from the outside to really come close to scoring.
Despite catching Colorado on the back end of a back to back with a goalie who had just allowed eight goals the night before, the Habs couldn’t muster up more than a goal in a 4-1 loss on Thursday that also resulted in multiple injuries.
In what was an incredibly entertaining game on Monday, some interesting players had solid games as Jonathan Drouin led a group of Ryan Poehling, Alexander Romanov, Sami Niku, and Joel Armia to keep the game close. It wasn’t enough as the Habs ran into Thatcher Demko who made some great saves in the third to preserve a 2-1 victory for the visiting Canucks.
When the front office news broke prior to puck drop, I figured the intermissions would be the most compelling parts of Saturday’s game. However, the Habs came out and showed some determination and fought hard to preserve multiple leads en route to a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.