It was the back half of a back-to-back home-and-home series with the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, the Canadiens having edged the Red Wings 4-3 last night in Detroit. The lineups were identical, bar Alex Lyon taking the goal for Detroit, as Samuel Montembeault took his second start in two days.
After a bit of a slow start, the Canadiens played a fairly dominant game against fellow cellar-dwellers, the Wings. The score was not even close, but that reflected the quality of the Detroit goaltending more than shots on net. The bleu blanc et rouge controlled much of the play and avoided mistakes on the night, even as the shots were relatively close at 24-21.
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Laine – Dach – Newhook
Heineman – Evans – Armia
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Hutson – Matheson
Guhle – Carrier
Xhekaj – Savard
Montembeault
Primeau
1) Things did not start off quite on the right foot as Mike Matheson was sent to the box for slashing just after the four-minute mark. The penalty killers were effective once again, but Montreal relaxed a little bit too much after finishing the successful kill. The Red Wings gained the Habs’ zone and a harmless-looking Jonatan Berggren shot from between the tops of the circles was tipped into the net by Joe Veleno, standing at Montembeault’s left post. Would the Wings turn the tables on the Habs?
2) But, no, this was not going to be one of those nights, as the bleu blanc et rouge kept playing their game. Patrik Laine attracted a penalty to Jeff Petry at the halfway point of the period. The big sniper was true to form in the power play with three shot attempts from his office to the left of the goal, but the most he was able to achieve with his shot was breaking Moritz Seider’s stick, after achieving the same in last night’s game.
3) It took nearly ten minutes from the opening goal but the results did follow. Cole Caufield broke into the Detroit zone, but finding his path to the net blocked, he spun around and found Lane Hutson with his pass. Hutson spotted Nick Suzuki, who unleashed a shot that was then tipped into the by Juraj Slafkovsky for his fourth goal of a challenging season, a timely goal not only for the big winger but also for the Habs who now had not only tied the game but also gained the momentum.
4) And a player who has momentum is Jake Evans, who is now fourth in team scoring with 19 points, more than anyone not named Suzuki, Caufield, or Hutson. This time it was Joel Armia fighting a puck battle with Erik Gustafsson on the left-side boards, winning it and kicking the puck forward to send Evans into the Detroit zone. Evans curled across the tops of the circles, before surprising Lyon with a wrist shot and putting the Habs into a 2-1 lead.
5) Alex Newhook was using his speed the way he should be, and had a great scoring chance late in the period, but was foiled by Lyon. He also tried to set up Kirby Dach on the same shift, but could not complete the pass across the goalmouth. Still, he looks to be doing the right thing, and the scoring should eventually follow.
6) Dylan Larkin was called for interference on Cole Caufield with 1:24 left in the first period, and the Habs’ power play followed the newfound “Laine formula”. Suzuki, Hutson, and Caufield do an excellent job with puck movement, and Laine is a massive threat on the left side. A predictable threat, but it seems not preventable, and he used his cannon again to beat Lyon and run the score up to 3-1, this time on a pass from Lane Hutson at the blue line. Is this kind of power play sustainable? No one knows the answer, but the Habs are now ranked 13th in the league in power play efficiency–and ninth in penalty kill, after years of wandering in the darkness.
7) Laine and a Newhook had a scoring opportunity early in the second, shockingly not on a power play, as the two broke into the Detroit zone on a two-on-one. Laine was waiting for the opportunity to either shoot or pass, but Gustafsson managed to poke the puck off the big Finn’s stick.
8) No matter as the fourth line was back at it just about a minute later. Christian Dvorak carried the puck into the zone along the right-side boards, only to lose it near the hash marks. However, he quickly recovered it and spotted Emil Heineman in front of the net, and the Swedish rookie wasted no time in getting the puck behind Lyon to pad the lead.
9) The Canadiens did not have much of an edge in shots in the second period–in fact, they were tied with the Red Wings at six apiece–but they controlled play in the offensive zone for long stretches of time. One of those was just after a Habs power play, with the top line hemming the Wings in their own zone. When Detroit finally managed to clear the zone, Josh Anderson carried the puck back in and dropped it back. Brendan Gallagher had been following at full speed, and unleashed his most potent slap shot, finding the top of the net just over Lyon’s left shoulder to run the Montreal score up to five.
10) Heineman was called for holding three and a half minutes from the end of the second period in what felt like a make-up call by the referees. Nevertheless, the penalty kill was something to behold: Evans and Armia controlling the play in the Detroit end of the ice and Armia finally passing the puck all the way back, and Evans on the attack again. This level of control was giving me flashbacks to the 1970s!
First Star: Jake Evans (1g, 0a, 2 shots, +1, 13:25 TOI) was superb again tonight, teaming up with Joel Armia in killing penalties, and scoring the go-ahead goal in the first period. Can the Habs keep him beyond this season? If not, it is looking like he would fetch a king’s ransom at the trade deadline.
Second Star: Juraj Slafkovsky (1g, 0a, 4 shots, 16:29 TOI) looked much more comfortable on the ice and on the attack, and scored only his second goal of December and fourth of the season. He had some more decent chances and was looking much more like last season tonight.
Third Star: Samuel Montembeault (21 shots, 20 saves, .952 save %, 0.36 GSAx) did not have a huge amount of work, but deserves recognition for keeping the Habs in the game after playing the previous Detroit game last night. It’s not often goalies play on consecutive nights in today’s NHL.
