The Habs’ annual Tour of Alberta hit its second stop on Saturday as the bleu blanc et rouge visited the Saddledome to battle with the Flames, one point out of the playoffs, just like the Canadiens.
It turned out to be basically a defensive battle, and while the Montreal defence corps played a solid game, the team was unable to put the puck past Dustin Wolf and into the Calgary net. An xGF score of 2.64 ought to result in a goal or two, but the Calgary rookie goaltender was able to handle or turn away everything that the Habs threw at him, recording his third shutout of the season.
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Heineman – Evans – Armia
Newhook – Beck – Pezzetta
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Matheson – Carrier
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Savard
Dobes
Montembeault
1) Before the season started, Kent Hughes said the goal this time would be to be “in the mix” and playing meaningful games in March and April. That goal looked misguided early in the season, and still too optimistic after the pre-Four Nations tailspin, but the team came together after the break, and as the trade deadline arrived, stood but a point away from the final playoff spot. So, no fire sale, at least; the number of meaningful games will depend on the team’s play from here on out.
2) The Habs are on a West Coast swing and the Flames were on the first game at home after a road trip, and the start of the game reflected that, with only seven shots total by the midpoint of the first. And only one of those was by the Habs, an early wrist shot by Alexandre Carrier, easily handled by Dustin Wolf.
3) The bleu blanc et rouge were hit by the first minor penalty of the night, a tripping call on Arber Xhekaj. The Habs’ penalty kill units, still intact after that trade deadline, worked as well as they have most of the season, and the Flames have neither a McDavid nor a Draisaitl to counter that. That successful kill seemed to have energized the team somewhat, and the Canadiens quickly quadrupled their shot total, although that still brought them up to only four shots on net by the end of the period.
4) Mikael Backlund was sent off seven minutes into the middle period for tripping Cole Caufield. A power play is (almost) always good, but with Patrik Laine out of the lineup, the Habs were hobbled to start with, and they were unable to generate any kind of real offence on this opportunity,
5) With four minutes left in the period, though, the Flames’ strategy of throwing pucks on the Montreal net paid off, as Joel Farabee took a screened shot from just above the right-side faceoff dot, and Jakub Dobes was unable to see its flight path until it was already on its way to the back of the net.
6) Things were looking better toward the end of the period, and the Habs were applying pressure in the Calgary zone, with Juraj Slafkovsky able to get a decent scoring chance. It was enough that Lane Hutson was able to draw Jonathan Huberdeau into taking a tripping penalty. That looked better, but with only 17 seconds remaining in the period, they were unable to make anything happen.
7) The Flames adopted a highly defensive posture in the third, focusing on clearing their defensive zone as soon as possible whenever the Canadiens entered the Calgary end of the zone. That was reflected in the shot totals, as in, there were no shots on net at all in the first five minutes of the final frame.
8) Huberdeau, Matt Coronato, and Nazem Kadri broke into a three-man rush into the Montreal zone seven minutes into the third period, but Dobes made a sprawling save on Kadri, potentially his best of the night, to keep the game within one.
9) By this time the play was all Habs, though, with the Flames adopting the Habs’ usual rope-a-dope strategy. Christian Dvorak and Brendan Gallagher had a great sequence halfway through the period, and Caufield broke in alone through the Flames’ defence five minutes later, but Wolf foiled the first sequence, and Caufield’s shot sailed over the net.
10) So, we ended up with an empty Habs net as the team tried to beat Wolf in earnest, and Suzuki had a nice chance on a deflection with a minute remaining, but Wolf maintained the clean sheet to the end, and recorded his third shutout of the season.
First Star: Mike Matheson (0g, 0a, 1 shot, +0, 25:48 TOI) played a solid, responsible game, clearing a number of dangerous-looking plays from in front of Dobes. Nearly 26 minutes in a game without overtime is very impressive in itself.
Second Star: Cole Caufield (0g, 0a, 6 shots, +0, 23:00 TOI) was at it time and again, with scoring opportunities that didn’t quite materialize. Six shots might well have resulted in a goal, but a combination of circumstances and Calgary goaltending kept him off the scoresheet.
Third Star: Jakub Dobes (24 shots, 23 saves, .958 save %, 1.48 GSAx) was outplayed by Wolf, but still played a strong game, making key saves time and again. He was well screened on the Farabee goal, however, and had little visibility of where the puck was headed.
