10 Thoughts: Better, but not quite enough, as Habs fall to the Isles

The Canadiens were coming off a tough loss, and a tough start of the season, and were looking to start turning things around as they arrived on Long Island to take on the Islanders in their Saturday night game. Missing in action was Kaiden Guhle, who had banged up his shoulder, and Jayden Struble was stepping in, in place of Arber Xhekaj.

Martin St-Louis spoke about the lack of maturity after the Habs’ previous loss, referring largely to the players’ attempt to make plays at the offensive blue line and risking turnovers. This was much improved tonight, but penalty discipline was badly lacking, as the Habs took six minors, five more than the Islanders. They gave up only one power play goal, but those long minutes on penalty kill did not help their chances as New York eked out a 4-3 victory after an extended shootout.

Starting Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Dach – Armia
Anderson – Evans – Gallagher
Heineman – Dvorak – Kapanen

Matheson – Barron
Hutson – Mailloux
Struble – Savard

Primeau
Montembeault

Ten Thoughts

1) The Canadiens applied some pressure early in the first period, but as the Islanders gained first possession and then the offensive zone, they simply didn’t let go of the puck, maintaining possession. The Isles could not get close to the net, but the Habs were unable to gain possession and clear the zone. This possession game repeated itself time and time again tonight, and the Habs seemed to have no answers to that.

2) Seven minutes in, Lane Hutson was called for hooking for the first penalty of the night. With the Islanders in possession, Anthony Duclair was moving toward the net, and Hutson zeroed in on him. However, Duclair stepped away from the check, and Hutson was left with no option but to use his stick to stop Duclair. Hutson has the moves to get away from the opposition, but he will also need to be able to respond to the opposing forwards’ moves.

3) The penalty kill was doing what it should be doing, clearly an improvement from the past season, keeping the attackers to the outside and allowing Cayden Primeau time to react to the shots. Things fell apart with seconds remaining in the penalty, as Bo Horvat took advantage of Mike Matheson going down to block a shot, and was able to find empty ice and beat Primeau for the opening goal of the game. And yet, the penalty team did yeoman’s work–as they had to–throughout the night.

4) Things went from bad to worse less than three minutes later, as Kyle Palmieri broke in past the Montreal defence. Struble was caught out of position, and only the speedy Alex Newhook was able to get to Palmieri. Unfortunately, Palmieri was able to use Newhook as a distraction and beat Primeau to give the Islanders a two-goal lead.

5) The Canadiens finally got on the board as Maxim Tsyplakov was called for high-sticking at 19:51 of the first period. Nick Suzuki won the faceoff and quickly got the puck to Juraj Slafkovsky. Mike Matheson, then found Cole Caufield ready, in his usual office. Caufield took a shot, blocked by Ryan Pulock, but was ready and snapped the rebound into the top corner behind Semyon Varlamov. A 2-1 deficit was a much better way to finish the period.

6) The momentum carried over into the second period, and Logan Mailloux used good judgment to move deeper into the New York zone. As the defenders were collapsing in on Varlamov, Mailloux, at the left-side hash marks, took a pass from Jake Evans and snapped it past Varlamov to tie up the game. A very timely first NHL goal indeed for Mailloux, who had been called up to replace the injured Guhle.

7) Midway through the period the Islanders exerted heavy–and continuous–pressure on the Canadiens for some three and a half minutes. As they gained the zone, they maintained possession, as usual tonight, and soon after that, Oliver Kapanen was unfortunate to break his stick. The Islanders pressed hard, and with Montreal’s bench at the far end of the ice, neither a line change nor a replacement stick for Kapanen was possible without clearing the puck. And the Habs simply could not gain possession. After nearly four minutes of continuous ice time for Mailloux and Dvorak, the finally were able to clear. To the Habs’ credit, the young crew, with three rookies (Kapanen, Hutson, and Mailloux) was able to prevent dangerous scoring chances, giving Primeau the chance to get them out of the jam.

8) Anders Lee looked to have slammed the lid on the Canadiens hopes, as he broke into the Montreal zone with Jean-Gabriel Pageau. As Pageau carried the puck in on the left, Justin Barron lost a step on Lee, and the veteran Islander slid the puck in on Primeau’s glove side to regain the New York lead. The Habs were not broken, though, and took the game back to the Islanders immediately. It was the Habs’ top line that responded, and Slafkovsky found Caufield in the left-side faceoff circle, and the young sniper made no mistake, curling in toward the goal and this time beating Varlamov on the short side to tie the game and send it to overtime.

9) Habs fans had great expectations of the three-on-three overtime, and Hutson gave credence to those hopes, taking a pass from Suzuki for a scoring chance, and then, shortly after, found Christian Dvorak with a pass to give the veteran centre his own scoring chance. Unfortunately, a Barron high stick put paid to the excitement of three-on-three hockey. The Habs survived that penalty, too–their sixth of the night–but could count themselves lucky to get past the overtime and into the shootout.

10) The ensuing shootout turned into a goaltender duel, as Primeau made six saves on nine shots, while Varlamov stopped seven, that last one giving the additional point to the Islanders. Both Kapanen and Emil Heineman scored for the Habs, but Caufield, Suzuki, Slafkovsky, Newhook, Hutson, Matheson, and Mailloux were foiled by Varlamov.

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Cole Caufield (2g, 0a, 3 shots, +0, 14:57 TOI) was finding empty ice once again, helped by the play of his teammates, who were claiming their share of the defenders’ attention. Caufield’s shooting percentage is increasingly unsustainable but as long as he can keep finding open space to shoot, he may continue to defy the odds.

Second Star: Cayden Primeau (36 shots, 33 saves, 0.917 save percentage, +0.13 GSAx) probably should have been able to stop the Palmieri goal near the end of the first period, but he stood his ground in the third period and in overtime as the Habs spent a total of eight minutes killing penalties. And six saves in the shootout is nothing to scoff at, either.

Third Star: Lane Hutson (0g, 0a, 1 shot, +1, 24:10 TOI) got fooled by Duclair in the first, resulting in the Islanders’ first power play, but he played yet another impressive game. 24 minutes on the ice is impressive for a veteran, let alone a slightly-built rookie defenceman. Hutson looks very much like the real thing, and will surely go from strength to strength as he gets more games under his belt.