10 Thoughts: Another Tuesday Letdown
After sweeping the weekend, the Habs looked to make it three straight wins as they hosted Seattle on Tuesday. It didn’t happen. Instead, they were down early and never recovered, falling 8-2.
Montreal got some good news on the injury front as Juraj Slafkovsky was able to return from his upper-body injury, replacing Michael Pezzetta. Kaiden Guhle and Justin Barron both skated but neither have been cleared to return just yet. Meanwhile, Martin St. Louis made one other change from Sunday’s game with Samuel Montembeault getting the start between the pipes. The rest of the team lined up as follows:
Caufield – Suzuki – Dach
Slafkovsky – Newhook – Armia
Anderson – Evans – Gallagher
Heineman – Dvorak – Kapanen
Matheson – Struble
Hutson – Savard
Xhekaj – Mailloux
10 Thoughts
1) The thought of wanting to avoid another repeat of the game against the Rangers the previous Tuesday should have been front of mind. Unfortunately, it was in the minds of many before long. Jamie Oleksiak shot one off Mike Matheson and in before the 30-second mark and barely three minutes later, Ryker Evans beat Montembeault to double the lead. Not a good start…
2) …and it got even worse. A Kirby Dach penalty gave Seattle a power play just past the six-minute mark. The penalty killing unit has been good in the early going this season but Seattle caught them napping a bit in transition. Chandler Stephenson skated in from his own blueline untouched and sent a pass to the slot. Jaden Schwartz beat two Habs to the puck and buried it. At least it took until the second TV timeout to be down a field goal this time.
3) Unfortunately, by the time that TV timeout came around, they were down another one. After Montembeault stopped Jamie Oleksiak on a breakaway and Joey Daccord turned aside Alex Newhook on one moments later, they made a key defensive mistake. Arber Xhekaj tried to backhand a pass behind the Montreal net across the other side but instead, it was picked off by Schwartz. He sent a quick pass to the slot where Oliver Bjorkstrand was all alone and made no mistake.
4) To Montreal’s credit, they didn’t fold after that. They got a power play soon after and while they didn’t score, they had several changes including a nifty one from Lane Hutson that saw him deke around multiple defenders before hitting the post. They didn’t score there but Cole Caufield did soon after, potting a rebound from a Logan Mailloux shot. Montreal had another man advantage late in the period and again controlled the play but didn’t have anything to show for it. They were the better team in the second half of the frame but spotting an opponent a four-goal lead is something they can’t keep doing.
5) Unfortunately, they weren’t able to carry that over to the second period. An early Newhook slashing call led to a Seattle power play and once again, they capitalized. Brandon Montour sneaked a point shot through Montembeault on a goal he simply had to stop. It’s not that it was a situational thing where he needed to make every save no matter what but that goal was one that was more than stoppable and had to be.
6) There’s a case to make that Montembeault shouldn’t have even been in there in the first place after allowing four goals on the first eight shots of the game. But sometimes you need to see how the player is going to bear down in these situations. I liked the decision to keep him in there, it just didn’t work out and on came Cayden Primeau.
7) Primeau wasn’t tested a whole lot after coming in but of the shots he did face, several were of the above-average variety. And it’s hard to fault him on the one that beat him. Montour was somehow allowed to skate from the point down the right-side boards and to the front of the net untouched; Primeau made the first stop but Montour potted the rebound before anyone got to him. It’s one thing to blow defensive zone coverage deep into a play or in transition. It’s another to completely forget who to cover off a lost faceoff which is what happened to Dach.
8) The third period saw more of the same defensively from Montreal. The penalty kill allowed another Montour goal, this time on a four-on-three on a shot Primeau would probably like back. And the defensive struggles in transition continued, leading to an Eeli Tolvanen tap-in. They’re consistent but in this case, that was a bad thing.
9) One positive in the period was Josh Anderson potting his second of the season. Matheson made a well-placed pass to him heading down the right side. His initial shot was stopped but he buried the rebound. It made no difference in the game but he’s having a decent start to his season and it’s good to see one go on the board for him.
10) With Guhle and Barron nearing a return, there’s going to be some jockeying for position to stay in the lineup. Mailloux did well offensively but once again showed that defensively, he’s not quite up to snuff at the NHL level just yet. Xhekaj didn’t have a great game to help his chances while Jayden Struble held his own. With how poorly things went, it wouldn’t shock me if both Mailloux and Xhekaj are out of the lineup on Thursday in Washington, assuming the other two are ready to return.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Cole Caufield – He had a goal and was once again trigger-happy. That line had a decent game despite the lopsided score and while Caufield’s hot streak is going to end soon, enjoy it while it lasts.
Stats: 1 goal, even rating, 4 shots, 17:42 TOI
2nd Star: Juraj Slafkovsky – I was curious to see how he’d fare away from the top line in his first game back. It turned out he wasn’t away from them for long (about a half-period) but he didn’t miss a beat. Good to see.
Stats: 1 assist, even rating, 2 shots (7 attempts), 3 hits, 17:10 TOI
3rd Star: Oliver Kapanen – With things getting out of hand in the second half of the game, Kapanen got some extra minutes and did well with them. He looked a bit more assertive with the puck on his stick. Martin St. Louis talked about wanting Kapanen to have more confidence with his puck touches – he looked the part in this one.
Stats: 0 points, -1 rating, 1 shot, 3/6 faceoffs, 12:05 TOI