10 Thoughts: More Defensive Struggles in Washington

After an ugly result on Tuesday, the Habs looked to end October on a high note as they were in Washington to take on the Capitals.  However, they allowed three goals in the second and third periods, falling 6-3.

Martin St. Louis opted to make a few changes to his lineup for this one.  Kaiden Guhle came off injured reserve and replaced Logan Mailloux who was sent down to Laval on Wednesday.  Meanwhile, Justin Barron also returned from his injury, taking Arber Xhekaj’s spot on the third pairing.  And after both goaltenders had games to forget against the Kraken, it was Cayden Primeau who got the starting nod in this one.

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

Matheson – Guhle
Hutson – Savard
Struble – Barron

10 Thoughts

1) Given how things went off the rails defensively last game, it came as no surprise to see Montreal much more interested in handling things defensively, even if it came at the expense of some of their transition game offensively.  Of course, this is somewhat counterproductive given how their attack relies on transition but getting back to more basic fundamentals made sense for this one.

2a) Washington got the first power play of the game when Juraj Slafkovsky was sent off for a hold but it’s the penalty that wasn’t called that drew the most attention.  After the Habs touched up to get the whistle on the delayed call, Tom Wilson put a late hit on Lane Hutson.  It wasn’t a dirty hit but it serves as a reminder that teams will try to go after Hutson physically.  It’s something I’m sure he’s used to by now but there’s a difference between college players doing that and NHL players.

2b) While we’re on the subject, count me in the category of those who think Wilson still would have hit him had Xhekaj been in the lineup.  Tom Wilson hits people and has a history of toeing the proverbial line.  He doesn’t just do that when the other team dresses a fighter, he does it when the opportunity arises, oftentimes when the other team’s fighter is on the ice even.  Xhekaj’s presence wouldn’t have made a scintilla of a difference; Wilson was throwing that hit no matter what.

3) I suppose it’s worth mentioning now that Washington didn’t do much with the man advantage aside from a goal post.  Montreal had their own power play a few minutes later.  It had some zone time but wasn’t overly dangerous.  That about sums up the first period as a whole, not overly dangerous for either side.  Something tells me St. Louis wasn’t too upset about that.

4) The Canadiens had a power play to start the second but the biggest thing of note from that was Oliver Kapanen flipping his stick to win a draw, a veteran move.  Washington then got a chance of their own and Mike Matheson was caught in coverage.  He was watching for the back-door cut and keeping an eye on Connor McMichael but that allowed Tom Wilson to get enough separation to tip an Alex Ovechkin shot home.  With the diamond coverage, you only have one player down low and they paid for it as Matheson had too much to try to cover himself.

5) The Habs got another man advantage less than four minutes later.  The top unit stayed out for the better part of a minute and a half and paid for it.  Well, they nearly paid for it.  Washington came down on a two-on-one with Aliaksei Protas beating Cole Caufield to the net on a two-on-one and he potted it to open up the scoring but only momentarily as the play was called back on a challenge for offside.  Then the Caps received a too many men call.  Again, the top unit stayed out for what I thought was far too long.  And as I’m thinking that, Caufield got some space on the rush and beat Charlie Lindgren to tie the game.  Guess they weren’t out too long that time after all.  Brendan Gallagher then gave them a lead a minute later, tipping a Hutson slapper home.  A slap shot from Hutson, that’s not something we see too often.

6) The goal barrage continued.  Brandon Duhaime tied it up, tipping a Taylor Raddysh shot past Primeau barely a minute later.  And then Christian Dvorak sent a perfect feed out front to Jakub Vrana.  No, Montreal didn’t quietly acquire him, it was just a brutal pass.  Vrana made no mistake and all of a sudden, the Capitals had the lead again.  I felt bad for Primeau as despite allowing three goals (plus a fourth that was called back), he was having a solid game to this point with a few big stops including one on a Washington power play mixed in with the madness of the second period.

7) And it somehow wasn’t done.  With two minutes left, David Savard sent a cross-ice feed to Nick Suzuki who one-timed it home.  Emil Heineman was pretty quiet on his debut on the top line in this one (not too surprising or concerning, frankly) but he did well to box out Dylan Strome in coverage in front of the net, making for an effective screen on Lindgren to help lead to the goal.  The defence wasn’t there as much in this period for the Habs but to their benefit, the offence took advantage of their chances to make up for it at least.

8) The second period was a game of quick runs.  Unfortunately for the Habs, Washington got one early in the third.  Primeau made an initial save on McMichael but the rebound was there to be deposited and he did just that.  On the next shift, Protas and the Caps came in on a three-on-two, then passed it to make it a two-on-one.  Protas’ centring feed went off Jayden Struble’s stick and in on a play Primeau didn’t have much of a chance on.

9) Montreal had a glorious opportunity to get back in it with a long five-on-three near the midway mark.  They put Hutson on that unit instead of Matheson and he made a couple of strong passes to set up chances that they ultimately couldn’t cash in on.  The thing about being opportunistic is that it’s not easy to repeat from one period to the next.

10) Washington got one more for good measure late.  Matheson turned it over to Strome who sent up McMichael.  Instead of a shot from the slot, he went to the side to Ovechkin.  He couldn’t bury the first one but did the second time.  Then it got a bit more frustrating for the Habs at the end with Wilson getting a high hit on Guhle on a late power play.  Josh Anderson went right to his defence, fortunately only earning a roughing call and not a late instigator which would have had the league get involved.  Full credit to the defence for their efforts on the penalty kill but it was far too little, too late.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: Nick Suzuki – There aren’t too many Habs where you could say they had a good game but the captain was one of them.  He had a relatively strong game offensively, moved the puck well on the power play, and even had a rare strong night at the faceoff dot.

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, even rating, 1 shot, 3 hits, 3 blocks, 12/19 faceoffs, 21:15 TOI

2nd Star: Cole Caufield – This was a quieter night for him and he fought the puck a bit more than usual but that’s also to be expected as eventually, the puck luck on his shot is going to go away.  But, once again, he scored a key goal and while St. Louis thinks he’s capable of scoring more, I’m not going to complain about his current pace.

Stats: 1 goal, even rating, 2 shots, 21:31 TOI

3rd Star: Kirby Dach – Last game was very rough for him, to put it nicely.  On a new line, Dach showed a bit more reliability which is what I was looking to see first and foremost.  He also drew a potentially key penalty to set up the five-on-three and wasn’t bad offensively.  That’s a good small step in the right direction that merits a mention here.

Stats: 0 points, 1 block, 2/2 faceoffs, 18:39 TOI