10 Thoughts: Habs Dumped by Detroit
After a big win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday, the Habs were in Detroit on Thursday to take on the Red Wings. But instead of carrying over the momentum, this was a letdown game for Montreal as they fell 4-2.
Martin St. Louis opted to make just one lineup change from their victory over the Lightning. Owen Beck was sent back to Laval on Wednesday (and played in their comeback win against Hershey) and the Canadiens didn’t recall a replacement forward. As a result, Michael Pezzetta returned after being scratched for two straight games. The rest of the team lined up as follows:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Dach – Laine
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Pezzetta – Evans – Armia
Hutson – Matheson
Guhle – Carrier
Xhekaj – Savard
10 Thoughts
1) This is not the same Detroit team that Montreal beat twice before the holiday break that ultimately led to the Red Wings making a coaching change. Since that change, they’ve been a much more consistent and cohesive group. It showed in this one.
2) The Habs, meanwhile, showed signs of reverting to some early-season habits in recent games. The defensive consistency wasn’t as sharp and the offence was a lot quieter. Both of those continued into this game as Montreal struggled in the defensive zone and aside from a pair of slot shots from Alex Newhook and Cole Caufield, they didn’t put much pressure on Cam Talbot at all.
3) Samuel Montembeault had a decent first period overall but made two key mistakes, both leading to goals from the Red Wings. The first came after Dylan Larkin won a puck battle over Lane Hutson and sent a quick feed back to Jonatan Berggren. He didn’t get a great shot off but Montembeault was caught completely off guard by the shot, allowing it to beat him to open up the scoring.
4) The Habs got a power play with a little over three minutes left when Simon Edvinsson clipped Kaiden Guhle with a high stick. However, it was cut short when Kirby Dach went off for a slash on Michael Rasmussen. Just as Detroit’s power play was ending, Montembeault was completely fooled by a fake pass from Lucas Raymond. That had Montembeault sliding to his left while the puck went to Alex DeBrincat on his right. DeBrincat is too good of a shooter to miss an open net from that close and he made no mistake, doubling their advantage with just four seconds left. Again, considering the porous defence the Habs had, Montembeault had a decent period but his mistakes proved costly.
5) After another sluggish start to the second, the Habs got another crack on the man advantage. Patrik Laine had a pair of shots at least but late in the power play, Hutson’s shot was blocked by Edvinsson, springing Andrew Copp on a breakaway. He opted for the shot and it was the right call as he beat Montembeault. The second unit didn’t score on the power play but soon after, Dach was able to wrap it around and beat Talbot. The goal was at one point credited to Christian Dvorak as both players had a simultaneous touch. That’s at least close enough to breaking even on the advantage.
6) But any possible momentum from that was derailed less than three minutes later. Detroit got a power play when Nick Suzuki was called for tripping. Moments later, Larkin drove the net and got a weak shot off. Montembeault stopped it but couldn’t corral the rebound or hold the post, opening a spot for Larkin to squeak one past him to restore the three-goal lead. This was one of those ‘that simply cannot happen’ goals for Montembeault, something he’s had a few too many of lately. The Habs have outscored some of those troubles lately but this was the third goal of the game he’d probably like another crack at. I’ll give him credit for shutting things down after that but he was a big reason why they were down that much to begin with.
7) As the period went on, the Habs at least started to show some signs of life. They certainly weren’t outplaying Detroit by any stretch but they weren’t getting stymied all the time either. If nothing else, they were able to break even on the period as just past the 11-minute mark, Laine skated into the zone and sent a pass back to Kaiden Guhle who was able to beat Talbot with a wrist shot. But even with that, it wasn’t a good period from the visitors.
8) The third period got off to a better start effort-wise as Montreal came out with a bit of energy and pushed the pace early on. Caufield had a couple of good chances in close including a breakaway five minutes in and once Talbot stopped that, the odds of a comeback started to seem even lower.
9) Detroit looked like they restored their three-goal lead just before the midway point when Christian Fischer scored off a rebound but Rasmussen interfered with Montembeault, resulting in the goal being waved off. The Red Wings unsuccessfully challenged, giving the Habs the power play which they did nothing with, basically putting the final nail in the coffin.
10) Back to Pezzetta for a moment. He played all of 4:06 in this game which is actually his second-highest TOI in the last six games. He played a whopping one shift in the final 36 minutes of the game. After the first period, they won’t play him with a lead. They won’t play him when it’s tied. They won’t play him when they’re trailing. Clearly, the coaching staff has no confidence in him so why is he playing? There should be a recall from Laval on Friday, either Beck or someone else as basically anyone from the Rocket has a better shot at actually seeing ice time than Pezzetta does.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Kirby Dach – While I didn’t like the penalty that nullified the early power play, Dach had a solid game overall. He had a hand in both goals and even at even strength, his line was arguably Montreal’s best which is something we don’t see too often. If he can keep improving and therefore improve that line, good things should happen.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +1 rating, 2 PIMS, 1 shot, 2 hits, 15:54 TOI
2nd Star: Kaiden Guhle – He had Montreal’s other goal in this one and a couple of solid blocked shots, including one that seemed to sting for a while. This was not a banner game from the blueline by any stretch but he was the best of their defenders.
Stats: 1 goal, +2 rating, 3 shots, 2 blocks, 19:43 TOI
3rd Star: Patrik Laine – I had to pick one of the three milestone forwards for this spot, didn’t I? (This was Laine’s 500th game, Dvorak’s 500th, and Gallagher’s 800th.) As noted above, Laine’s line was probably Montreal’s best at even strength and he had a hand in Guhle’s goal. He was quieter on the power play but better at five-on-five. I’ll take that trade-off right now.
Stats: 1 assist, even rating, 2 shots, 17:45 TOI