Habs Weekly: A Tough Road Trip to End March

The Habs had a tough road trip to close out the month of March, losing three of four games.  However, it only made a minor dent in their playoff hopes with the other contenders struggling all week as well.

The Week That Was

Mar. 25: Blues 6, Canadiens 1 – Both teams were in the final Wild Card spot in their respective conferences so both had plenty to play for.  One team showed up, one didn’t.  There was a flurry of scoring in the final two minutes of the first with St. Louis picking up a pair and it was pretty much all downhill from there.  Samuel Montembeault was pulled in the third and the Blues continued their hot streak, one that has since continued against some strong opponents.

Mar. 27: Flyers 6, Canadiens 4 – Talk about catching a team at the wrong time.  After John Tortorella was let go earlier in the day, Philadelphia went from being rolled over each night to a much more confident group, one that took it to Montreal for long stretches of the game.  Matvei Michkov had a pair of goals and each time the Habs would make it look close, a defensive miscue would give the Flyers a quick response tally to thwart any comeback hopes.

Mar. 28: Hurricanes 4, Canadiens 1 – The game got off to a perfect start with Josh Anderson scoring on the first shift of the game.  But that was about it for the positives.  Sebastian Aho banked one in off a Montreal defender on the next shift and they took control from there, stifling what was a decent effort from the Habs with a solid checking game, one they’re known for.

Mar. 30: Canadiens 4, Panthers 2 – The power play has been an issue for Montreal recently but it wound up being a difference-maker for them in a good way with Patrik Laine and Juraj Slafkovsky (on his birthday) scoring on the man advantage.  After squandering both of those leads within five minutes of getting it, the Habs picked up a crucial goal from Nick Suzuki early in the third and were able to hold on from there to at least salvage something from their trip.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (34)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (54)
Points: Nick Suzuki (77)
+/-: Nick Suzuki (+10)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (118)
Shots: Cole Caufield (214)

News And Notes

– The Habs welcomed back Kaiden Guhle from injured reserve after he suffered a lacerated quad back in January.  Montreal hadn’t been carrying an extra defenceman since then so they’re not in a spot where they could send someone back to Laval.

– Lane Hutson is just the fifth defenceman in NHL history to record 50 assists in his rookie season.  He’s up to third-most in that category already and is close to catching former Hab Chris Chelios for second.

– Jake Evans has just one goal in his last 25 games to go along with five assists.  Even with that, his shooting percentage on the season is 17.4, still a number that’s well above sustainability.

Last Game’s Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Heineman – Newhook – Laine
Pezzetta – Evans – Armia

Matheson – Carrier
Guhle – Hutson
Struble – Savard

The Week Ahead

Tuesday vs Florida – For whatever reason, the Habs have played the Panthers tight this season, winning all three of their games so far.  Not much of anything will change from Sunday’s matchup but it’s worth noting that the game ended with some rough stuff after Niko Mikkola fired a last-second shot from the defensive zone but instead of going on the net, it went right at David Savard.  Will there be any carryover from that?

Thursday vs Boston – It’s been tough sledding for the Bruins after they sold several players at the trade deadline; they enter the week having lost eight straight games and haven’t scored more than two in the last seven.  In other words, this is a pretty good time to be getting them.  They’re missing a pair of key defencemen in Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm while they’re one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league despite David Pastrnak once again being among the top scorers league-wide.

Saturday vs Philadelphia – A week ago, this looked like a great matchup for the Habs.  The Flyers were completely floundering, not putting up much of a fight.  Now, they’ve scored 13 goals in two games since the coaching change with Matvei Michkov potting four of them.  Does that mean they’re going to be great the rest of the way?  Certainly not but this isn’t the freebie it looked like it could have been either.

Sunday at Nashville – The week ends with a matchup against one of the biggest disappointments in the league as the Predators, viewed by some as a speculative contender heading into the season, are already eliminated from the playoffs.  They only have one player with more than 50 points (Filip Forsberg) despite adding Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault in free agency while Roman Josi has missed the last month and is unlikely to be available for this one as well.

Final Thought

When Kaiden Guhle returned to the lineup, the question was about who would be sitting to make room for him.  As it turned out, they initially didn’t pull a blueliner out with the team opting to dress seven defencemen for his first game back.  There was another question to ponder at the time, one that didn’t get a lot of attention – who would he play with?

The answer, it turned out, was Lane Hutson.  That was a logical choice considering that those two played together and had some success before he was injured.  But was that the right choice?  I’m not so sure.

Jayden Struble and Hutson were a strong pairing over the last several weeks so I was hoping that they wouldn’t break those two up.  Personally, I thought the better fit might have been with Mike Matheson (a pairing with plenty of experience as well), with Alexandre Carrier moving with Arber Xhekaj on the third pairing.  Or, if they wanted to keep Carrier and Matheson together (a pair that has had some ups and downs), then partnering Guhle with David Savard on a checking pairing could have been an optimal way to ease him into things. 

Instead, Guhle played big minutes upon his return while Struble and Savard weren’t the most effective of pairings, taking away some of Struble’s positive momentum in the process.  Meanwhile, Guhle’s play was up-and-down, which isn’t overly concerning given that he missed over 20 games; that’s perfectly understandable.  That phrase also works for the decision to put him back with Hutson.  After all, why mess with what worked before?  But if it messes more with what’s working now, is it a net gain in the end?  After two games, I’m not so sure.  I don’t expect anything to change but if they went back to Struble and Hutson playing together and shifting the other pairs around, I’d be open to giving that a shot.