10 Thoughts: Strong Third Leads Habs to Victory Over Flyers

The Habs began a crucial back-to-back set of games on Saturday as they hosted Philadelphia.  They needed a big third period with three goals being just enough to secure the 3-2 win.

Unsurprisingly, Martin St. Louis was hoping to keep a winning lineup intact.  However, he wasn’t able to do that as Josh Anderson was a late scratch with his wife expecting their first child.  As a result, Oliver Kapanen took his spot in the lineup.  Meanwhile, Samuel Montembeault got the start in goal once again.  The lines were as follows:

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

Guhle – Hutson
Matheson – Carrier
Struble – Savard

10 Thoughts

1) While Philadelphia has won three straight games since the coaching change, they also had been off since Monday.  I was interested to see if they’d come out a little rusty.  Instead, they were sharp to start and Montreal wasn’t.  That proved costly as four minutes in, the Flyers came into the zone and while it was even coverage, the Habs were a half-step slow, eventually opening a hole for Jakob Pelletier to send a pass across to Ryan Poehling; the former Canadien had an easy backhand to beat Montembeault to open the game.  Mike Matheson had to bail to cover Pelletier on the play and Juraj Slafkovsky was way too casual coming back in coverage.

2) The start could have gotten a lot worse, too, with Alexandre Carrier getting caught for a double-minor high-sticking penalty on Matvei Michkov.  The penalty kill has been hit or miss as of late but they were on for this one as they had several decent opportunities to score but hitting the net proved to be a challenge.  Still, the Flyers were on their heels on their power play which was a nice bounce-back for the home side.

3) The Habs couldn’t do much with their lone power play chance and on the shift after, Kapanen failed to score on two opportunities, one being a whiff and the other in the slot getting blocked.  Still, he read both plays well and got to the right spot which was good to see for a player in his first NHL game since November.  But on the whole, managing just four shots when you’re at home trying to make a push for a playoff spot is not the start the Habs were hoping for, that’s for sure.

4) Turnovers are a subjective stat and Montreal hands them out more than a lot of teams.  But still, 15 of them in a period is too many and frankly, they had problems with it in the second as well.  The Flyers seemed to confuse the Canadiens with their pressure while at other times, the Habs thought the pressure was coming and rushed a pass, leading instead to yet another giveaway.  It’s hard to work on that this late in the year but that’s a blueprint other teams can follow.

5) The decision to move Jake Evans up to the third line with Christian Dvorak shifting to the wing was intriguing but Kapanen being a centre gave them some flexibility.  It also allowed that third line to continue to operate the way it had been.  That trio was Montreal’s most consistent through the first 40 minutes with Dvorak getting a couple of good looks.

6) The second period has been a problem for the Flyers all season long as they’ve allowed a whopping 101 goals with a -28 differential.  The Habs were better than they were in the first but their chances were either coming off the rush or the top line which generated several quality chances but all either missed or were stopped by Samuel Ersson.  That was a good step after a rough first but they were going to need to be better in the third to have a chance to win.

7) Fortunately, they were.  On the second shift of the third, there was a good example of limited chemistry between Dvorak and Evans who hadn’t played together much.  The puck was on the sideboards but neither could anticipate what the other was going to do.  Eventually, they got control of the puck and seconds later, a centring feed went to Brendan Gallagher and he fired it home to tie it up.  That line had earned one with their play and it was nice to see them get it.

8) Lane Hutson has been working a lot on his shot lately but something tells me that has been more about getting pucks through from the point to open up opportunities.  Goal-line shots, on the other hand, that’s probably not something he’s working on.  However, he was able to skate in and somehow sneak one through Ersson from just above the line to give the Habs the lead not even a minute and a half later.  Ersson was starting to knock the net off on the play and I was a little surprised they didn’t review the goal since it wasn’t quite secure.  But what a shot.

9) The Flyers got a power play a little before the midway point of the frame and Montembeault had to come up with a couple of big stops early on.  Soon after, Nick Suzuki took the puck into the Philly end and wasn’t covered, allowing him to skate out front and eventually skip a shot short-side past Ersson.  All of a sudden, after not having much go their way through 40 minutes, they had a two-goal lead.

10) Of course, holding it wasn’t easy.  Montembeault had to make a few more key stops and then the Habs found themselves shorthanded on a delay of game penalty from Matheson with less than two minutes left.  A minute into that, Tyson Forester got away with a penalty when he slashed Evans’ stick into the air, then took advantage of the extra space to beat Montembeault to make it a one-goal game.  A tough break for a penalty kill that had really done a nice job in this one, too.  The percentage won’t be great (75%) but that group deserved a perfect rating on the night.  Fortunately, the Habs were able to shut it down after that and take a four-point lead on the final playoff spot.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: Nick Suzuki – Once again, the captain stepped up when his team needed him the most.  Not that he had played poorly through 40 minutes but in the third, he took over.  With Anderson being unavailable, Suzuki wound up taking a regular turn shorthanded and his tally gave the Habs the breathing room they’d need.

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +2 rating, 4 shots, 4 giveaways, 7/13 faceoffs, 21:38 TOI

2nd Star: Lane Hutson – That goal was a fluke for sure but it was also a terrific shot.  I keep expecting him to hit the rookie wall at some point given the minutes he’s logging but if anything, he seems to be getting better down the stretch.  That’s great news for Montreal with what lies ahead.

Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 1 shot, 3 giveaways, 3 blocks, 22:07 TOI

3rd Star: Brendan Gallagher – While his goal was early in the third, it seemed to remove a lot of the tension for the Canadiens.  Instead of thinking back to Ersson’s big stops or the many just-misses, his tally brought things back to even and settled things down.  Even with a newcomer on his line, Gallagher’s group simply went about their business and I mean that in the best possible way.  Nothing flashy but very effective.

Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 3 shots, 5 hits, 14:10 TOI