10 Thoughts: Habs take too many penalties again, fall 5-4 to Rangers in OT

After all the excitement over Jacob Fowler’s strong start against the Penguins, the 21-year-old goalie prospect got the next start as well, this time facing the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. No Sidney Crosby this time, but certainly enough firepower in the form of the Rangers’ veteran snipers, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad.

Panarin and Zibanejad only recorded a point each, but it was enough as the Rangers outplayed the Habs for substantial portions of the game, and the Canadiens fell prey to costly penalties (and a penalty shot) that accounted for three of the Rangers’ five goals in the 5-4 loss.

Habs Starting Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Bolduc
Slafkovsky – Kapanen – Demidov
Anderson – Beck – Texier
Veleno – Evans – Gallagher

Hutson – Dobson
Matheson – Carrier
Xhekaj – Engstrom

Fowler
Montembeault

Ten Thoughts

1) 13 minutes into the game, the Habs had yet to put the puck on Igor Shesterkin’s net, while the Rangers had tested Fowler five times. Worse yet, the Canadiens had a great deal of trouble just trying to exit their own zone, with the Rangers intercepting exit passes seemingly at will. Finally, it was worthwhile waiting for that first shot, though: Cole Caufield carried the puck into the New York zone along the left-side boards, and found Nick Suzuki in the opposite-side face-off circle. Suzuki returned that cross-ice pass quickly to Zachary Bolduc, in front of the net, and Bolduc tipped it past Shesterkin for the opening goal–on the opening shot on the net.

2) And then the second shot on net went in, too, just 90 seconds later. This one was from Arber Xhekaj for his first goal this year, as Alexandre Carrier–recently much-maligned by the Montreal fans, much like Xhekaj–sent the puck across to the big defender. Xhekaj took a few strides and then sent a hard wrist shot through a bevy of blue shorts, and Shesterkin likely had little visibility of the puck before it zipped past him for a 2-0 lead.

3) The third line took the edge to three goals with a yeoman-like effort, repeatedly winning board battles in the Rangers’ zone to retain possession and control the play. Eventually Lane Hutson, on the left-side boards, spotted Jake Evans skating toward the net unmolested by New York’s defence, and Evans made a small fake, and then snapped the puck past Shesterkin for a three-goal advantage.

4) That score looked too good to be true, and indeed it was. Hutson was called for the first penalty of the game, for manhandling Will Cuylle (five inches and fifty pounds bigger) in front of Fowler. That penalty kill looked good, as the Habs cleared multiple times, and Evans had a glorious shorthanded breakaway, but Xhekaj mishandled a clearing play at the blue line, setting the Rangers up with a dangerous scoring chance. Fowler made a pad save on a Noah Laba wrister, but the rebound dropped close to the blue ice. Mike Matheson tried to block Laba’s second shot but broke his stick in the effort, and Laba sent it past Fowler to close the gap to a single goal.

5) Things got worse just 19 seconds later, as Noah Dobson attempted to check Panarin on a Rangers breakaway, but was called for obstructing the breakaway, giving Panarin, the man of more than 300 career goals, a penalty shot. Panarin took it slow and banked the puck into the net from the left side goal post. And so quickly that three-goal lead was down to a single marker. Now, by this refereeing standard, Evans should have had a penalty shot on his rush, too, but, alas, that’s not how that one was called.

6) The Habs got some breathing room three minutes into the second, courtesy of the Lane Hutson Show. The sophomore star defender skated the puck into the New York zone, twisted and turned, and had the Rangers’ defence all focused on him. That enabled Josh Anderson to skate in relatively freely, and to one-time a slap shot on the pass from Hutson, beating Shesterkin for the fourth Habs goal of the night.

7) That lead didn’t last that long, as the Rangers had a bit of luck going on their third goal, five minutes after the Anderson marker. Cuylle sent a puck into a goalmouth scramble, and it ended up deflecting off Hutson’s skate and into the net. This time, the coverage was not the problem as Hutson and Dobson were covering Brett Berard, but a random skate deflection in front of the net is nearly impossible for a goaltender to save, and the luck was not on Fowler’s side on this one.

8) The Rangers tied it just 36 seconds later, as J.T. Miller broke away from Matheson and Bolduc, grabbed the loose rebound from a Mika Zibanejad shot, and backhanded it through Fowler’s five-hole.

9) The Habs managed to tie the Rangers on the third-period shot count, but could not find any further chinks in Shesterkin’s defences. In fact, it looked like the Rangers had the game sewn up with a Sam Carrick goal, but, on video review, there was no doubt that Carrick had kicked the puck into the net. So, overtime it was …

10) The Rangers largely controlled the play in overtime. They did win all three faceoffs in the three minutes of play, but an even bigger factor was a slashing call on Jake Evans. A four-on-three penalty kill is never easy, and it took the Rangers only 27 seconds from the start of the penalty to put the game away. Zibanejad got the puck to Miller after a faceoff, and the latter drilled a slap shot past Fowler to give the two points to the home team.

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Lane Hutson (0g, 2a, 0 shots, +1, 26:58 TOI) was everywhere once again. Two excellent setups leading to goals, and nearly 27 minutes on the ice. The penalty in the first period was unnecessary but Hutson’s play for the rest of the game more than made up for it.

Second Star: Jacob Fowler (28 shots, 23 saves, .821 save %, -0.33 GSAx) played a solid second game. He was no second coming of Carey Price (or Ken Dryden, for that matter) but he was steady in net and could not be blamed for all five goals. If the Habs were to get this level of goaltending for the rest of the season, they should be a lock for the playoffs.

Third Star: Oliver Kapanen (0g, 0a, 3 shots, -1, 15:12 TOI) had multiple opportunities for goal-scoring glory, but Shesterkin foiled him each time. His play with Demidov continues to be strong, and the two keep finding space and scoring opportunities regardless of the opposition.