10 Thoughts – Habs Unable to Close in Washington
Looking to roll on the latter half of a back-to-back, Montreal took on their playoff foes from last season and the Alexander Ovechkin-led Washington Capitals team that was coming off the heels of a loss to Nashville on Sunday. Montreal’s very own kid line of Demidov, Slafkovsky, and Kapanen combined for seven points at home on Monday, and Josh Anderson returned to the lineup to take on a hampered Washington squad in the United States capital.
In net, Samuel Montembeault played with jam and a calm presence, steadying for his forwards and defenders up front. The veterans got on the board, with Anderson and Gallagher both adding tallies that took a great deal of gritty play to achieve. Anderson scored shorthanded to open the game, and Gallagher was able to hit the net and beat the goaltender for his 4th goal of the season. Montreal left Washington on very short rest with a point in a 3-2 overtime loss, but should have been able to close the game out earlier after numerous opportunities to finish.
Habs Lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Alexandre Texier
Juraj Slafkovsky – Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Zachary Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Josh Anderson
Samuel Blais – Joe Veleno — Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson Lane Hutson – Alexandre Carrier
Jayden Struble – Arber Xhekaj
Samuel Montembeault
10 Thoughts
1) Montreal decided to keep Montembeault warm by giving the puck up early and gifting the Caps a quick deflection chance, but the Habs struck back quickly in transition. Martin Fehervary was called for tripping Nick Suzuki inside the left circle before he could break clean towards the goal. Noah Dobson was not able to keep the puck in when Washington won the faceoff and cleared, but Washington allowed the Canadiens back into the zone with soft coverage at the blue line. Montreal’s power play units were mixed to start the contest, Dobson and Alexandre Texier switching spots with Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov on their respective units. Each unit got a look on goal and seemed to have a distinctive style to their game, namely shots on net, but neither broke through and play returned to even strength with the game still tied.
2) Montreal took their first penalty when Joe Veleno was called for hooking Nic Dowd. Veleno was defending below the circle and held his stick horizontally across the midsection of Dowd as he cruised towards the net. A rolling puck happened to be nearby, thus the infraction was called. Following a faceoff win, the puck ended up in the corner behind Montembeault where a scrum developed. The puck kicked out to Ryan Leonard on the halfwall, but he was unable to handle it and Josh Anderson knocked it past him. Anderson got on his horse and hauled himself up the ice to create a two-on-one with Phillip Danault, opposite John Carlson. Carlson played the pass, but Anderson crept all the way down to the top of the circle and ripped a wrister past newly-named Olympian Logan Thompson to put the Habs ahead. It was Montreal’s fourth shorthanded goal of the season.
3) With less than three minutes left in the first, Montreal’s kid line danced around Washington’s power forwards for an excellent chance in front of the net. Demidov danced around some defenders at the line before working a shot to Slafkovsky, who did some dancing of his own. Kapanen had parked himself in front of the net and was denied by Thompson when Slafkovsky sent a one-handed pass right into the blue paint. Montreal went to the dressing room with the one-goal advantage and another 40 minutes to prove they could play.
4) Caufield couldn’t convert on an early two-on-one with Suzuki as Montreal came out of the intermission with two quick transition chances. Caufield’s shot dribbled behind Thompson on the rebound, but Caufield could not keep a handle on the puck to complete the wraparound. Texier had the puck come right to his feet; he fired, but the Washington netminder made an incredible diving play to keep the puck out once more. Demidov and Slafkovsky came right back into the zone after Washington cleared the puck from the top line but even though he got clear to the middle, he still has been having trouble hitting the net.
5) Brendan Gallagher doubled the Canadiens’ lead at 12:20 of the second period. Zachary Bolduc got his feet moving through the neutral zone to gain access below the Washington forwards. He dumped it behind him once past the goal line, and Dobson pinched in to maintain the attack. Bolduc and Danault, both behind the net, battled with the Capitals players while Gallagher slipped his coverage to gain a soft spot in the slot. Danault backed off the scrum to the perimeter of the trapezoid, got the loose puck from Bolduc, then shoveled to Gallagher. The veteran forward wired his one-timer into the net and extended Montreal’s lead. Soon following the goal, Jayden Struble took a hammering along the board courtesy of Dylan McIlrath. Struble one-touched the puck into the Capital zone from the red line, then took the contact and went into the boards awkwardly. His back seemed to twist under him, and he got up slowly. Arber Xhekaj took offense to the nature of the hit, and subsequently challenged his opposite to a (mostly)humane wrestling match that resulted in a two-minute power play for the home team with Xhekaj picking up the instigator. Montembeault was called on to shut the door early as he had to move side to side following a quick shot. Anderson and Danault continued to harry the attackers in the neutral zone and below the goal line, clearing the puck out and giving up nothing substantial to their top unit.
6) While transitioning up the ice, Struble was carrying the puck over the red line and then sent a flubbed pass behind Suzuki. Unable to reach back for it, Caufield shadowed Nic Dowd but his stick check took Dowd in the legs instead, sending the Habs back to the penalty kill. Anderson was back out for the kill, and he doggedly pursued loose pucks and whimsical attackers. The home team accomplished nothing on the man advantage, unable to even gain the zone to get set up as the visiting defenders held the line tightly and closed off the gaps along the wall whenever the Capitals tried to dump it in. Texier drew a penalty from Dylan Strome via a slash as he controlled the puck in the Habs zone, trying to slow some pressure down. Montreal came back out with the new hybrid unit of Dobson, Slafkovsky, Texier, Suzuki, and Caufield. As Suzuki crossed into the zone, Dowd clipped him with a high stick across his eye area while turning. Montreal switched out Texier for Demidov to start the five-on-three, tried closing in the box, and set up Caufield and Dobson as the high-shooters. Both of them unloaded each, but neither could get a clean look before the first penalty expired and then the period soon afterwards.
7) Montembeault was called upon early in the third period to stop a few point-blank saves from the Capitals as they pushed to get themselves back into the game. Each teams’ skilled players began to make plays along the wall and through the middle of the ice as the 2-0 game was desperately vying for something to break it open. That break seemed to come at 14:54 of the third with the Canadiens hemmed in their zone and under the heavy forechecking of Washington’s forwards. Ethen Frank got the tip on a Matt Roy shot from the point, an intentional shot for a bounce or deflection. The Caps had picked up the loose puck in the slot and sent it down into the corner. After it worked back to Rasmus Sandin at the point, the former Leaf moved to the middle, then slid the puck across to Roy at the top of the circle. With the scores now separated by one goal, Washington’s legs began moving faster and the Habs were on their heels at the halfway mark of the third period.
8) Disaster seemed to strike when, on their first forecheck of the period, Sammy Blais tripped Trevor van Riemsdyk as he tried to pivot towards the middle of the ice and out of his own corner. Back on the kill, the pressure mounted for the defenders to maintain the one-goal lead against a disjointed power play. Thankfully for the coaching staff, Montreal’s forwards did not break their formula or formation and hampered any attempt at an established attack. Washington almost tied the game when their second unit broke down the Habs’ defenders and got a puck low in the zone with soft coverage. Montembeault was needed to slide across the crease and extend his right pad to make the back-door save as the pass came right across the crease and through Carrier’s legs.
9) Dowd was called for a holding infraction on Xhekaj behind Montembeault as he pulled his jersey after losing his stick in the corner. Incensed, he smashed his stick on the glass of the box and gave enough of an earful to the stripe-dressed civilians to get himself kicked out of the game with a misconduct. Montreal set themselves up in the offensive zone, but continued to have difficulty penetrating into the middle of the zone for any shots, and almost appeared tentative to try. Washington cleared the puck following another faceoff loss with around 25 seconds left in the advantage, and Montreal was not able to solidify its lead with another goal. They did, however, successfully kill off another two minutes of game time.
10) Thompson was pulled with exactly two minutes remaining, just as the Caps gained the zone, and they scored immediately afterwards to tie the game. Frank was able to lay a perfect stick along the ice in the slot that provided a clear target for Sandin to bank his shot off of. The deflection went right over Montembeault’s shoulder and brought the fans back into a game that had felt just about finished. In the overtime period, Montreal’s style of play was the same as usual, long looping plays high in the zone and leaving it at will. Suzuki got one shot, and then the Habs did not get the puck back until after Suzuki took a tripping penalty off a faceoff. During the four-on-three, Strome smashed the iron dead on, and Montembeault was needed thrice to shut the door and give the Habs another offensive chance. Unfortunately, Washington completed the comeback with their third unanswered goal. Connor McMichael finished off a rebound in Montembeault’s feet with just 38 seconds left as they came across the blue line again for a free shot on goal from Strome.
HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars
1st Star – Samuel Montembeault
Continuing to impress since his conditioning stint with Laval, Montembeault needed to be nearly perfect to give Montreal a true chance to win against the Caps. He stonewalled a back-door shot during the penalty kill halfway through the third and maintained the lead. The tying goal was another deflection that he is surely intimately familiar with from last Spring, and his overtime saves on Frank and Carlson were spectacular in their flair and distinct lack of rebounds.
Stats: 39 SV, 3 GA, .929 SV%
2nd Star – Josh Anderson
Beyond scoring a shorthanded goal to open the game in favor of the Habs, Anderson’s second-period play on the penalty kill was a marvel and example for every other younger player on the team. Danault and Anderson have fit back together seamlessly, and both have embraced their distinctive roles on the league’s youngest team. On the ice, he looked faster and enthusiastic, two qualities more crucial to the health of the bottom-six than likely any other. Ideally, this play will maintain itself through to the playoffs. Everyone in the organization knows how incredibly valuable a fully-invested Josh Anderson will be come April.
Stats: 1 goal, 2 shots, 1 block, 2 hits, 12:32 T.O.I.
3rd Star – Brendan Gallagher
Gallagher got a desperately needed goal following a series of good shifts where his feet were moving and he put himself between the puck and his coverage. He found open ice for his goal on Tuesday, and thankfully, he had someone open with the puck at just the right time to pass it to him.
Stats: 1 goal, +1, 2 shots, 8:33 T.O.I.