10 Thoughts – Habs Fall to Wild in Overtime

The Canadiens clashed with the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul on Monday night in a lively 7:30 pm ET tilt. Jakub Dobes got his fourth consecutive start and played like the starting goaltender he clearly is now, giving up three in regulation to one of the league’s best squads while closing the door on most of the stops needed for average gameplay. His stops on Boldy in overtime and Hartman in the second stabilized the Canadiens enough to get chances of their own.

Both teams were riding three-game win streaks, and each played a very tight game in their own zone. Minnesota outclassed Montreal in this respect, killing many plays with their size and positioning alone. Spectators who left their seats for concessions missed most of the action on the scoreboard, since most of the offence took place within the first minute of each period! The crowd was standing for the entirety of the overtime, and cheered the hooking penalty by Phillip Danault on Kirill Kaprizov as he flew past him towards the net. Falling in overtime on a Kaprizov shot, Montreal earned another point in a vice-like Atlantic Division, but really could’ve gotten both. They were largely outplayed by the home team, but their goaltender and stars gave them a chance in overtime, so they should have closed.

Starting Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Dach
Slafkovsky – Kapanen – Demidov
Veleno – Evans – Bolduc
Anderson – Danault – Gallagher

Matheson – Guhle
Hutson – Dobson
Xhekaj – Carrier

Dobes
Montembeault

Ten Thoughts

1) Joel Eriksson Ek opened the game by beating Dobes with a wicked wrister inside the circle less than a minute into the game. Montreal had dumped the puck into Minnesota’s zone after the opening faceoff, but gave the puck away when the Wild’s forwards overpowered the Habs down low and took possession. The Wild moved the puck up the ice with a give and got spinning play to Eriksson Ek, who came in down the right wing and unloaded from the top of the circle. The wrist shot beat Dobes over his right pad and under the glove, a new favourite target by shooters in the NHL.

2) 12 seconds later, Montreal took the first penalty of the game when Oliver Kapanen hooked Mats Zuccarello. The Canadiens’ penalty killers stayed tight to the passing lanes and stacked the blueline to fight off the evergreen jerseys as they attacked. Minnesota was able to get one deflection chance, but spent the majority of their power play either trying to enter the zone or escape the snake-like sticks of the Habs defenders.

3) When Dobes gloved down a point shot from Quinn Hughes at 6:09, Montreal got a whistle that was desperately needed. They had spent the last five minutes of gametime chasing Minnesota around their own zone, and when they got the puck, they consistently gave it to a puck-moving defenceman, goalie, or supporting forwards that muscled the Habs out of the zone. It should be noted that Ivan Demidov was able to skate with Minnesota and get the puck off their players in the offensive zone. He continued to be a dynamo on the forecheck. Unfortunately for Demidov, he was on the ice and had a front-row seat to watch Hughes circle the entire zone with possession and stop five feet from Dobes’ left post, parallel with the net. Demidov boxed out his man to the outside, but Kaprizov was still in the slot and, after escaping Juraj Slafkovsky, was positioned perfectly to rebound Hughes’ pass into the net to double Minnesota’s lead. Kaiden Guhle was on the opposite post but couldn’t close the distance in time to get a stick on the shot.

4) Brendan Gallagher got the Canadiens on the board with a beautiful power move to the front of the net. Gallagher had been unable to finish off a backhand chance with an open cage, and this time went around Hughes with a juke before cutting the middle and slamming it home past Filip Gustavsson. The score was reminiscent of Jake Evans’ goal from a few games ago, and Montreal came out of the dressing room for the second period with as much gusto as Gallagher showed. The Wild answered with the same energy, and Montreal had to fight off three separate slot chances as Wild defenders came streaking into the zone and penetrated Montreal’s man-on-man system. With their size, the Wild were able to consistently hold the puck down low on the Habs defenders and then feed their third skater or defenceman.

5) Montreal was caught with one man back in the second period following a turnover. Tarasenko took the cross-ice pass and seemed to restore the two-goal lead when the puck suddenly turned up on top of the net. The striker had labeled the iron so hard that it double-doinked and then fluttered on top of the cage. Montreal and Dobes squeaked by another close call to keep the game close, and Caufield got the Habs first shot of the period moments later.

6) Montreal decided that more penalties were needed in the game to remind their penalty kill how much the referees struggle to see, and so Lane Hutson willingly and willfully tripped Quinn Hughes with his body after the shot had already been taken and Hughes was out of the play. Great call, very real. What was actually real was the non-call on Jake Evans’ shorthanded chance while on his way towards Gustavsson, which involved a very real and explicit trip-and-takedown that sent Evans face-first into the end boards. Dobes shut the door on Tarasenko in the dwindling seconds of the kill, and Montreal started to work the puck back up the ice for a push of their own.

7) The Habs drew the first call in their favour in an equally weak call against Zach Bogosian for, quite literally, one-hand pushing a much smaller Oliver Kapanen three feet towards the boards behind Gustavsson. The power play was unable to generate significant momentum once expelled from the zone, and the minor penalty expired with as much damage done as the infraction itself: none at all. Ivan Demidov, Slafkovsky, and Kapanen almost connected twice on the same shift with approximately four minutes left in the second, but were hampered by on the first by a sprawling Gustavsson to make the stop and a tomahawk chop from Bogosian that obliterated Demidov’s stick in the slot as he unfurled.

8) With 15.8 seconds remaining, Hutson and Demidov struck once more in an excellent effort to even the game. The play developed when Dobes and Guhle stopped Faber on the doorstep and got the puck out, counting on Kapanen to pursue and tie up the Wild in their own zone. Kapanen did that and gave the Habs time enough to catch up and support in the zone. Kaprizov tried to outlet the puck with a weak backhand, but Demidov had already made it down and in to pick it off and fire the puck around the boards. Demidov’s shot was a tad overzealous, and the puck came back out to the neutral zone, but it opened up the defensive scheme and Hutson darted into the zone. He did a little shake and bake at the point, then skated down the boards before firing a laser pass across the zone to a gliding Demidov in his own spot at the left circle. Demidov hammered a one-timer for his 12th of the season and the Canadiens second of the game.

9) Kirby Dach flashed into the zone 12 seconds into the third period and got a stick on a centred puck that rolled past Gustavsson to give the Habs the lead. Right place, right time, and right play for Dach as he got his body to the front of the net and beat out his defender. Montreal then looked to hold on for dear life in this game to secure another crucial two points. Kapanen was robbed in front of the net by Gustavsson following another tic-tac-toe triangular passing play that fed Kapanen in the slot.

10) Brock Faber evened the game once more when he capitalized on a broken play off the stick of Hughes, Mike Matheson, and a bewildered Dach in the middle of the ice. Hughes had curled in his own zone before sending a pass up the gut of the ice and into a morass of skaters at the Canadiens blue line. The puck passed through Caufield, Dach, Matheson, Marcus Johansson, and Eriksson Ek to land on Faber’s stick and he was free on the other side to beat Dobes low-glove, again. The playoff environment on the ice intensified, defencemen making dashes into the zone and each team hammering their defenders with shots that needed blocking. Time expired after 60 minutes of play, and with the score locked at three apiece, Montreal sent out their overtime hero to try and earn the second point of another extra frame. However, Phillip Danault took a hooking penalty halfway in.  Evans, Carrier, and Matheson attempted to fight off the power play unit of Kaprizov, Boldy, Hughes, and Eriksson Ek, but Dobes was beaten by a shot from distance courtesy of the Russian sniper. Low glove.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star –  Jakub Dobes

Dobes was on point for the fourth game in a row, making the stops he needed to make to give the Canadiens a chance in each period. In a game that involved high-octane chances in his face, Dobes held firm with an attitude that seeped into the skaters in front of him as the game progressed. Following the first goal, Montreal played frantically and was scored upon once more, but from there, Dobes made instrumental and spectacular desperation saves while also stopping the point-blank shots that break a desperate team when those chances are given up.

Stats: 4 GA, 20 SV, .833 SV%

2nd Star – Lane Hutson

Montreal’s best defender is not always needed to produce highlight-reel offensive plays, but he usually does at least once per game. Hutson’s dynamic and stubborn engine enabled Demidov’s goal to be scored with 15 seconds left in the second, and his legs did as much to keep him in the game defensively as they did to create his chances. He needed to draw upon unforeseen strength to get through the hard forecheckers and beat a few of his own on the rush. Hutson danced the line and learned a few lessons, especially watching a more grown version of his own game in Quinn Hughes.

Stats: 1 assist, +3, 2 PIMs, 25:55 T.O.I.

3rd Star – Mike Matheson

Matheson may seem an unorthodox pick, but I found his game crucial to even get the overtime point. He blew the zone multiple times to outlet pressure from the Minnesota forecheck, carrying the puck up the ice, and set an example for his peers when passing it to a teammate 45 times behind the net stops working.

Stats: 1 assist, -3, 1 shot, 2 blocks, 25:41 T.O.I