Habs Weekly: Three California Comebacks, Three Points

The beginning of March saw the Habs head out West for their California road trip.  They pulled off third-period comebacks in all three of them but even with that, they were only able to come away with three of a possible six points.

The Week That Was

Mar. 3: Sharks 7, Canadiens 5 – The Habs took the lead early in the second period before disaster struck.  They allowed three unanswered in the rest of the frame, then coughed up one early in the third to be down by three.  To Montreal’s credit, the team didn’t give up with Alex Newhook scoring twice and Ivan Demidov once in a span of less than six minutes to tie the game.  But ultimately, a late too-many-men penalty proved to be their downfall as Kiefer Sherwood scored on the ensuing power play to give San Jose the win.

Mar. 6: Ducks 6, Canadiens 5 (SO) – Samuel Montembeault got off to a rough start, allowing the first shot of the game to beat him…twice (since the first one was called back on an offside challenge).  He also struggled with shots from the point with multiple blasts from distance getting past him.  But again, the Habs didn’t give up, scoring three in the third in the span of less than five minutes, capped by Cole Caufield’s second of the frame.  But Anaheim, a top comeback team like Montreal, tied it in the final minute and won in the shootout after the Canadiens couldn’t capitalize on a power play in overtime.

Mar. 7: Canadiens 4, Kings 3 – The Habs didn’t start strong in this one, getting outshot 16-1 in the first period.  They were a little better after that, even getting the lead briefly in the second before finding themselves trailing yet again in the final frame.  And yet again, they came back, with Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki scoring less than a minute apart.  This time, Montreal was barely able to hold on, allowing them to escape with a win.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIMS	SOG	ATOI
8	Mike Matheson	3	0	3	-4	0	4	24:00
11	Brendan Gallagher	3	0	1	-2	0	7	11:09
13	Cole Caufield	3	2	2	-1	0	9	17:57
14	Nick Suzuki	3	2	4	-2	4	11	20:56
15	Alex Newhook	3	2	0	-2	0	5	14:36
17	Josh Anderson	3	0	0	-1	4	7	12:18
20	Juraj Slafkovsky	3	2	4	+1	0	8	18:47
21	Kaiden Guhle	3	0	1	-2	2	1	21:27
24	Phillip Danault	3	1	0	-1	0	1	14:15
45	Alexandre Carrier	3	1	1	-1	2	3	15:48
47	Jayden Struble	1	0	0	-1	2	0	8:47
48	Lane Hutson	3	1	4	+3	0	5	24:16
53	Noah Dobson	3	0	2	+1	0	7	22:28
71	Jake Evans	3	1	3	+3	0	1	16:38
72	Arber Xhekaj	2	0	0	+1	2	1	10:08
76	Zachary Bolduc	3	0	2	+2	0	2	14:14
77	Kirby Dach	3	0	1	-2	2	4	15:06
91	Oliver Kapanen	3	1	0	-1	2	5	13:05
93	Ivan Demidov	3	1	0	-2	0	6	14:08

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
35	Samuel Montembeault	0-0-1	4.62	.848	0
75	Jakub Dobes	1-1-0	4.57	.864	0

Shootout – Skaters:

#	Player	G/ATT
13	Cole Caufield	0/1
14	Nick Suzuki	0/1
20	Juraj Slafkovsky	0/1
77	Kirby Dach	0/1
91	Oliver Kapanen	0/1
93	Ivan Demidov	1/1

Shootout – Goalies:

#	Player	SVS/SF
35	Samuel Montembeault	4/6

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (37)
Assists: Hutson/Suzuki (53)
Points: Nick Suzuki (74)
+/-: Hutson/Suzuki (+26)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (106)
Shots: Cole Caufield (189)

News And Notes

– The trade deadline came and went with the Habs staying on the sidelines.  GM Kent Hughes suggested that a lot of work was done on a significant trade that ultimately didn’t get over the finish line but could be revisited in the summer.

– Lane Hutson has tied Sergei Zubov for the most assists in the first 150 games of a defenceman’s career with 115.  He has four more games to get one more to take sole possession of that record.  Cale Makar, for anyone wondering, had 112 helpers in his first 150 games.

– The franchise record for the fastest Montreal defenceman to record 60 points is Larry Robinson, who did so in 56 games in 1985-86.  Hutson is now the second-fastest, doing so in 60 games.

– Juraj Slafkovsky has tied Henri Richard for the most points by a Hab under the age of 22 in team history.  He’s also the first under-22 Hab to record three 50-point seasons.

Last Game’s Lines:

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

Matheson – Guhle
Hutson – Dobson
Xhekaj – Carrier

The Week Ahead

Tuesday vs Toronto – Not long ago, this looked like it had the potential to be a big game for both teams.  But the Maple Leafs have struggled mightily as of late, losing seven straight and 13 of their last 16 games, turning them into a seller at the trade deadline.  Their top four forwards are still quite productive with more than 50 points apiece but the secondary scoring has been lacking while their goalies, who were great last season, have both underachieved this season.

Wednesday at Ottawa – The Senators had a rough first half of the season but have come on since then, winning eight of their last 11 games while Linus Ullmark has been much sharper in goal.  As a result, they’re only four points out of a playoff spot and with the Habs being close to being a team to chase, this will be a big one for both sides as Ottawa looks to get closer while the Habs want to put more distance between a team chasing them.  The Sens opted to largely stand pat at the deadline, effectively swapping out an injured David Perron for Warren Foegele to add more grit to their bottom six.

Saturday vs San Jose – The Sharks decided against adding at the trade deadline and even sold a bit, sending defenceman Timothy Liljegren to Washington.  But we all saw last week that their speed can be a difference-maker while Macklin Celebrini is capable of winning a game on his own as well.  Only two points out of a playoff spot, they’re still squarely in the playoff mix, even if it feels unlikely that they’ll ultimately get in.

Sunday vs Anaheim – Heading into Sunday’s action, the Ducks are now in first in the Pacific Division, thanks to their shootout win over the Habs.  Anaheim should have a stronger roster for the rematch as well, with Mikael Granlund, Troy Terry, and deadline acquisition John Carlson likely available to play in this one.  Notably, both teams will be on a back-to-back for this game with Anaheim playing in Ottawa the afternoon before this one.

Final Thought

With how Jakub Dobes fared against Los Angeles and Samuel Montembeault’s struggles in Anaheim, you’d be justified in thinking that it should be Dobes getting the nod for Montreal’s next game against Toronto.  However, as crazy as it might seem, I’d go right back to Montembeault.

The reality is that if the Habs are going to get to the playoffs, they are going to need Montembeault to help get them there.  They can’t just run Dobes in every game and with Jacob Fowler just working his way back from a particularly rough illness, he’s going to need some time before he could plausibly be considered for another look as well.

The Canadiens are entering two sets of back-to-back games.  Dobes has barely seen those in the pros, even with Laval.  With that in mind, them splitting the next four games feels like a logical outcome.

If I’m picking between which two games to give Montembeault, I think it’s Toronto.  The Maple Leafs have struggled as of late and should be the easier matchup of the two.  It also doesn’t give Montembeault extra time to get in his head about his recent struggles, it’s just ‘get back out there and keep going’.  That’s probably the right mindset to take and if Toronto continues its recent level of play, maybe he gets a win and a bit of confidence.  Then, you have a fresh Dobes going in Ottawa.

Yes, there are some technical issues in Montembeault’s game that he needs to work on, especially on low-danger point shots where he has struggled a lot.  But the Habs don’t have time to give him a couple of weeks to work on that in practice as they did earlier in the season.  They’re going to need him this week, even though Dobes’ play against the Kings would normally earn him the next start.