10 Thoughts: Celebrini stymies the Habs as the Sharks win 4-2

The San Jose Sharks are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, but their key weapon is not the experience, but the presence of stellar young centre Macklin Celebrini, on pace to score some 120 points in his second year in the league. As the Sharks arrived in Montreal, the Habs would counter with Cole Caufield, Mr. Saturday Night, but the real question would be whether the home team’s defence would be able to contain Celebrini and the plays that he sets up.

And that, in the end, was the story of the game: Celebrini potted three pucks, two of which counted, and added an assist to single-handedly defeat the bleu blanc et rouge. Coach Martin St-Louis will need to think of a new formula for containing Celebrini before the next time the teams meet, as only the third line of Kirby Dach, Jake Evans, and Zachary Bolduc seemed to be capable of handling Celebrini’s moves.

Habs Starting Lines

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

Matheson – Dobson
Guhle – Hutson
Struble – Carrier

Dobes
Montembeault

Ten Thoughts

1) The proceedings did not start well, as Mike Matheson and Igor Chernyshov collided during the first shift, and the Russian rookie fell down awkwardly, apparently hitting his head on the ice as he fell. He was helped off the ice and did not return. And then, 80 seconds later, Shakir Mukhamadullin checked Ivan Demidov, and the Montreal star forward looked awkward falling into the boards. Demidov headed to the dressing room to be checked out, but did return, only missing a shift or two.

2) The Habs’ speed looked good early, and three minutes in, their skills were on full display, too. Alexandre Texier took a shot on Alex Nedeljkovic and then tried to jam it through the goaltender’s pads. Lane Hutson arrived just in time to lift the puck over Nedeljkovic, but the referee had lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle before it entered the net. It should have been a good goal but for the unfortunate whistle, but it all hinges on the referee’s ability to see the puck.

3) Just past the seven-minute mark, though, Juraj Slafkovsky beat Celebrini to the puck on the boards in the Montreal zone and sent Cole Caufield on a break with a cross-ice pass. Caufield had Nick Suzuki and Slafkovsky trailing him and attracting defensive attention, so Caufield was able to skate to the hash marks with just John Klingberg trying to cut off a pass. Caufield didn’t need to make that pass, as he had his eye on the top far corner, above Nedeljkovic’s glove, and that’s exactly where he placed the puck to give the Habs a 1-0 lead.

4) Kirby Dach nearly doubled that, as he broke into the San Jose zone on a nice breakout pass from Lane Hutson, but the puck ended up in Nedeljkovic’s pads. The Sharks’ Zack Ostapchuk liked that play so much that he congratulated Dach with a bear hug, earning the game’s first minor penalty. However, the ensuing Montreal power play was not exactly threatening, recording but one shot, that by Ivan Demidov.

5) That initial lead lasted almost six minutes, but that was it. Collin Graf, leading a San Jose rush attack, saw Celebrini on his right, wide open in the slot, and sent the puck to his centre. As the rookie star moved across to his left, Jakub Dobes followed, but not quite enough, as Celebrini sent a precision wrist shot into the top corner above Dobes’s blocker to tie the game up at a goal apiece. Might it make sense for the defence to pay attention to that particular rookie?

6) Montreal got another power play opportunity with two minutes left in the first period, as Celebrini cross-checked Slafkovsky. St-Louis gave the prime opportunity to the second power play unit, which has been the target of his experimentation recently. Zachary Bolduc, Alex Newhook, and Noah Dobson are still the constants in this unit, but Kirby Dach, Brendan Gallagher, and Oliver Kapanen have rotated through the lineup in the past few games as St-Louis looks for the most effective combination. Tonight, with Gallagher a healthy scratch, it was Dach and Kapanen filling the two spots, and the unit looked promising, though not able to score, at least for now.

7) The Sharks got their first man advantage 40 seconds into the second period, when Caufield jumped on the ice just that little bit too quickly. The San Jose power play does not look as stylish as the that of the bleu blanc et rouge (or the Red Army teams of the 1970s), but the presence of Celebrini makes it highly effective. The rookie phenomenon put the puck in the net near the end of two minutes, as he got away from Phillip Danault and was free at the side of the net. However, St-Louis challenged the goal, and the referees finally agreed that the Sharks’ attack had been offside entering the zone 31 seconds earlier.

8) The Sharks finally got their first shot of the second period 12 minutes in, as Mario Ferraro lobbed a puck at the Montreal net from just inside the blue line, and that puck evaded Dobes to move the Sharks ahead. And four and a half minutes later, Graf, standing next to Alexandre Carrier in front of the net, tipped a Celebrini shot past Dobes to make it a two-goal margin. That was two goals on three shots, and Dobes would surely want a do-over on at least the first one.

9) This year’s edition of the Canadiens doesn’t take such setbacks sitting down, though, and Suzuki followed Ivan Demidov into the on a four-man rush. As the captain called for a drop pass, Demidov did exactly that, and Suzuki found enough open ice to skate to the top of the circle to take the shot. He made the shot count, too, catching Nedeljkovic just inside the far post to move the Habs back within one.

10) The Canadiens have won more than 20 games after being behind, but the fire wasn’t there in the third period, as they were outshot 8-7 in the final frame despite playing nearly three minutes with six attackers in an attempt to tie things up. All that achieved, though, was a third goal by Celebrini–well, second that counted–into the empty net.

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Nick Suzuki (1g, 0a, 2 shots, +0, 22:01 TOI) did Suzuki things all night, and scored that second goal that gave the Habs at least an opportunity to earn a win, even if it didn’t quite come to that. Still, only 18% xGF while he was on the ice with Celebrini is not something to be celebrated.

Second Star: Kirby Dach (0g, 0a, 2 shots, +0, 15:02 TOI) nearly had a goal on the early pass from Lane Hutson, but more important was the defensive work his line, with Jake Evans and Zachary Bolduc, did: an xG share of 61% against Celebrini was impressive, as was the overall xGF% of 57%.

Third Star: Oliver Kapanen (0g, 0a, 1 shot, +0, 14:56 TOI) had little puck luck on the night but could easily have connected for a goal or two. Now putting in time on both the penalty kill and the second power play unit, he is earning the coach’s confidence with his consistent play.