10 Thoughts: D Zone Lapses Cost Habs Second Straight

For the second time in two weeks, the Habs were facing the Anaheim Ducks on the back end of a back-to-back after being defensively inadequate against the Sharks the night prior. Nine days ago, they likely deserved a better outcome, but the game was likely Samuel Montembeault’s last meaningful game for the team this season. The team scored five, but Montembeault was not good enough and prompted the call-up of Jacob Fowler.

Ironically, Fowler was the goaltender on this night after Jakub Dobes was rather leaky in his Saturday night effort, where the Habs could easily make the argument that they deserved better.

This was also a big game for the Ducks, who were welcoming back Troy Terry after a 20-game injury absence, but the big deadline acquisition in John Carlson was also making his Ducks debut. Terry made an immediate impact as he put up three points as play was rather even through 40 minutes. Despite being the better team for most of the third, the problem that persists for the Canadiens is that when they cough up a scoring chance, it’s always an A+ chance. Many will point to the system, but truthfully, they are simply terrible reads and, on this night, it resulted in a 4-3 loss. 

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook— Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Alex Texier – Jake Evans – Kirby Dach
Josh Anderson – Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher

Lane Hutson – Noah Dobson
Mike Matheson — Kaiden Guhle
Arber Xhekaj – Alexandre Carrier 

Jacob Fowler 

10 Thoughts

1) The first ten minutes of the game looked like Saturday as the forwards were too quick to exit the defensive zone. This compounded the fact that the defencemen were not winning their puck battles. The two main culprits in their inability to win battles were Guhle and Carrier, who continued to struggle mightily. Anaheim scored the game’s first goal as a basic breakout somehow ended up behind all three players from Montreal’s top line. Guhle played the 3-on-2 as poorly as one could, leaving Hutson on an island as Leo Carlsson completed a tic-tac-toe passing play.

2) The Habs then got two power plays. The first was horrendous, but they got cooking the second time around, only to see Caufield and Dobson ring shots off the post. In addition to the two posts, Lukas Dostal was forced to make several strong saves on Demidov, Newhook, and Slafkovsky. The Canadiens overall were much better in the second half as they were able to even the shot count at nine despite retreating to the intermission still down by one. Worth noting that Newhook turned his period around in the second half. 

3) Dach took a bit of a cheap shot (late hit) by Jeffrey Viel and did not play the rest of the first period, which drew the ire of Xhekaj and Anderson. Viel refused to answer the bell, which is a terrible look for the Ducks so close to the Radko Gudas garbage with Auston Matthews. However, no matter the nature of the hit, Dach did get caught looking at the puck instead of being aware of the play around him. In the end, Dach did not return to action for the game as the “man of glass” moniker just continues to stick. 

4) In the opening minute of the second period, Suzuki lost Carlsson off a defensive zone draw which resulted in Carlsson getting the puck in the slot and putting home his second of the game. The Ducks then went to sleep for a while as the Canadiens were able to get back in the game and even take the lead. Once in the lead, Montreal decided to be way too passive in their defensive zone coverage which allowed Terry to get on the board with a goal for his third point of the game. 

5) A minute later, the Habs would finally solve Dostal as Hutson walked the blue line before finding Newhook for a one-timer from the faceoff dot. A minute later, Dobson caught Viel covering for Carlson and sprung Caufield on a partial break. Caufield used his elite release to get his shot by Dostal as the game was suddenly tied only two minutes into the second period. With seven minutes to play, Slafkovsky was able to control a puck in the defensive zone high slot. He carried the puck through the defensive and neutral zones before finding Suzuki. Suzuki caught Dostal cheating for a pass and buried a goal to get the Habs up 3-2. The period would finish with a Texier goal that clearly went in after the buzzer, but shots in the period were 12-9 which was rather indicative of the pace of play as the Canadiens were up 21-18 overall on the shot clock. 

6) The Habs controlled the first two minutes of play, but the officials took care of that as a rather soft call against Danault for interference sent the Ducks to their first advantage of the night. The Habs survived the sequence only for a hold on Anderson was matched with an embellishment call on Beckett Sennecke, sending the teams to some 4-on-4. Overall, the special teams gave momentum to the Ducks as Fowler came up with his best sequence of the night to keep the game even. 

7) With ten minutes to play, the Habs were absolutely gifted a power play as Dobson fell on his own, but Mikael Granlund was called for tripping. It was every bit as bad as Hutson in Minnesota. The Habs were unable to score on the advantage and even needed Fowler to bail them out afterwards with an excellent glove save. With two and a half to play, Viel beat Guhle in a puck battle, and Gauthier caught Hutson cheating for offence. Viel hit Gauthier, who was all alone in the lower slot, finally getting one by Fowler for a 4-3 lead.  

8) The Habs applied pressure in the final moments, and Hutson got free only to hit the post. Anaheim then hit two posts on the empty net before the Habs were able to apply significant pressure in the final moments, only to come up empty. 

9) For the second consecutive night, Montreal coughed up a game late and was unable to find the late-game magic that has characterized their season. The Habs have collected many points this season in games they likely didn’t deserve, coming up with late-game heroics. As teams approach the playoffs, they tighten up defensively and these heroics become much harder to pull off. It would be a better idea for the Habs to get mentally sharp and mature and stop coughing up top-notch scoring chances when the game is still within reach. 

10) Roster decisions have been the talk of the town recently and if we are to believe that what is happening is a meritocracy, then some more “hard decisions” should be happening in the near future. Carrier and Guhle have been absolutely terrible on the back end and there is no way Xhekaj or Jayden Struble have been worse than Carrier in recent games. I’m not sure there is an appetite for this discussion to happen, and the Dach injury might send these discussions to the back burner for now. While everyone saw Carrier get physically destroyed in last year’s postseason, it seems insane to me that they aren’t testing a Struble-Xhekaj bottom-pair prior to the playoffs. 

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Juraj Slafkovsky 

Suzuki was off all weekend, but the line got away with it for the most part as Slafkovsky was an absolute monster. He covered defensively as Nick and Cole were often too quick to fly the zone. He extended shifts in the offensive zone with monster forechecks and puck possessions, and he was finally rewarded for it on his assist to Suzuki in the second period. What a display of sheer determination and power. Simply awesome. 

Stats: 1 assist, even, 5 shots, 1 hit, 21:21 T.O.I. 

2nd Star – Noah Dobson 

Dobson is so smooth and is the most consistent player on the Habs blue line. Matheson is suddenly coughing up pucks again, and Hutson has been pressing on his defensive zone reads of late. Dobson is the one who continues to shine on this blue line. It would be nice for him to get some help in his own zone from time to time. 

Stats: 1 assist, even, 1 shot, 5 blocks, 23:01 T.O.I. 

3rd Star – Jacob Fowler 

Fowler made some big saves in the third as the Habs continued to press to score the winner and coughed up far too many A+ scoring chances against their rookie netminder to truly deserve the game on this night. None of that is indicative of Fowler’s play and the fact that he seems like the most “repeatable” and predictable in his performances coming down the stretch. Can he get enough defensive support to get the team to the playoffs? 

Stats: 24 saves on 28 shots, .857 save %, 4.13 GAA, 58:09 T.O.I.