10 Thoughts: Habs Win 5th Straight
After making it four consecutive wins on Saturday night against the Predators, the Habs were right back in action as they visited the Hurricanes in Raleigh. This was a second game against the Eastern Conference leaders of the week, but Montreal was actually looking to sweep the season series against the ultra-aggressive Hurricanes.
This was especially important considering the Hurricanes represent one of the most probable first-round playoff matchups for the Canadiens. Despite being severely outplayed for large portions of the game, the Habs were opportunistic when the Hurricanes became overaggressive and were able to win the game in regulation by a 3-1 score.
Habs Lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Zach Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Jake Evans
Arber Xhekaj – Joe Veleno — Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Kaiden Guhle — Alexandre Carrier
Jayden Struble – Lane Hutson
Jakub Dobes
10 Thoughts
1) The Habs have played with eleven forwards and seven defencemen before, but this one was different as the coaching staff decided that while they were dressing seven defencemen, they weren’t playing that way. So, the lineup note above is not a mistake. Arber Xhekaj played on the wing. Playing the enforcer on the wing ended up being mostly a nothing sandwich, but could he get comfortable there, where he could use his bruising style more effectively? Anyways, they really did it here with Josh Anderson still sick and unable to suit up for this early evening game.
2) The first ten minutes of this game looked as though the Hurricanes were preparing to run the Habs right out of the building. After ten minutes, the shot clock read 10-1 in favour of the local team and that’s a fair representation of how much Montreal relied on Dobes to start the game. The score was 1-0 for Carolina as Andrei Svechnikov fired home an off-angle shot on the man-advantage.
3) The Habs gave up the power play marker to Svechnikov on a Guhle hooking minor. The play basically came down to soft clearing attempts that the Canes were able to keep inside the offensive zone. Rarely will a team that fails to clear the zone on the penalty kill get away with it. They played with fire and got burned.
4) Guhle was all around the early physical play and could have been given more than one penalty in the period. He also drew a call on Nikolaj Ehlers in the second half of the period. Montreal’s power play had to adjust to the aggressive nature of Carolina’s penalty kill, but they got zone time later on. Guhle delivered and took many hits in the defensive zone as the Habs spent most of the period there. However, the visitors had a better second half of the period as they actually outshot the Hurricanes 6-2 in the second half for a 12-6 final tally in favour of the home side.
5) Carolina kicked off the second period in the same way they started the game. The Habs looked like they didn’t belong in the same league, but Dobes continued to play the hero for his squad, and it finally paid off. Six minutes into the period, Hutson grabbed the puck in the defensive zone and found Caufield cheating behind the defence. K’Andre Miller closed that gap rapidly on Caufield but failed to realize that Suzuki had a step on the next back checker. He was over-aggressive on Caufield who flipped the puck to Suzuki and he wired home the equalizer.
6) Moments later, the Canes were caught with too many men on the ice and the Habs suddenly had a chance for a lead, and they had all the momentum. Montreal had a better advantage this time but still couldn’t score. After the power play, Carolina was right back on the attack as they ultimately outshot the Habs 14-6 in the period. Dobes was amazing and this allowed the Canadiens to explode offensively before the end of the period.
7) With two and a half minutes to play, the Hurricanes were once again guilty of being over-aggressive. Suzuki came into the offensive zone, and he was basically facing three defenders. All three defenders converged on him, which was really illogical for the weak-side defender, in this case, Shayne Gostisbehere. Due to that charge by the defender, Suzuki was able to deliver an area play pass to the area vacated by the weak-side defender. Caufield was all alone in that area, and he wired home a shot that caught Frederik Andersen off his angle in his net.
8) Despite the fact that the Habs were suddenly up 2-1 in a game where they truly did not deserve a lead, the action in the second period wasn’t even done. With 15 seconds to play, Eric Robinson was guilty of an offensive zone trip on Dobson. The Habs immediately took advantage as Suzuki won the faceoff to Hutson. Hutson deferred to Demidov. The Carolina forward was over-aggressive on Demidov who deferred to Slafkovsky down low. Jalen Chatfield compounded the initial error by being over-aggressive on Slafkovsky who simply went cross-crease to Suzuki who was all alone next to Andersen. He was so alone that he fired his initial shot into the goaltender’s pads but still had enough time to corral the rebound and bury it on the wide-open net.
9) The Habs came out determined to defend well in the third period. Dobes remained their best player, but the Habs mostly allowed chances from the outside when at even strength. Carolina outshot the Canadiens 8-4 in the third, for a total of a 35-18 advantage. They got two power plays to Montreal’s one, but the Habs were determined to keep everything in front of them in this period and to limit the chances against.
10) With the playoffs getting near, one of the topics making the rounds is the focus on the potential opponents for the Habs in the first round. One of these possibilities is the Hurricanes. Honestly, the Hurricanes’ style of play tends to make average goaltending look excellent as they focus on shot volume as opposed to shot quality. This is not a comment on Dobes, who is absolutely on fire right now. I mean that if Dobes isn’t as hot as he currently is when the playoffs come around, Carolina’s style of play could get him back into that zone in a hurry, so it’s a good option for the Habs, especially after a regular season sweep.
HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars
1st Star – Jakub Dobes
For the second time in a week, Dobes was the difference in a game versus Carolina. By the time the third period rolled around, the Hurricanes were missing the net by a significant margin as it appeared as though the rookie netminder was completely in their heads. Dobes has been on fire of late and has earned the status of the number one goaltender for the remainder of the season, no question and no argument to be made. Jacob Fowler will get his day, but this is Dobes’ time.
Stats: 34 saves on 35 shots, 1.00 GAA, .971 SV%
2nd Star – Cole Caufield
In a game where the Habs appeared to have nothing going for them, it was Caufield who twice was able to get lost in coverage and find a weakness in the ultra-aggressive Carolina forecheck to open scoring chances. He ends the night with another goal, getting his total to 46. 50 is well within reach now if he doesn’t start to look for it too much. How exciting is it for Habs fans to finally have a player nearing 50 goals and hunting for a potential Maurice Richard trophy? Never seen that in my lifetime.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 3 shots, 15:45 T.O.I.
3rd Star – Nick Suzuki
Why does a team like Carolina have a hard time getting through the playoffs? Because cerebral players like Suzuki exist and when those players find a team that plays the game with only one speed and one option of execution, they can pick them apart. Suzuki has done that to Carolina this season and this game was no exception. Mentioned above are Caufield’s potential achievements in the next nine games. Well, how about Suzuki? Nick beat his career-best in points in this game, finishing the night at 91 points, good for 7th in the NHL in scoring. The century mark is within sight for the captain. He also has 65 assists, so the 70-assist mark is a possibility. Crazy season for Habs fans.
Stats: 2 goals, 1 assist, +2, 5 shots, 1 hit, 20:17 T.O.I.