10 Thoughts: Habs claim 4-3 OT win over Devils in a wild and crazy finish

The Canadiens arrived in New Jersey on Saturday for the first half of their pair of home-and-home games against the Devils, riding a seven-game winning streak and still fighting for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Devils, on the other hand, are barely ahead of the Maple Leafs and are effectively out of the playoff picture. That doesn’t mean that they are willing to concede any games, though, as they look for some meaning in these late-season games.

While the Habs took both points with them on the flight to Montreal, it indeed was no walkover. They may have (briefly) held a 3-0 lead, but the Devils came back with three unanswered goals, including the tying marker just after Jake Allen skated to the bench in favour of an extra attacker. Add another New Jersey penalty at the end of regulation, some good scoring chances in overtime, combined with Jakub Dobes exploring the rest of the rink, and then a ten-shooter shootout to decide the game, and the game was nothing if not eventful. Most important, though, were the two points, allowing the Habs to move into a tie with Buffalo, with a game still in hand.

Starting Lines

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

Matheson – Dobson
Struble – Hutson
Guhle – Xhekaj

Dobes
Montembeault

Ten Thoughts

1) Mr Saturday Night tried to take control of the proceedings early, streaking off into a breakaway only 30 seconds into the game. Cole Caufield’s shot ended up wide, though, and Jake Allen made the save on the next one, when Juraj Slafkovsky broke in with Caufield on his wing just two minutes later. There weren’t many other shots on net by the Habs early on, and the count was 7-2 for the Devils eight minutes into the period.

2) Ivan Demidov showed his moves again in a pretty break-through 13 minutes in, but Paul Cotter managed to get in the way of his shot to foil the scoring chance. That was the good news; the bad news was that he then gave up the puck, allowing the Devils to get on an odd-man rush. Demidov tried to make amends, but ended up drawing an interference penalty, giving New Jersey the first power play of the game. Fortunately, the penalty killing work was solid, and the Habs repeatedly cleared the zone, allowing only two shots on net.

3) This time, Jayden Struble was struggling with only a four-game goal-scoring drought coming into the game. He put paid to that streak quickly enough, moving in closer to the net with the Montreal pressure on, and snapped off a quick wrist shot off a pass from Caufield to cleanly beat Allen and give the bleu blanc et rouge the first lead in the game, with four minutes remaining in the first frame.

4) Nick Bjugstad returned the favour to Demidov just before the end of the period, slashing the young Russian winger to draw a minor penalty, almost all of it falling into the second period. The power play was anything but, however, as the top unit managed to enter the New Jersey zone but failed, time and time again, to maintain control of the puck in the offensive zone. They managed but a single shot attempt from Slafkovsky but it was blocked by Dougie Hamilton.

5) Jonas Siegenthaler gifted another power play to the Canadiens as he flipped the puck from the New Jersey zone clear over the glass to draw a delay-of-game penalty. This time, the power play worked far better, as the Habs succeeded in maintaining control and got their trademark puck movement going quickly. It was not to be #50 for Caufield, but the diminutive sniper recorded a primary assist on the play, as he sent the puck from behind the goal line to Demidov, who made no mistake in lifting the puck over Allen.

6) Lane Hutson made it a 3-0 lead before the halfway point of the period, sending a wrist shot from between the hash marks through heavy net-front traffic and past Allen. The two-goal lead is reputed to be the worst lead in hockey, so things should be better with a three-goal edge, right? Well, maybe that was just a little bit too comfortable, as the Devils continued to press, and the lifetime of that lead turned out to be less than four minutes. Just after the 13-minute mark, the Devils made a clean zone entry, and Dawson Mercer skated in with the puck along the right-side boards essentially unmolested. That was all well and good, but he was also able to skate in toward the goal, and his shot from the bottom of the face-off circle beat Jakub Dobes cleanly. The top corner is the weak point of the “reverse VH” (RVH) goalie stance, and that’s where Mercer placed the puck.

7) So, if the two-goal lead is the worst of the leads, then the double minor must be the worst of the power plays. Teams often don’t exhibit urgency or aggression on these power plays, and it was the same here. Worse yet, the Habs messed up a line change with the advantage, getting caught in the change while the Devils controlled the puck. So, with the bleu blanc et rouge disorganized, it was Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt at the Habs’ blue line with only Noah Dobson anywhere within a stone’s throw. Dobson tried to prevent the pass, but Hughes and Bratt had all the time in the world, and Hughes ended up beating Dobes to bring the game within one for the Devils.

8) New Jersey pressed hard in the final period to try to equalize, but the Canadiens didn’t panic: while I would have liked to see more focus on possession, they protected the lead much more effectively than in the first half of the season. As the Devils got more aggressive, the Habs also found more counterattack opportunities, but Allen was also playing a strong game, and no one was able to beat him with a fourth goal. So, with two minutes left on the clock, Allen headed to the bench … and ten seconds later, the puck was behind Dobes, on a nice shot by Timo Meier that rang off the goalpost and then in. After the numerous successful five-on-six defence efforts recently, this was a bit of a letdown, but at least there would be overtime.

9) The highlight of the five-minute overtime was not the scoring–there was none of that–but the Adventures of the Young Jakub Dobes, as the rookie goaltender wandered out of his net not once but twice to play the puck. The second time nearly resulted in a New Jersey goal, but miraculously, he managed to poke the loose puck away. Yikes!

10) The Habs haven’t played a shootout game recently, and they were only 2-5 in shootouts coming into Saturday’s match. Caufield and Demidov scored on the first two Habs attempts, and Dobes was able to stop all but Bratt and Hughes. However, as neither Nick Suzuki nor Slafkovsky managed to score, things were looking a bit dicey. Fortunately, Oliver Kapanen, the fifth shooter, also beat Allen, securing the two key points for the team.

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Jayden Struble (1g, 0a, 1 shots, +2, 15:28 TOI) continues to go from strength to strength playing with Lane Hutson. Struble opened the scoring, supported the Hutson goal (albeit with no official assist), and played more than 15 minutes. His growth as a reliable defender is making it look more and more likely that he can claim one of the regular positions on defence next year.

Second Star: Cole Caufield (0g, 2a, 5 shots, +0, 22:15 TOI) played yet another strong Saturday night game, even if his scoring attempts were repeatedly foiled by Jake Allen. As it is, though, at this point in the season, two primary assists matter more than scoring goal #50. That 50th goal might come Sunday night when the two teams complete their home-and-home series, or it might not–but Caufield, too, surely values the team results over the personal goal.

Third Star: Jakub Dobes (38 shots, 35 saves, .921 save %, +0.66 GSAx) didn’t win this game for the Habs, but he played well enough to keep them in it, matching Jake Allen’s performance in the other net. His positioning was strong, and he was never flustered. The overtime adventures, well, maybe those were not as well-advised, but the three saves in the shootout were key in bringing the two points home.