After winning for the first time in six games, the Montreal Canadiens were hoping to start a winning streak with a second win in as many nights when they took on the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night. However, they didn’t start the game like a team that wanted to win. Within less than five minutes of puck drop, the hosts had already taken the lead and had 10 shots on goal.
Another Audition For Mailloux
Logan Mailloux got another chance to impress tonight when he was inserted in the lineup to replace Jayden Struble, but things seem to be going relatively fast for him in the first frame.
Granted, the play seemed to be going very fast for anyone wearing red, white, and blue early on, but the young blueliner seemed lost in his own zone, not knowing who to cover and when. Early in the second, he was forced to trip Warren Foegele on a breakaway, who scored on the resulting penalty shot, a minute 32 seconds after the Habs had tied the game.
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One has to wonder if there’s a link between the rumored Canadiens’ interest in Dylan Cozens, the presence of a Buffalo Sabres scout in Los Angeles, and Mailloux’s inclusion in the lineup.
Dobes Was Ready
The Canadiens were lucky that Jakub Dobes was ready for the start of the game unlike his teammates. Faced with a flurry of shots, the young goaltender jumped right in the action and multiplied the saves as the Canadiens looked unable to cope with Los Angeles’ attacks.
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The Canadiens could have went back to the dressing room trailing by much more than a single goal had the rookie netminder not been as focussed. While he did give up five goals, the loss cannot be hung at his door, it wasn’t his fault, it was a team loss, the Canadiens were quite simply dominated.
The Lowest Ice Time
For a second game in a row, Patrik Laine found himself playing on the third line alongside Jake Evans and Joel Armia. The demoted sniper was the lease used forward by Martin St-Louis spending only 11:33 on the ice, 17 seconds less than fourth liner and rookie Owen Beck.
That’s down from 13:45 in the game against the Sharks were he got a shot on goal, not such luck on Wednesday, no shot and he finished his night with a minus-one rating. That being said, the only goal he was on the ice for was the Kings’ empty netter.
Still, if he wants to reclaim his spot in the top-six, the big Finn will have to be more visible on the ice and bring something to the table at even strength.
The 6-3 final score doesn’t tell the whole story of the game and doesn’t reflect just how dominated the Canadiens were. Los Angeles shot 37 times on Dobes’ net while the Habs could only muster 21 shots on Darcy Kuemper’s net. Furthermore, Mike Matheson’s goal was rather lucky with the puck taking a couple of deflections to trickle in the net.
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The first line was on the ice for Matheson’s goal but was quite discreet all night, the Kings remain one of the four teams against whom Canadiens’ captain Nick Suzuki has never scored alongside the San Jose Sharks, the Utah Hockey Club and the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Canadiens will now head home and play a back-to-back at the Bell Centre this weekend before limping into the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Montreal remains five points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and the last wild card spot, but there are four teams ahead of the Habs in the race for the last playoffs tickets.
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