The Montreal Canadiens had lost their last nine games to the Ottawa Senators, at home and away. It didn’t matter; the Habs had forgotten how to win. They started the game somewhat nervously with a pair of turnovers deep in their zone through Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson, but no harm was done.
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The nerves were soon shaken off though and Montreal got its working booths on. Each team got a pair of penalties in the first frame, but the Canadiens were the only ones able to take advantage in the dying seconds of their man-advantage. Christian Dvorak picked Ottawa’s pocket behind the net and fed Emil Heineman in the slot who one-timed his first career goal in.
So far, the Canadiens have looked insanely good at passing on the power play this season, but all too often, they are looking for the perfect play and make one pass too many instead of taking the shot. A goal is only worth one goal no matter how many passes lead to it, sometimes you’ve got to use the KISS method as my former English teacher used to say.
Montreal was flawless on the penalty kill in that first stanza, Dvorak, Jake Evans, Joel Armia and Josh Anderson have now taken over PK duties and it’s working well. Furthermore, since Suzuki doesn’t play shorthanded anymore, as soon as the penalty ends, a fresh first line can jump on. It hasn’t paid off yet, but it certainly will sooner or later. He is however the first one called upon if one of the PK forwards is sent to the box.
I wondered this morning if there was going to be any trouble on the ice tonight, and I was happy to see there was none…well aside from when Arber Xhekaj got Ridly Greig’s head in a headlock. I think everyone knew what that chat was about.
Related: Canadiens: Trouble Brewing?
Cole Caufield scored his third of the season 15 minutes into the final period, taking the sole goal scoring lead, leaving Brendan Gallagher behind at two. It was the diminutive winger’s eight goal in 11 games against the Senators, rather impressive and he wasn’t even done.
While Lane Hutson was held off the scoresheet in that frame, he got the Bell Centre rocking, the fun factor with this kid is absolutely through the roof and the crowd is loving it and him. Martin St-Louis described the youngster as “annoying for the other team” and when he was asked by Sportsnet’s Eric Engels if he had an example of a young player who arrived in his own career and made a difference he thought for a good few seconds, almost as if debating if he should go there or not and he decided to go for it:
Well for me, when I was 33, I saw an 18 year-old Stamkos come in and it didn’t happen right away for him, just the way they were playing him, it felt like he was kind of on a program, so to speak. But I remember I think around the 20th game of the season he scored three in one game. All of a sudden it was just like wow and you just knew right away like my God, this guy’s going to score a lot of goals in this league. […]We were all excited that we had this weapon now. I think the consistency of Lane excites the guys. The fact that they see he can defend and he’s not just a power play specialist….[…] He plays with really good intentions on the ice, it’s not just about Lane.
If the Canadiens had a slight edge in shots after 20 minutes, that lead melted like ice cream in the sun on a Summer day in the second. St-Louis’ men could only get four shots through to Linus Ullmark in the second and unsurprisingly, couldn’t add to their lead.
Meanwhile, the Sens tested Montembeault 12 times in the same span and remained unable to solve him. If Cayden Primeau’s body language was worrying on Thursday night in Boston, Montembeault’s was the exact opposite in tonight. He actually reeked of confidence, making it look so easy to both track the puck and make the saves. When a keeper feels comfortable enough to add a little something on saves, you just know they’re in the zone. We’ve seen it a few times in Montreal in the past.
Although Mike Matheson got his first point of the season tonight, he’s having a tough time out there committing repeated giveaways and losing the pucks in his own skates, just like Justin Barron really. When Jayden Struble is ready to play, he could find himself playing on his offside on the third pairing with Xhekaj.
40 minutes in, Kaiden Guhle already had five blocked shots and looks on his way to lead the team in that department again this season (he had 178 last year while Savard had 164). He finished his night with eight, an assist and a plus-two rating, not bad for a guy who missed almost all of the pre-season.
Early in the third, Hutson thrilled fans again as he danced around in the Sens territory looking for a play or space, he passed to Guhle who then sent the puck back to him and voila, he had Alex Newhook in loads of space and handed him his first goal of the season on a silver platter.
That’s all it took for the Bell Centre crowd to start its traditional Ole Ole chant which may or may not have had something to do with Tim Stutzle finally getting a shot through Montembeault. It’s not about jinxing the team or anything like that, but a visiting player who hears the crowd celebrating early like that must instantly get a motivation boost. On his goaltender, St-Louis said:
He looks big in net, he’s very composed, in control. From last year, there’s a nice progression and I’m not surprised. I think we keep improving our play in front of him as well.
Nick Suzuki got his first point of the year when he flew towards Ullmark on the breakaway, the goaltender stopped him but he could do nothing when Cole Caufield appeared to tap it in. This was the snipper’s fourth goal of the season, and he’s having an excellent start, it’s a bit early for goal total prediction, but at that rate Brett Hull and his 86-goal mark better watch out (I know, Wayne Gretzky once scored 92, but one step at the time, not that I’m serious in any case).
Related: Canadiens: What to Expect From Cole Caufield
The Sens did give it their all to tie things up with their goalie pulled, but they just couldn’t get another one past the Canadiens’ tender. After losing nine games in a row at the hands of the Senators, the Canadiens finally won one and on the grandest stage of them all, at the Bell Centre.
While this is two wins in a row at home for the Canadiens, those triumphs haven’t been masterpieces and there’s plenty of work that still needs to be done. After posting a shutout on opening night, Montembeault had a .960 save percentage tonight and without him, there would have been no win on either night. This is not being negative, it’s being realistic, your goalie can steal some games, but not every night.
The Canadiens will practice in Brossard tomorrow morning in readiness of their Monday night meeting with Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins.
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