The Montreal Canadiens lost 3-2 in overtime to the Utah Hockey Club and to be fair, it was the right result.
Tonight's game strangely reminded me of Saturday night's tilt against the Vegas Golden Knights. Just like then, the visitors had most of the puck possession in the first frame, and the Montreal Canadiens spent most of their time chasing it. After 20 minutes on the weekend, Vegas had a 12-6 edge in shots. Tonight the Utah Hockey Club led 14-5.
Of course, the three power plays the Utah Hockey Club received went a long way in their puck possession domination, but still, once again, Samuel Montembeault had to battle hard in net. He was lucky to receive his post's help at times, but he still managed to keep the score tied at 0-0.
The Canadiens got a single power play, less than a minute into the game and we were able to see that in Mike Matheson's absence, Lane Hutson was pulling double duty on the blueline, quarterbacking both man-advantage units. As always, the youngster looked prone to defer, passing the puck in the quickest of flash when it could be worth it for him to try a shot here and there.
In the defensive zone, Kaiden Guhle played a strong game, blocking shots and intercepting passes thanks to both an active stick and an acute sense of diving at the right time, he almost looked like Hal Gill at times laying completely on the ice, but he was much more in control. Even Jayden Struble made a similar play on the penalty kill.
It's also worth mentioning Joel Armia had a strong first, especially orchestrating a game of keep away on the penalty kill, taking 30 seconds off the clock as an helpless Utah side looked on. Juraj Slafkovsky only saw four minutes of ice time in the first, probably because of the parade to the penalty box. On one presence, his line completed by Armia and Kirby Dach was able to maintain puck possession in the offensive zone, which was one of their objectives tonight, but they didn't take a single shot, which kind of defeats the purpose.
Unlike Saturday though, the Canadiens didn't hemorrhage goals in the middle frame. They did give one up at the end of a questionable Alex Newhook two-minute holding penalty. Dylan Guenther fired a one-timer from Cole Caufield's office to put Utah on the board.
The Canadiens were visibly nervous afterwards, Hutson committing a big fat turnover in front of the net but there was no harm done. Thankfully, less than two minutes after HC had taken the lead, Struble fired a snap shot from far out and beat Karel Vejmelka high blocker side to tie up the game.
To be fair, by then the Utah keeper might have been somewhat "sleepskating", in 40 minutes he only saw eight shots while Montembeault had to face 21. Once again an all too familiar story these days for the Canadiens.
St-Louis has asked his players not to take any unwarranted risk but since he's done that, his charges are having a very hard time generating shots. Are they unable to mount a safe attack? That's what evidence tends to suggest. It's one thing to ask your players to dump the puck and chase it, but if not everyone is willing to do the second part of hit, you won't get many shots. As the great Michael Scott once said "100% of the shots you don't take don't go in" (yes, I know it was the Great One who said it first).
It was country night at the Bell Centre and after 40 minutes of "action" the building finally woke up during a country karaoke thanks to the DJ and one Shania Twain. To be fair though, the song That Don't Impress Me Much might have been more suited to the game, but it wouldn't have had the same effect as Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
46 seconds into the third frame, Newhook put the Canadiens in front as Christian Dvorak threw the puck on net from behind and he converted out of nowhere. With nine shots on goal, the Habs led 2-1, somehow.
Less than four minutes later though, Utah got an odd-man rush and Logan Cooley fed Jake McBain perfectly to tie up the game. For the rest of the match, overtime included, Montreal only got four more shots.
In extra time, Guhle hit a post which didn't count as a shot, but former Hab Mikhail Sergachev didn't miss his chance on the doorstep and scored the game winner.
Some will say that Canadiens had to take on the Utah FC and the referees tonight as there were quite a few questionable calls/non-calls, but at the end of the day, if you only take 13 shots on goal, you won't win many games. The three calls in the first can explain the low number of shots in that frame, but the excuse doesn't work for the rest of the game.
That being said there are players on this team who are always trying. Tonight, Brendan Gallagher finished his game with 10 hits in 13:56 of ice time, Emil Heineman registered another five hits, and Arber Xhekaj seven.
As for Slafkovsky, who saw the least ice time on the team (yes, even less than Joshua Roy, by a second but still), with 11:29 applied five hits as well. Dach had two and was rewarded with an overtime shift that gave him a front row view to Sergachev's game-winning goal.
The coach couldn't confirm whether Mike Matheson would be traveling with the team, but he did say Patrik Laine would be. Still, it would be shocking to see him in the lineup before next week. The team caught a plane to Columbus after the game and will be taking on the Blue Jackets tomorrow night.
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