Canadiens: Disappointing Result But There's a Silver "Laning"

If the Los Angeles Kings were tired after taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, it didn't show. The visitors saw most of the puck possession in the first frame putting 13 shots on Samuel Montembeault's net. 

It was the Canadiens who took the lead, though. Justin Barron, who started the game on the first pairing alongside Mike Matheson, joined the attack with the first line and scored the first goal of the game on a wrap-around. It was a very good attacking frame for the Nova Scotia native.

Meanwhile, David Savard started the game on the third pairing with Arber Xhekaj and the pair saw under four minutes of ice time. It was the veteran's 800th game in the NHL and when he was showed on the scoreboard, you could see if he doesn't enjoy attention that much, still, the crowd let him have some love. 

The Habs got a power play opportunity and even though they didn't score, something jumped at me. While the plan is (and always seems to be) to use the back pass to enter the zone, of a path opens for Lane Hutson, he will take it. The youngster reads the game very well and can change his mind in a quarter of a second. It makes him a little bit hard to follow however and he surprises his teammates at times. 

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the spectrum is Kirby Dach, right now, he seems to be executing the plan whether or not the opponent has sniffed it out, but like I said in a previous article, he needs time. The center said it himself, he needs time to regain his level of confidence, that includes the ability to read plays as evidenced by this first period of action. 

It only took a 1:37 for the Kings to grab the lead in the second frame, Alex Lafferiere deflected Jordan Spence's shot which bounced on the ice and got past Montembeault. It turned out to be the only goal of the period which the Canadiens played without Mike Matheson in its entirety.

Considering St-Louis and Stephane Robidas had to play mix and match all period with the defense pairing, the Canadiens did well to only give up one goal. Furthermore, they turned up their attack a notch and by the end of the frame, the shots were tied 20-20.

Montreal announced Matheson had suffered an upper-body injury and wouldn't return for the third. In the end, he played eight shifts for a total of 7:35. His final shift was his shortest with 38 seconds. As a direct result, Hutson had played 19:19 through 40 minutes, the most of any blueliner on both sides. He even found the time to give Adrian Kempe a piggy back ride, as the Kings right winger tried to overtake him but was countered by the rookie. 

When the final buzzer rang, Lane Hutson had spent 30:05 on the ice, more than half the game. At 20 years old, he's got plenty of energy but it was great to see how well he could handle the responsibilities thrown his way.

While he finished the night with a minus-two rating, it's hard to hang anything at his door tonight. The first goal he was on the ice for tonight came from a missed chance he had handcrafted at the other end of the ice while the second was an empty netter. After 40 minutes, Hutson actually had 2:31 of puck possession, if you want to compare, at the same stage of the game, Nick Suzuki had 59 seconds. 

Justin Barron also had a very strong game, not because he scored the team's only goal, although that didn't hurt but because he played with a confidence we've rarely seen him skate with. Not renowned for being a very physical player he managed to land a couple of hits and block a shot.

The game got away from Montreal in the third when they allowed a goal from far out which Montembeault might have liked to get back. Down by two, the Habs conceded an empty net goal to seal Los Angeles' 4-1 win.

Three of Los Angeles' goals came right after the Habs lost faceoffs in their own zone, it's not that they lost so many faceoffs, but they failed to get in the shooting lanes and block shots efficiently. A missed block is very risky as it can end up actually harming your team and your goaltender who's got to react in a split second off deflections. 

Suzuki wasn't pleased with his team's effort:

Definitely disappointed, it was an immature effort from us, especially with them playing yesterday and getting in late, we gave them to much life. We let them feel comfortable in the game, it's on us to be a lot better than that. 

The captain feels his team needs to clean up to be able to compete in this league. As for St-Louis he explained:

We gave them a first period that suited them, we committed 14 turnovers in the first. That's unacceptable and it gave them life, that's how it started... it's hard to catch up, you're running after the game for half the game. We didn't play to our standards. 

In short, what transpired from the coach's press conference is that the team has got to play the game and perhaps do the things which aren't all that fun to do but will eventually lead them to victory. Playing a deep game, chipping pucks in at times and relying on the forecheck to get it back, it's not spectacular, but sometimes, that's what's needed. 

The Canadiens will be travelling to New York tomorrow at 2:00 PM after an 11:00 AM practice in Brossard. On Saturday, they'll hold a morning skate at 11:00 AM before taking on the Islanders at 7:00 PM. I wouldn't be shocked to see Cayden Primeau in net on Saturday, you've got to keep him active and sharp and he's had one game so far, it feels like he's due for another. 

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