For the second year in a row, the Montreal Canadiens turned to Jacob Fowler for help. This year, though, it wasn’t because their goaltending was in disarray. Had Samuel Montembeault not been injured, the youngster wouldn’t have had the chance to make his season debut against the Nashville Predators. But he certainly wasn’t about to complain or miss an opportunity to make a good first impression (this season).

Montreal came out strong in the first and set the tone right away; Chris Kreider even scored a close-range goal, but the call was offside. Still, the Habs didn’t let that derail them and kept going. After 20 minutes, the Canadiens led 11-5 on the shot clock, but the biggest test was to come: the dreaded second period.

The Habs have had real problems with the second frame since last season, and against Nashville, it looked like they had exorcised that demon. They completely dominated the first 15 minutes of the period, keeping sustained pressure on the Predators and trapping them in their own zone. They even scored a couple of goals, and it looked like they were cruising.

However, the last five minutes proved to be a real test for the Sainte-Flanelle; Alex Kerfoot scored with a perfect deflection right in front of Fowler, who couldn’t do a thing about it. No one was there to tie up the forward, and the damage was done in an instant. Just over four minutes later, the Preds scored again, this time on the power play and in special circumstances, with the net coming off its moorings, and just like that, everyone was back to square one. Speaking to the media after the game, Martin St-Louis didn’t feel his team was hard done by on the second goal, saying the league reviews events like this and that the Habs helped move the net.

Montreal played a good third frame as well, but once again fell victim to its penalty kill; after Nashville took a 3-2 lead, they scored a couple of empty-netters, making the scoreline 5-2. That makes it sound like the Predators were the better side tonight, but it was a harsh result.

When the press got into the dressing room after the game, a frustrated-looking Lane Hutson sat in his stall. Clearly, he felt the Canadiens deserved better:

Yeah, I think everyone’s a little annoyed; it’s not going to be perfect. It’s a long season; we move on to the next [game].

Ultimately, the game came down to one thing: one team making the most of its man-advantage opportunity and the other failing to do so. Hutson had a simple explanation for the power play’s lack of success:

He might not have said it, but Demidov's absence is no doubt a big part of the power play's woes. As for where the game slipped away, the blueliner didn’t mince words, saying that stuff happens, but he was clearly unhappy with the result. The blueliner is a proud athlete and despises losing; it was obvious during his media availability.

Meanwhile, Martin St-Louis was convinced his men deserved better, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. He explained:

At even strength it was our best game of the year. We’ve got to improve on our special teams; that’s where the issue is. […] You can’t give the ref the opportunity to call a penalty. We could be better at that, but we still have to improve our special teams.

However, the bench boss isn’t particularly concerned about that right now:

With Juraj Slafkovsky back on the first line, Alex Newhook found himself with two new second-line wingers: Chris Kreider and Josh Anderson. The unit clicked right away and played with plenty of speed, making their forecheck hard to deal with. All that speed once again provided Josh Anderson with a breakaway opportunity in the third frame, but he couldn’t thread the needle, partly because he couldn’t put the puck where he wanted to:

I saw a hole there to go five-hole and obviously missed it, shot a little bit right of where I wanted to put it. Sometimes that happens.

While the Canadiens need to work on their special teams, they also need to capitalize on breakaways; game after game, they miss grade-A opportunities, and more often than not, those missed chances cost them. Anderson is by no means the only guilty party; earlier this week, both Suzuki and Jake Evans also failed to seal the deal in the same circumstance.

On Friday, the Canadiens will hold an optional skate in Brossard at 11:30 AM; this shouldn’t surprise anyone, given that the players had a good compete level on Thursday night. Still, they came out empty-handed and slowly but surely, the pressure is starting to mount.

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