The Montreal Canadiens played a good game in Minnesota, but not good enough to beat their host.
As his often the case when the Montreal Canadiens make a conscious effort to play better defensively, they struggled to get going in the offensive zone. While they only allowed the Minnesota Wild to get four shots on net in the first frame, they could only muster two themselves making for a very tight and suffocating 20 minutes.
The hosts broke the deadlock just under 13 minutes into the second frame when the Canadiens turned the puck over. Lane Hutson was planning to join the attack, but Christian Dvorak was planning to pass the puck to him, which he attempted to do with disastrous results.
Kiril Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson fed Matt Boldy in close and he didn't miss such a golden opportunity, putting the Wild up by one. The turnover unsettled Lane Hutson who ran around in his own zone, desperately trying to catch up the play and his man, but the damage had been done.
It's hard to blame Hutson for anything though, he's a rookie still learning the game and a system which doesn't appear to be all that simple, so there's bound to be some growing pains. Still, the youngsters did manage to have a few dominating shift, including one particularly similar to a Buggs Bunny cartoon.
If Hutson caught my eye for the right reason, the same cannot be said for Kirby Dach. He's still struggling and he doesn't look like he's trying all that hard which is unforgivable when you are getting prime minutes on the top line. Furthermore, all too often, pucks go to die on his stick on the power play. At times he's hesitant, and in other instances he's just too predictable.
If Martin St-Louis doesn't want to take Mike Matheson off the power play, an alternative could be to put Hutson there instead of Dach. While teams who put two defensemen on their power play units are becoming rarer by the minute, it doesn't mean it's forbidden.
The Wild doubled its lead on a power play in the third frame after Jayden Struble was assessed an unlucky double-minor for high sticking. The Canadiens were three seconds away from killing the penalty when Marco Rossi doubled Minnesota's lead.
Down two goals, the Habs pulled their goalie but were unable to solve Gustavsson or to control the puck adequately really as Kaprizov was able to put the insurance marker in, final score 3-0 Minnesota. It's hard to score when you can only generate 19 shots on goal.
The Canadiens put up a good fight, but the Wild were the better team, even though they lost Matts Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek early and Jonas Brodin wasn't dressed. This will be another season in which the Habs can't win in Minnesota, 13 years and counting.
Still, St-Louis liked what he saw from his team stating that by playing like that, they'll be in every single game. He's confident his team is heading the right way. It was a good night for Samuel Montembeault in net. He faced 27 shots stopping all but two for a .926 save percentage, this is the kind of performance this team needs in net.
Montreal will now head back home for four games over two weeks. They'll take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (the night where they'll honour former captain Shea Weber, adding him to the ring of honour following his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame) and the Edmonton Oilers and new 1,000 points scorer Connor McDavid on Monday night.
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