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The Habs kicked off an intimidating road trip on Wednesday in Utah against a team they’ve beaten this season in the Mammoth. They did so with presumably more confidence after a convincing win on Saturday against the Maple Leafs. So, would they be able to ride that momentum to another win?

Indeed they were and the win was crucial as the rest of the trip will a back-to-back in Vegas and Colorado on Friday and Saturday. In a more general sense, the Canadiens and Mammoth both started the season hot but have cooled off considerably of late. The big difference is Utah’s home record was still excellent and promised that the Habs would have their work cut out for them. The good news is that Montreal was well rested as it was their first game since Saturday and it showed throughout as they came out and played a strong first period before completely crumbling in the second. They picked themselves back up in the third and held on for a 4-3 win. 

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Zack Bolduc
Juraj Slafkovsky – Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Florian Xhekaj – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson
Jared Davidson – Joe Veleno – Brendan Gallagher

Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble — Lane Hutson
Adam Engstrom – Alex Carrier 

Jakub Dobes 

10 Thoughts

1) The opening minutes of the game showed promise as both teams were skating hard and pressuring the opposition defenders to create scoring looks. The Habs kept up the pace through the period, and they were able to be the better team for most of the period. The Mammoth pushed back after the Canadiens took the lead, but they failed to cash in on a late power play opportunity as the period ended with a 2-0 score and a 7-6 shot advantage for the visitors.

2) What really allowed the Canadiens to be the better team in the period was an ability to take advantage of impatience by the Mammoth defenders who cheated on offence allowing the creation of transition offence. The Habs were rewarded with a full minute of 5-on-3 play that was once again unsuccessful. However, they did score on the second penalty when Hutson faked a shot before going across to Bolduc for a one-timer to open the scoring. They would add to the lead on a 3-on-2 with a tic-tac-toe from Bolduc to Caufield to Suzuki who made no mistake in extending the lead. 

3) Utah pushed back in a big way in the second period as they got most of the offensive zone time. However, they once again lacked discipline in puck management which opened some transition opportunities for the Habs who missed a few golden chances to extend the lead. This became important when Carrier took a penalty for clearing a puck into the stands. Anderson and Evans made consecutive poor reads on the penalty kill before Barrett Hayton made them pay as he made it 2-1 on a nice passing play. 

4) The Mammoth were suddenly all over the Canadiens as Dobes stood tall and make a few excellent saves. This allowed another transition chance, but Karel Vejmelka was once again there to make a stop on a Caufield breakaway. Montreal would pay for that miss. Dobson lost a battle in the defensive corner against Logan Cooley. Carrier inexplicably left the front of the net to come help Dobson. This created a two on one in front of the net against Demidov who made the wrong read and Kailer Yamamoto made it 2-2. 

5) Two minutes later, Carrier covered no one in front of the net and watched while Veleno got absolutely rag-dolled behind the net by Michael Carcone who skated out and beat Dobes to make it 3-2 while Davidson handed them a power play after the goal to make matters worse. The Habs appeared shell-shocked for the rest of the period as they ended up being outshot 13-5 in the frame. 

6) The third period started with two big saves by Dobes before Slafkovsky outmuscled Yamamoto, causing a penalty for the Mammoth. Slafkovsky was the one rewarded for his hard work as seconds later, Hutson sent a shot-pass to Slafkovsky beside the net and the game was quickly tied. The play was challenged by Utah for offside and it turned out that Slafkovsky was indeed offside. This mattered little as a minute later, the Habs were back for more as Gallagher was stopped before Bolduc put the rebound on the post. The second rebound came to Suzuki who caught Vejmelka looking the wrong way and now the game was tied. 

7) Two minutes later, the puck was bouncing everywhere before it finally landed on the stick of Demidov. He was on a one-on-one and he used the Mammoth defender for a screen as he dragged and released between the defender’s legs which fooled Vejmelka and the Canadiens were back on top. This time, they would not relinquish the lead as they played solid defensively in front of Dobes who also seemed to gain confidence as the game wore on and made some excellent stops in the third period. 

8) What was truly interesting in the third period was the ice-time deployment by the coaching staff. The eye test saw the staff trust Engstrom more in the third as he played some shifts with Hutson instead of Struble as it appeared clear that both Struble and Carrier struggled throughout this game. The final numbers showed that it was perhaps the other way around as Struble and Carrier both ended up with more ice time than Engstrom and Hutson (Hutson still got more ice time than Struble) so it would be interesting to pick Martin St. Louis’ brain on that one. 

9) One challenge facing Montreal right now is that many of their depth pieces that were so good last season just haven’t been as effective this season. Evans, Gallagher, and Carrier just haven’t been as effective in giving the other lines consistent support and an ability to enter the game with momentum squarely on their side. A large part of that is that this group is supported with insufficient replacements as Veleno has not been able to cover for Christian Dvorak, and none of them have filled Joel Armia’s role either.

10) Looking ahead to Friday against a team that is far more imposing physically, I’m hoping that the Engstrom-Hutson pairing sticks and that Arber Xhekaj returns to the lineup alongside Carrier. Honestly, judging off this game alone, it might not be a bad idea to play Xhekaj on the right and let Carrier sit, but that seems highly unlikely. More importantly, Florian Xhekaj played another excellent game in this one. Considering the last point about bottom-six veteran usage combined with the opponent on Friday, one wonders if the coaching would be better off with a defensive line and then a physical energy line that could include Davidson/Texier-Xhekaj-Anderson. 

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Nick Suzuki 

Many people around the league state that as Suzuki goes, so go the Habs. Well, Suzuki was once again a catalyst on this night as the offence came through his stick as he collected three points on the four Habs goals. With Slafkovsky going so well on line two, it was nice to see Bolduc get the Suzuki rub on this night. Hoping that can continue. 

Stats: 2 goals, 1 assist, 2 shots, 4 hits, +1, 23:52 T.O.I. 

2nd Star – Jakub Dobes 

When the rest of the fan base was screaming for the coaching staff to play Dobes more at the start of the season, I disagreed. Sure, Dobes was getting more results than Montembeault, but Montembeault has the track record and Dobes was extremely loud in his crease, relying on luck more than sound play to get said result. In this one, Dobes started loud and erratic, but he settled as the game wore on and put together one of the better periods we’ve seen from a Hab netminder this season in the third. It’s highly likely that Montembeault gets the start Friday, but with the way the Avalanche are rolling, I might opt to play the better option in Dobes out there to try to win Friday instead. An excellent game by Dobes in this one. 

Stats: 31 saves on 34 shots, .912 save percentage, 3.00 GAA

3rd Star – Zack Bolduc 

Yes, Bolduc got the Suzuki rub as he found his name all over the score board on Wednesday night. But Bolduc also played one of his best games of the season. He was in a Slafkovsky type of mood as he constantly found himself in the corner winning board battles to allow the play to remain in the offensive zone, particularly early in the third period. When he wasn’t in the corner battling for pucks, he was active (and this is the main quality) instead of stationary in the slot to get open for pass receptions. This perhaps mirrors his stat lines from the first games of the season, but I felt like this was his best eye-test game of the season in terms of off-puck play and what he did to get pucks back for his team. 

Stats: 1 goal, 2 assists, +1, 2 shots, 16:10 T.O.I.