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The Habs looked to take both ends of the first of several back-to-back weekend sets as they hosted St. Louis on Sunday. However, an early second-period collapse proved costly, helping the Blues eventually pick up the 4-3 win.
There was supposed to be one lineup change for this one as Samuel Montembeault was scheduled to start. However, a little before game time, the Habs announced that he wouldn’t dress due to illness. Instead, Kaapo Kahkonen was recalled from Laval to serve as the backup to Jakub Dobes. With no spare forwards or defencemen available, the rest of the team lined up the same as Saturday:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Texier – Kapanen – Demidov
Anderson – Evans – Gallagher
Davidson – Veleno – Bolduc
Matheson – Dobson
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Carrier
10 Thoughts
1) Special teams were a big part of Saturday’s game and they played a key role in the early going in this one. The Habs got an early opportunity when Logan Mailloux went off for holding Oliver Kapanen but Montreal’s strong performance on the power play as of late didn’t materialize. The other part of that summer trade, Zach Bolduc, then took a slashing penalty on Justin Faulk. St. Louis was able to capitalize with Cam Fowler’s point shot taking an opportune bounce right to Brayden Schenn. Dobes was out of position as he was playing Fowler’s shot, leaving an open net for Schenn to shoot at and he made no mistake.
2) Less than four minutes later, the Habs were able to get a cycle game going on the fourth line. Lane Hutson picked the right time to pinch from the point and took a strong feed from Bolduc. Hutson was in tight but still had time to put a perfect deke on Jordan Binnington for a very pretty goal. Interestingly enough, it was Mailloux who failed to cover Hutson properly while it was Bolduc who set him up so again, the two parts of that trade were involved. Jared Davidson picked up his first career NHL point with the second assist.
3) It looked like both teams were going to be content with going to the room tied at one but Montreal’s top line was able to strike late in their shift. Cole Caufield found a soft seam in the Blues’ defence and Nick Suzuki was able to set him up for a quick shot that got through Binnington. The Habs did well holding the Blues at bay for most of the period so it was nice to see them rewarded for their efforts with the lead.
4) For as bad as the Habs have been in the second period, they could take comfort in the fact that the Blues were the one team with a worse goal differential in the middle frame this season. Unfortunately, St. Louis probably took Montreal’s struggles as a sign of confidence themselves. And it showed.
5) Just 26 seconds into the period, the Habs turned the puck over, springing the Blues on a two-on-one. Schenn got a pass through to Dylan Holloway and with Alexandre Texier (the other player in a ‘revenge game’ in this one) unable to get back in time, Holloway had time to receive the pass, change direction, and slip it past Dobes to tie the score.
6) On the next shift, Montreal’s defensive zone woes came back to bite them. They got caught chasing the play a little and the end result was Robert Thomas finding Pavel Buchnevich unchecked in the slot and just like that, St. Louis had the lead. With three goals on seven shots, I thought that might be it for Dobes but the Habs elected not to go to Kahkonen.
7) The rest of the second period was about missed chances. Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov both missed great chances not long after the Blues took the lead. Demidov had a strong chance on a power play soon after but didn’t score. And Holloway made a stick save to save a likely goal late in the frame. The Habs didn’t have a bad second period aside from the first minute and the last minute, one that saw Noah Dobson get caught out too long, resulting in him eventually taking a holding the stick penalty to give St. Louis a carryover power play to start the third.
8) Considering they were trailing heading into the third, it would have been reasonable to think that the Habs would be pushing to start the frame. They didn’t. Instead, they had one of their worst half-periods of the season, managing just one shot in that stretch, one that expanded to the first 13 minutes of the frame. It’s hard to score if you don’t shoot the puck.
9) Along the way, St. Louis got the insurance marker they needed just past the midway mark. Another mini two-on-one was created in the Montreal zone. Holloway sent a cross-ice feed to Schenn who buried his second of the night. Dobes played it as well as he could have but it didn’t matter as Schenn’s shot was precise.
10) The good news is that this woke the Habs up as they pushed much harder from there. Dobson was able to beat Binnington with a seeing-eye shot with a little less than four minutes to go and they battled to the final second, literally, with Caufield getting stopped with two-tenths left on the clock on what could have been a buzzer-beater. If only they had started pushing a little earlier.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Noah Dobson – The mistake late in the second when he didn’t change and took a penalty aside, this was a solid game from him. He had a goal, set up another, and the puck was in the St. Louis end a lot more often than not when he was on the ice which is the best possible defence.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +1 rating, 2 PIMS, 4 shots, 22:26 TOI
2nd Star: Lane Hutson – A lot of what was just said about Dobson also applies here. His goal was much more highlight reel-worthy, especially for a blueliner. I thought he looked a little tired in the third but the heavy usage with the team trailing likely played a big role in that.
Stats: 1 goal, even rating, 5 shots, 24:48 TOI
3rd Star: Ivan Demidov – Cole Caufield warrants a mention here but I wanted to highlight Demidov who was largely snake-bitten in this one. But the chances were there and the end result was the second line getting some heavier usage once again as it earns the trust of the coaching staff. Process-wise, Demidov did a lot of good things, it’s just unfortunate one didn’t land in the back of the net.
Stats: 1 assist, even rating, 2 shots, 17:16 TOI
