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After a tough loss to Columbus on Saturday, the Habs looked to rebound on Sunday against the Islanders. One big minute in the second period gave them a lead they never looked back from in a 4-1 victory.
Martin St. Louis made several changes to his lineup from the night before. Some were by choice, others by necessity. With Noah Dobson out for a little while, David Reinbacher made his NHL debut while also playing his third game in less than 48 hours. Kaiden Guhle also returned, taking Adam Engstrom’s place. Up front, Zach Bolduc replaced Joe Veleno while the bottom three lines were jumbled once more. Lastly, Jacob Fowler got the nod with Jakub Dobes playing against the Blue Jackets. The team lined up as follows:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Texier – Newhook – Demidov
Bolduc – Kapanen – Dach
Evans – Danault – Anderson
Matheson – Guhle
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Reinbacher
10 Thoughts
1) Slow starts have been a big problem for the Habs in recent weeks. I get that they’re tired but everyone else is playing a compressed schedule too. Getting halfway through the opening period with one or two shots isn’t going to cut and frankly, they’re lucky not to have been burned too often with them. This was another one with just two shots in the first half of the period – one shorthanded and one from Reinbacher. Yes, they were decent defensively but that alone isn’t good enough with the playoffs approaching.
2) With Dobson out for a while, I was curious to see what the plan for the penalty kill was. Apparently, it involves Lane Hutson. The Canadiens have been giving him a bit of time shorthanded in recent games but he wound up on the top unit in this one with Guhle going to his usual spot on the second. I get that he’ll probably see some time shorthanded but knowing how much he plays in other situations, it’d be nice if they could find a way to really limit those minutes. They don’t trust rookies in that situation but it’d be great if Reinbacher could even cover minutes on the second pairing.
3) Montreal’s power play has been an issue lately. They didn’t make any changes tactically for this one (it makes sense to do that during the break before the playoffs start next weekend) but to their credit, their man advantage in the first period was certainly dangerous. Juraj Slafkovsky missed a side-tip play on a feed from Nick Suzuki while the captain himself didn’t get much on a shot, one that Ilya Sorokin was slow getting across on. But at least for that attempt, it looked like a power play.
4) Late in the first, Phillip Danault and Jake Evans went in on a two-on-one. Danault sent a pass to Evans who had a wide-open shooting lane. However, he went against the grain and tried to go back to Danault who clearly wasn’t expecting it. This is the type of play that can’t happen in the playoffs. Don’t be cute, just make the right play. I don’t want to be too critical as that trio, if it stays together, could be a very intriguing checking line going into the postseason, one that probably won’t play fourth-line minutes. Good size and defensive pedigree that shouldn’t be a complete non-factor offensively. But they aren’t the type of players who should be trying to make the highlight-reel goals happen.
5) A goalless first went into the second and for the majority of the frame, it stayed that way. Shots, let alone scoring chances, were few and far between and some of the best ones – like a rush from Jayden Struble – caught the crossbar instead. But for one whole minute, things changed. With just over four minutes left, Slafkovsky took control of the puck and went towards the boards. In front of the net, Suzuki recognized this and set up to receive a pass at the top of the crease. It was right on the tape and he had a tap-in for point number 100. On the play, Matthew Schaefer received a double-minor for high-sticking Cole Caufield. The first half of that came off the board with the Habs scoring on the delayed penalty but there was still a two-minute power play coming Montreal’s way.
6) It didn’t take long for the man advantage to strike. Hutson got the puck at the point and sent a feed to Suzuki on the side boards, pretty close to where Slafkovsky was the shift before. Suzuki sent a centring feed across to Ivan Demidov who was all alone at the side of the net and made no mistake to make it 2-0. It was nice to see one of their bread-and-butter plays work and with New York not generating much offensively, a two-goal lead was rather nice.
7) But it got even better. On the next shift, Reinbacher made a nice chip-ahead play to Bolduc who quickly sent it up to Alex Newhook. The speedster came in on a two-on-one with Alexandre Texier (who had one of the few Grade A chances of the period earlier) but he opted to keep and shoot, firing it far-side past Sorokin to make it a highly improbable three goals in 55 seconds. One of the reasons the Isles made the coaching change was to try to cut down on the defensive lapses that were putting too much pressure on their goaltending. This was one of those lapses and the Habs made them pay.
8) With a three-goal lead, the Habs got to practice defending a lead, something they haven’t been particularly great at. As teams often do with that much of an advantage, they sit back. The Islanders had 17 shots on goal in the final frame, giving Fowler plenty of work. However, only one of them beat him and it wasn’t one he had much of a chance on. A little before the nine-minute mark, Scott Mayfield’s point shot was tipped by Casey Cizikas and in. There were several players in front of Fowler who simply didn’t see it; there wasn’t much he could do about it.
9) Sorokin was pulled with several minutes left with the Islanders needing the win to stay alive in the playoff race. But Montreal actually defended the situation relatively well which is an upgrade on how they’ve fared in that regard most of the year. A puck hitting a stick on the New York bench late caused an offensive-zone draw for the Canadiens and Sorokin going back in the net. It didn’t matter as a Kirby Dach shot caught the post with the rebound bouncing to Bolduc for an easy tap-in. Hutson briefly had an assist on the goal which would have been a record-setter for Montreal blueliners but a few minutes after the game, it was changed when it was ruled that Dach’s shot hit Newhook.
10) Considering that it was his third game in as many nights, St. Louis opted not to throw too many minutes at Reinbacher which made sense. But in his 11:07 of action, he was solid. There weren’t many flashy moments but he made the smart defensive plays, shot when appropriate, and just did a lot of little things well. As far as first impressions go, he should be pretty happy with it, especially with him getting his first career assist on Newhook’s goal.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Nick Suzuki – Suzuki picked up points 100 and 101 in rapid succession on back-to-back shifts while anchoring a top line that did a lot of good things. It was nice to see St. Louis manage his minutes a bit as well; his TOI was his lowest since March 7th. Even a bit of a rest could be helpful for Montreal’s top two-way talent.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +1 rating, 4 shots, 6/12 faceoffs, 18:29 TOI
2nd Star: Alex Newhook – Yes, Hutson or Fowler should be the next two players but I want to highlight some other players instead. This was an important game for Newhook to try to show that he can legitimately anchor a line and give the coaching staff some extra options in terms of their combinations and matchups. His line didn’t play a ton but they made the most of their minutes and spent a lot more time attacking than defending. That’s a very successful game beyond his two-point effort.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +2 rating, 5/8 faceoffs, 13:16 TOI
3rd Star: Zach Bolduc – Having been sat for two straight games, I’m sure the coaching staff was expecting a motivated Bolduc in this one. They got just that. The physicality was there, the smart decision-making was there, he pulled a puck off the goal line defensively, and hey, he even scored late. This version of Bolduc can be useful in the playoffs; he just needs to find a way to play at this level much more consistently.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +1 rating, 1 shot, 5 hits, 14:15 TOI
