The Habs were finally back home at the Bell Centre after a perfect five-game road trip brought their winning streak to eight games. They were facing the New Jersey Devils after beating them on Saturday night. This was also their sixth game in nine nights in five different cities. For the eternal pessimists, that’s a long winning streak on the line after a return from a road trip against a team that’s all but eliminated from the playoffs looking for revenge.
All the ingredients were aligned for a less-than-stellar performance and the home fans were indeed sent home disappointed. The Canadiens pushed back in the final ten minutes but ultimately lost as Jacob Markstrom got the shutout in a 3-0 win.
Habs Lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Zach Bolduc – Jake Evans — Josh Anderson
Joe Veleno — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Lane Hutson — Kaiden Guhle
Arber Xhekaj – Jayden Struble
Jacob Fowler
10 Thoughts
1) The first ten minutes of the game belonged to Jacob Fowler as the Devils were clearly the better team but the Habs’ netminder was able to make the saves. 8:37 into the game, Guhle made a bad situation worse by taking a tripping penalty. The Habs were able to kill the penalty, but Jack Hughes, who was easily the best player in this entire game, dangled into the zone and fired a shot on the ice. Fowler got a big chunk of the shot, but the puck trickled behind him after the save for Timo Meier to put it home to open the scoring ten seconds after the Guhle infraction had expired.
2) Montreal had a better second half of the period but none of their plays were sharp enough to break down New Jersey’s defensive structure to get good scoring chances. The second line was the most dangerous for the Habs in this period. Ultimately, it was nowhere near a good enough period for the Canadiens as they retreated to the locker room down 1-0 on the scoreboard and 9-4 on the shot clock.
3) If the first period was a disappointing one for Montreal, the second was outright unacceptable. The overall shot clock ended at 6-4 for the Devils in what was just about the most boring period of Habs hockey this period. The game completely lacked any pace or emotion and fans at the Bell Centre had to wonder if anything was ever going to happen in this game. Very unlike the Canadiens this season.
4) Brian Halonen and Hutson exchanged penalties almost back-to-back for their teams to get and fail at power play attempts. Montreal was guilty of spending way too much time looking to get the puck to a covered Caufield. This was a theme for them all night and a frustrating one as their stubbornness in looking for that pass made it so much easier for the Devils to defend it and keep Caufield off the board. To add to the frustration, Cody Glass was able to sneak a shot through Fowler late in the frame to make it a two-goal game.
5) The top three of Montreal’s blue line played a rather poor first 40 minutes on this night. They all had better third periods, but they really struggled up to that point. I would even suggest that Struble and Xhekaj were the best two blue liners for the Habs through 40 minutes. Now, Hutson had some brilliant moments throughout these periods, so many will (rightfully so) point to that and excuse the lack of sharpness in executing the plays he was trying, so there was that. Still, it made everything more difficult for the team.
6) The third period started with Bolduc hitting Luke Hughes in a hit that looked awfully similar to a hit on Hutson late in the second period. Unlike Hutson, Hughes reacted with a blatant cross-check on Bolduc, breaking his stick. Johnathan Kovacevic then went after Bolduc and was lucky to be given a ten-minute misconduct instead of a minor which would have given Montreal an entire two minutes of five-on-three. Instead, the Devils defended a simple power play with the Habs looking a bit too much to get the puck to Caufield.
7) Back at even strength, the Canadiens finally controlled a portion of the game as the second line was again the most dangerous for an entire shift before Anderson kept it going drawing a Dougie Hamilton tripping call for yet another power play. The Habs were once again guilty of looking for #50 a little too much on the sequence, but they suddenly came alive after the advantage as a whole rotation of lines was spent in the offensive zone with Caufield fanning on two opportunities to end the anticipation for Habs fans everywhere.
8) With seven minutes to play, Xhekaj and Anderson sandwiched Jack Hughes with a big clean hit. Dillon took advantage of this to get a fight with Anderson. Anderson was visibly a willing participant, but the officials judged that Dillon abandoned his position to seek the fight as retribution and handed him an instigator. The Habs squandered yet another advantage looking for Caufield’s fiftieth, but what they were ultimately doing was handing the game to the Devils by being ridiculously predictable.
9) Seconds after Fowler was sent to the bench for an extra attacker, Connor Brown got the empty net to put the final coffin in an awful night for the Habs. Martin St. Louis pulled Fowler again, and this time, Caufield once again fanned on a glorious chance to finish the 50-goal story. It simply wasn’t meant to be in this one and the Habs just didn’t have it on this night.
10) A clear indication that the Habs were simply out of focus on this night can be shown in simple statistics as New Jersey had more giveaways with 19 than the Habs had shots with 18. This points to the idea that the Devils were ripe for the taking, but the Canadiens simply weren’t mentally sharp and couldn’t take advantage of a vulnerable opponent. It hasn’t happened often for them this season, so let’s just hope it’s not the start of a negative spiral.
HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars
1st Star – Josh Anderson
Playoff Josh Anderson has arrived, and boy, will he be important for this team once the postseason arrives. On this night, he gave an excellent effort on the forecheck, answered the bell with a fight, and was just the most annoying Hab to play against. Great game by him, too bad he didn’t get more support around his efforts.
Stats: even, 2 shots, 2 hits, 11:31 T.O.I.
2nd Star – Jake Evans
Evans continues his recent surge to play the right way, be rewarded with scoring chances, and yet fail to capitalize on his many chances. Maybe, hopefully, he’s keeping the offence for the playoffs?
Stats: -1, 1 hit, 13:59 T.O.I.
3rd Star – Alex Newhook
For the Habs player who had the most legs in the early parts of the game, the final tally relating to ice time is somewhat puzzling to me. The first line was off and predictable in searching for Caufield. Newhook and Demidov had more jam and should have been given more opportunity to get the team going through their efforts.
Stats: -1, 1 shot, 2 hits, 13:13 T.O.I.