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The Habs played three pretty solid games overall this past week. However, some blown leads mixed in with another tough outing from Jakub Dobes means there is plenty to work on, even with the team picking up a pair of victories.
The Week That Was
Oct. 13: Canadiens 4, Sabres 3 (SO) – Things were looking up for a while in this one. Montreal’s iffy power play got a goal and they had a two-goal lead in the second period while actually winning that period. However, Josh Norris and Olen Zellweger scored barely a minute apart early in the third to erase that momentum in a hurry. While the Habs couldn’t beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen the rest of the way in game play, they scored all three times in the shootout to get the extra point.
Oct. 14: Capitals 5, Canadiens 4 – This one was far from a goalie battle on either side. The Habs had a pair of leads in the first period but couldn’t hold them. In the second, a shorthanded goal from Alex Tuch gave Washington the lead although Josh Anderson was able to get that back before the end of the frame. But in the third, Dobes whiffed on a point shot from Justin Holl, then was beaten again by Tuch to put the game out of reach despite a late Nick Suzuki power play marker making it interesting. It was a game Montreal deserved a much better fate in.
Oct. 16: Canadiens 4, Sabres 3 (OT) – There were definitely some similarities to Tuesday’s game. The Habs got a goal in the first on the power play. They had a two-goal lead in the second period. And yes, they blew it again in the third. However, the ending was a little different. After the Sabres fired wide on a three-on-one in overtime, the rebound bounced to Cole Caufield in the neutral zone. He had plenty of time to skate in on an uncontested breakaway and beat Luukkonen for the winner and his second goal of the game.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | PIMS | SOG | ATOI |
| 13 | Cole Caufield | 3 | 3 | 1 | E | 2 | 10 | 19:14 |
| 14 | Nick Suzuki | 3 | 1 | 2 | E | 0 | 10 | 21:32 |
| 15 | Alex Newhook | 3 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 2 | 6 | 15:51 |
| 17 | Josh Anderson | 3 | 3 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 7 | 14:11 |
| 20 | Juraj Slafkovsky | 3 | 0 | 4 | E | 4 | 8 | 19:04 |
| 21 | Kaiden Guhle | 3 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 4 | 23:43 |
| 22 | Chris Kreider | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 | 14:29 |
| 24 | Phillip Danault | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 4 | 16:43 |
| 42 | Adam Engstrom | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 2 | 12:40 |
| 45 | Alexandre Carrier | 3 | 0 | 2 | E | 4 | 4 | 21:35 |
| 48 | Lane Hutson | 3 | 2 | 2 | +1 | 4 | 8 | 26:00 |
| 53 | Noah Dobson | 3 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 10 | 20:51 |
| 62 | Owen Beck | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 2 | 7:23 |
| 64 | David Reinbacher | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 9:09 |
| 71 | Jake Evans | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 2 | 13:15 |
| 72 | Arber Xhekaj | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 1 | 13:44 |
| 76 | Zachary Bolduc | 3 | 1 | 2 | E | 0 | 6 | 14:07 |
| 77 | Kirby Dach | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 2 | 10:08 |
| 85 | Alexandre Texier | 3 | 1 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 9 | 12:50 |
| 91 | Oliver Kapanen | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 3 | 11:40 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 32 | Jacob Fowler | 2-0-0 | 2.86 | .857 | 0 |
| 75 | Jakub Dobes | 0-1-0 | 5.24 | .792 | 0 |
Shootout – Skaters:
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 13 | Cole Caufield | 1/1 |
| 76 | Zach Bolduc | 1/1 |
| 85 | Alexandre Texier | 1/1 |
Shootout – Goalies:
| # | Player | SVS/SF |
| 32 | Jacob Fowler | 1/2 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Cole Caufield (5)
Assists: Hutson/Suzuki (6)
Points: Nick Suzuki (10)
+/-: Carrier/Suzuki (+3)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (12)
Shots: Cole Caufield (29)
News And Notes
– Florian Xhekaj was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury that’s expected to cost him another two weeks of action. That created the roster spot needed to activate Oliver Kapanen.
– With Mike Matheson dealing with a lower-body injury of his own, the Habs recalled David Reinbacher from Laval.
– Lane Hutson is the fourth defenceman in franchise history to reach 20 goals before the age of 23.
Last Game’s Lines:
Slafkovsky – Suzuki – Caufield
Kreider – Newhook – Anderson
Bolduc – Danault – Texier
Kapanen – Evans – Dach
Hutson – Dobson
Guhle – Carrier
Xhekaj – Reinbacher
The Week Ahead
Tuesday vs San Jose – The Sharks were one of the busier teams this offseason, especially shaking up their back end with the additions of Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba, and Michael Kesselring. Meanwhile, number two pick Ivar Stenberg is off to a nice start as he’s tied for second on the team in scoring while Macklin Celebrini has basically picked up where he left off. Presumptive starter Yaroslav Askarov is off to a rough start (rougher than Jakub Dobes’, for context) which has cost them a couple of games already.
Friday at Chicago – This was supposed to be a year where the Blackhawks started to steer the ship back in the right direction but the early returns aren’t promising. Yes, Connor Bedard is now healthy again which helps but defence and goaltending have been issues while the offence has been inconsistent over the first few weeks. Anton Frondell leads the way offensively while Patrick Kane has one goal so far and a league-worst -11 plus/minus rating.
Sunday at Winnipeg – This one is the Heritage Classic, being played outdoors where the Blue Bombers play. Like last year, a lot of Winnipeg’s offence is coming from three forwards, veterans Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor plus a younger forward. Last year, it was Gabriel Vilardi and this season, it’s Cole Perfetti. They’re currently without their top defenceman Josh Morrissey who may not be ready to return for this one. Connor Hellebuyck is due to return from his suspension on Friday but even so, it would be surprising if this wound up being his first game of the season.
Final Thought
Generally speaking, it’s hard for there to be a situation where the Habs are seeing too much of Lane Hutson on the ice but I feel like we might be getting there. His minutes were up to start the season with the absence of Mike Matheson potentially putting more pressure on him. In fact, he’s logging 26:28 per game at the moment (a number that has gone down since Matheson’s injury, not up). That’s good for fifth in the league. And this early in the season, that’s probably too much.
Yes, Hutson has the stamina to log that type of ice time, especially early in the season. But expectations for the team are now higher; the hope is that there is a playoff round (or more) to go on top of the longer 84-game schedule. We saw a lot of the younger core players get a little worn down in May as the postseason progressed. Accordingly, trying to cap their minutes early on could make more sense. There have been games this month where they operated with the playoff-style rotation for the defence pairings where one of the top four were getting double-shifted with a third-pairing player, making for huge gaps in minutes. It’s a little early for that, is it not?
Just because Hutson can handle a top workload doesn’t mean he should. I think it’s fair to suggest he hasn’t been quite as sharp defensively as we know he can be and some of that is likely attributable to the bigger workload. At this time last season, he was closer to 22 minutes per game. I know the Atlantic Division is going to be especially tough this year but putting playoff-style workloads on top players in October might earn some points in the short run but cause more problems down the road.
The talk is that the Habs have a deep roster, and rightfully so. One of the advantages of that depth is not needing to overuse the top players. Here’s hoping that comes into play enough to get Hutson’s ice time down a little, something that should pay dividends later on.
