10 Thoughts: A better effort still falls short with 3-1 loss to the Pens

Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde: which team would show up in the bleu, blanc, et rouge tonight? After credible back-to-back wins last weekend against St. Louis and Philadelphia, the team was pretty much a no-show for the next two, giving up a total of 14 goals against Seattle and Washington. Mind you, the Penguins just barely managed to end a six-game losing streak with a 2-1 OT win against the lowly Ducks, so they have not shown much recently, either.

To be sure, it was a 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh, but it was a far less embarrassing performance than those of the previous two games. Expected goals were roughly even, as were the shots on goal. The issue was that the only Montreal player who could score on the night was Christian Dvorak, and one goal is rarely enough to win a game in the NHL. Still, maybe the team at least played well enough not to deserve another bag skate session.

Starting Lines

Anderson – Suzuki – Caufield
Newhook – Dach – Slafkovsky
Armia – Evans – Gallagher
Heineman – Dvorak – Kapanen

Matheson – Guhle
Hutson – Savard
Xhekaj – Struble

Montembeault
Primeau

Ten Thoughts

1) The game started with an intensity, or should I say lack of intensity, that is remarkable in the league today. Fifteen minutes into the first period, neither team had but a pair of shots, and it wasn’t because of the fortress-like defences they were facing.

2) Arguably, there was less panic and confusion in the Habs’ defensive zone, but mistakes were still being made in the neutral zone and at the far end. Lane Hutson, for example, gave the puck away at the offensive blue line a little before the midpoint of the first, but to Hudson’s credit, he quickly skated back, fought off two Penguins, and recovered the puck. But it might be better yet to not lose the puck in the first place.

3) Near the 16-minute mark, Juraj Slafkovsky finally had a credible scoring chance for the Habs, taking a pass across the net from Alex Newhook, but could not beat Alex Nedeljkovic. Worse, the Penguins regained possession and broke out and into the Montreal zone. Only 17 seconds after the Slafkovsky shot, Rickard Rakell had passed the puck to Sidney Crosby, who had been at the top of the faceoff circle, ignored by everyone wearing the bleu, blanc, et rouge. There wasn’t much Samuel Montembeault could do to prevent one of the all-time greats from opening the scoring.

4) The Habs had two power-play chances in the second period, the first after Valtteri Puustinen tripped Juraj Slafkovsky, and the second after Kris Letang high-sticked Joel Armia. However, whatever was working for the PP1 unit early in the season seems to have completely dissipated. Nick Suzuki managed a low-danger scoring chance but not a shot on goal, and that was all the first unit could manage. The second unit, with Joel Armia, Brendan Gallagher, Hutson, Oliver Kapanen, and Newhook, did a little better and managed two shots and a decent chance by Gallagher. No results there, either, though.

5) With little more than four minutes left in the second period, David Savard flipped the puck out of the Montreal zone to relieve the pressure, but the shot went over the boards, and Savard was called for delaying the game. The Canadiens managed to kill most of that penalty, but with some ten seconds remaining, Suzuki lost his stick, and, in the ensuing scramble, Crosby took a shot from the top of the circle, with the puck finding its way through traffic and beating Montembeault for the second time.

6) It took more than 45 minutes of play, but the Habs were finally able to get on the board in the third period. With the newly-formed Heineman-Dvorak-Slafkovsky line applying pressure on the Penguins, Slafkovsky and Emil Heineman were able to regain control of the puck on the right-side boards. A Heineman pass went to Dvorak and the much-maligned centre quickly took a shot on net. Nedeljkovic made a pad save but gave up a stonking rebound, and Dvorak was the first one to reach it, lifting it over the Pittsburgh goaltender to bring the Habs within one.

7) On one of the Habs’ late attempts at scoring, as Armia was shooting from the point, Gallagher and Jake Evans slid into the Pittsburgh net, with Gallagher appearing to injure his knee in the process. The veteran winger skated to the bench under his own power but was clearly in pain. Another injury as if the Habs are not yet suffering from enough?

8) Shortly after the Gallagher injury, Noel Acciari hammered into Slafkovsky, jamming his elbow into the big Slovak’s jaw, and clearly shaking him up. Apparently, I missed something in anatomy class and the jaw is not part of the head after all, as no penalty was called on the play. Acciari had to wait for the final whistle for Arber Xhekaj to deliver justice to him.

9) Once Montembeault left for the Habs’ bench, the Penguins broke into the Habs’ zone, trying to get the puck to Crosby for a hat trick, but neither Crosby nor any of the other Penguins could send the puck into the gaping maw of the empty net, in spite of extended time in the zone.

10) Alas, shortly after that, Hutson lost the puck at the Penguins’ blue line again, and regained it again–only to lose it decisively. That was all she wrote, as Blake Lizotte scored his first of the season into the empty net to make the final score 3-1 for the Penguins.

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Christian Dvorak (1g, 0a, 3 shots, +1, 13:34) — yes, that’s the one, the one that many online fans were calling to be sent to Laval. Not only did he score the singular goal, but he also had the best five-on-five advanced stats (Corsi and xGF%) on the night, as he played what was likely his best game of the young season.

Second Star: Kaiden Guhle (0g, 0a, 1 shot, -1, 22:04) was as solid as we have come to expect, and not showing any signs of injury from the Tom Wilson incident in the previous game. He was left by Mike Matheson to defend a Crosby-Evgeni Malkin two-on-one on the first goal, and there was little more that Guhle could have done there.

Third Star: Samuel Montembeault (23 shots, 21 saves, 0.913 save%, +0.17 GSAx) was steady rather than spectacular, but that was exactly what he needed to do after a few shaky recent outings. And the saves he made were enough to keep the Habs within striking distance, had they been able to generate some scoring.