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In Hainsight: Cannon PTSD? |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
The Blue Jackets are having a tough time this season, they are struggling to win games and many of their core pieces are injured, but it didn’t matter last night. Brad Larsen’s men piled on 6 goals against the Habs (1 in an empty net) as the Tricolore looked lost on the ice at times. I’m starting to wonder if the Canadiens aren’t suffering from cannon post-traumatic stress disorder since their 10-4 loss in Columbus back in 2016. Montreal had started the game well, but as soon as the Jackets scored a lucky goal which was put in by Jordan Harris, the Sainte-Flanelle faded away and played perhaps its worst period of hockey since Martin St-Louis took over.
Down 2-0 after 20 minutes, the Canadiens still managed to fight back, coming back from behind twice but it just wasn’t good enough. If Samuel Montembeault couldn’t be blamed for the early collapse in the initial frame, he wasn’t able to shut the door at the most crucial time in the final period. At times, the performance was somehow reminiscent of last year’s Canadiens, no jump, no life…thankfully, it didn’t last 60 minutes but still, it’s not something you want to see. While the results don’t really matter this season, the process, and the way they play do.
Back on his old stomping ground, Josh Anderson had himself a very good game taking 5 shots on goal and scoring one, his line was perhaps the best one with Monahan shooting 7 times and Dadonov once. The Gallagher, Dvorak and Hoffman line pushed hard in the third and it was rewarded with Gallagher’s 3rd goal of the year. That goal was the product of a solid play by Hoffman who really does seem to be back offensively speaking.
Juraj Slafkovsky got himself an assist out of sheer determination and even though his ice-time is still low, he’s able to put his stamp on pretty much every game. It may be time to promote him to another line with more offensively gifted players. I’d like to see him with Anderson and Monahan, that would be a very big line with a lot of offensive punch, besides, if Hoffman is really clicking with Gallagher and Dvorak, Dadonov still only has a single goal to his name, and he seems like a good candidate to put down a line.
At the blue line, it was a challenging night for many of the defensemen. David Savard, who’s been playing well above his normal level this season, looked tired and out of synch with his partner Guhle. Jordan Harris did get a goal, but he made his fair share of mistakes on the night while Arber Xhekaj is slowly losing the battle to stay in the line-up once Matheson returns. Not just because he cannot really play on the right, but because he’s the one who makes the most mistakes. To be honest though, if it was up to me, I’d waive Wideman and put a rotation system in place, one where the rookies would take turns sitting out. While some may argue that more ice-time in Laval would be more profitable, I’m not sure it is so, especially since the Rocket is really struggling right now.
The Habs will practice at noon in Brossard today and be back in action at the Bell Centre when they take on John Tortorella and his Flyers tomorrow. Martin St-Louis speaks of “Torts” with a lot of admiration and he’ll no doubt be looking forward to this duel with his former coach and mentor. Not only did Tortorella coach the forward back in his Lightning days, but he was also the one who brough St-Louis to the coaching staff in Columbus as a special advisor to the power play.
The Canadiens sent Rem Pitlick back to Laval this morning, the forward doesn’t need to clear waivers again since he hasn’t been on the active roster for 30 days or played 10 games. As for Emil Heineman, it was officially confirmed that he is carrying on his injury rehab in his native Sweden as he was loaned to his Swedish team of Leksands which is also his hometown team.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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