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In Hainsight: One Last Loss to Close Out the Year at Home |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Montreal came out strong in the first, knocking on a door which Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky kept obstinately shut much like Hodor in Game of Thrones and as soon as the Bolts got a chance to strike, they did just that. The Habs now play a more offensive brand of hockey and it sometimes means that they allow premium chance in their end as the opponent counter attacks quickly, it’s on one such attack that Brandon Hagel was able to go in all alone on Jake Allen and score on his team’s first shot.
After that first goal, the Habs seemed stunned, and the Lightning never relinquished control of the game. By the end of the first frame, Tampa was leading 2-0 and 4-0 after 40 minutes. Nick Suzuki was the Canadiens’ sole scorer in a lost cause after a beautiful feed from Kaiden Guhle. It wasn’t the most entertaining game at the Bell Centre, at times, it was even hard to watch with the Lightning’s well-oiled machine completely stifling the local favorites, but down 4-1 early in the third, the crow still broke into a giant wave and was belting out its support with loud “Go Habs Go” chants. The most cynics will say they were just drunk and merry, but those in the know will tell you that the Canadiens fans see what this team will eventually become and are on board with this rebuild.
Even with Tampa dominating as they did, there were still some positives in the game, the Bell Centre was brought to its feet in the first period when Pat “Big Rig” Maroon decided to drop the gloves with Arber “Wifi” Xhekaj after the young Montreal blue liner landed a massive hit on one of his teammates. Maroon is a tough customer, but Xhejak still got the upper hand and the Bolts’ veteran had to go back to the room for some repairs.
Mike Matheson looked pretty good in his return to the line-up, joining in the attack and taking 3 shots on goals, watching him shoulder some of the attacking load, it was easy to understand why his absence was a contributing factor to Montreal’s offensive woes of late.
Jonathan Drouin, although he couldn’t get on the score sheet, did have a strong game and his line, completed by Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky was probably the best on the night. It seems that Dach has built up some confidence riding shotgun with Suzuki and Caufield, but when he’s put on another line, the dynamic duo suffers. Josh Anderson, try as he may, just doesn’t have the same skill packages as Dach and is a much less effective complement.
The Canadiens now have 3 games left before the Christmas break, Monday against the Coyotes at 10 PM, Wednesday at 8:00 against Colorado and Friday at 8:30 against Dallas. They will be getting some help on that road trip as Rem Pitlick was sent back down to Laval and Anthony Richard, who's been the Rocket's best player, was recalled.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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