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In Hainsight: Mounty Handles Coyotes |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
After losing 3 games in a row, the Canadiens finally won a game last night, but once again, they had no business winning this one and it was solely because of Montembeault’s performance that the Habs skated away with 2 points. Halfway through the game, Arizona had 30 shots on goal and at times, Mounty had to stop 3 or 4 shots in quick succession, his teammates being unable to handle the rebounds.
Even though Montreal didn’t deserve to win, there are still some positives to highlight. Firstly, Cole Caufield got his 19th goal of the season, and it wasn’t on a one-timer, the diminutive winger found himself alone in the slot with plenty of time and picked his spot to beat the Coyotes’ goaltender. Right now, he’s on pace for a 49-goal season and it’s been so long since fans had a real offensive star to cheer on.
At the blue line, it was once again Arber Xhekaj who was behind the Habs’ second goal, the undrafted defenseman has showed time and time again that he can find space and get the puck on net to create offense. He doesn’t just blast the puck and hopes from the best, no, he makes sure that the puck will find its way to the net and gives forwards a chance to tip or deflect his shot to fool the goaltender, which Dvorak did for the Canadiens’ second goal yesterday.
Finally, Anthony Richard, who was playing his first game with the Canadiens and his 3rd in the NHL made a favorable impression. He started the game on the 4th line but by the third period, he had graduated to the 2nd line. Full of determination and energy, his speed was noticeable last night, and he was able to take 2 shots on net and land 3 hits. My sole criticism is that at one stage, he had to chose between shooting or passing to Joel Armia as they were threatening the net and he opted to send the puck to the Finnish winger, right now, that’s basically a waste of an opportunity. I’m saying this tongue in cheek, as Armia just can’t seem to buy a goal right now…
If Richard’s performance was impressive, Slafkovsky’s one wasn’t and by the third period, he had fallen back down the pecking order to the 4th line. It has to be said that he was truly struggling in the first two frames, taking a penalty in the first, and once again being caught by a big hit with his head down. This really is something that he will need to correct in a hurry, he cannot hope to have a long and successful career if he keeps being rocked like that every now and then. This is part of his adaptation to the North American game, he could get away with skating with his head down overseas where the game is less physical and where he was bigger than everyone else, but in the NHL, it’s no longer the case. The sooner this issue is addressed, the better. In the 2nd period, he was also dispossessed at center ice, a mistake that allowed the Coyotes to tie the game seconds after the Habs had taken the lead. Taking all this into account, it wasn’t overly surprising that St-Louis decided to give more ice-time to Richard and demote the 1st overall pick.
Kirby Dach was also back on the first line for the 3rd yesterday, try as he may, Josh Anderson doesn’t have the same skillset as Dach and doesn’t seem to mesh as well with Caufield and Suzuki. Since the 2nd line wasn’t having a great game, St-Louis decided to cut his losses and reunite Dach with the team’s two best players, to have at least one working line. On nights like these, it’s really obvious how much this team is missing Sean Monahan who’s presence means that the 2nd line becomes a lot more of a threat.
As much as St-Louis wants this team to be an offensive one, he’s limited by the personnel he has on hand. When he was appointed, Hughes did say that a coach must have the players that match his preferred style of play to be successful and right now, St-Louis just doesn’t. Right now, he’s juggling with players signed by Marc Bergevin that just don’t have the capacity to use the concepts St-Louis preaches and that’s why a rebuild takes time, the Canadiens need more talented players to be able to play that kind of game.
The way ahead looks hazardous for the Canadiens who reportedly have the toughest schedule of them all until the end of the season but in a year where the draft is as deep, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Furthermore, the Panthers also have a tough road ahead and the Canadiens do have their first-round pick thanks to the Ben Chiarot trade which is not top-10 protected, meaning that the Habs could potentially have a couple of high first round picks at the upcoming draft.
Finally, the Canadiens announced yesterday that they would honor PK Subban on January 12, prior to the game against the Nashville Predators. Subban retired at the start of the season at the age of 33 years old having played 834 games with the Habs, Predators and Devils. The blueliner had his best seasons in Montreal and never really looked the same after being traded. While some will argue that he doesn’t deserve to receive such an honor, they would do well to remember that he was the first Hab to win the Norris trophy as best defenseman since Chris Chelios in 1989 and the impact he had on the community. His personality might have ruffled some feathers in the locker-room, but Subban truly embraced the Montreal market and did pledge to raise 10 million dollars for the Montreal Children’s hospital, a pledge he fulfilled even though he was no longer around. I hope fans will be on their best behavior on January 12 and cheer on Subban, he deserves it as a human being even if some didn’t like the hockey player.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens will be back in action tomorrow night when they face the diminished Avalanche in Denver. Both Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog are currently dealing with injuries and the Avalanche top line right now features Lehkonen, Compher and Rantanen, who would have thought… Still, diminished Avs are still more threatening than a lot of other teams and this game definitely won’t be a piece of cake for Montreal.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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