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In Hainsight: Losing the Right Way |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
The start of the game didn’t look pretty, the Canadiens were overwhelmed by the Knights and the Nevada side took a 2-goal lead in the first frame which they dominated 13-5 shots wise. The Canadiens could have just felt sorry for themselves at that stage, with 11 regulars injured and down by 2 against a powerful team, but the AHL laden team picked itself up and got back in the game.
True, Vegas got a 3rd goal in the middle frame, but the Canadiens did manage to contain them, only allowing 4 shots on Jake Allen’s net. Hard work paid off in the 3rd when Mike Matheson scored the Habs’ first goal on a wonderful demonstration of his offensive skills, the more I watch him play, the happier I feel about the Petry-Matheson trade. It’s incredible that even put in such a position, Kent Hughes was able to swing a trade that gave him a much younger defender who wants to be in Montreal and who’s a bit contributor when healthy. Deservedly, Matheson who got 8 points in 9 games in February was the co Molson Cup recipient with Jake Allen for the last month.
Once the Canadiens got back within 2, the Knights got their 3 goal lead back through Ivan Barbashev and once again, the Habs refused to abdicate. They kept pushing which lead to a pair of goals from Laval graduates Alex Belzile and Rafael Harvey-Pinard. After spending a couple of games on the 2nd line, Harvey-Pinard found himself back on Nick Suzuki’s wing in this game and let’s face it, he fully deserves to be there. Of course, that wouldn’t be the case if the team was healthy, but every game shows Martin St-Louis why the 7th round pick will deserve a very good hard look at the start of next season.
In the end, the Canadiens lost their third game in a row by a score of 4-3, but the way they lost it was reassuring. This team just doesn’t give up no matter what life throws its way and that’s a solid building block when you want to build a contender eventually. Montreal now has 19 games left this season, many of which will be played with a severely depleted line-up but no one is thinking of mailing it in, these guys are battling and trying to win every single game even if on paper, it seems almost impossible.
The week ahead will bring a lot of challenges with a game against the Canes on Tuesday, the Rangers on Thursday and the Devils on Saturday. That’s right, the top three teams of the Metropolitan division are coming to town this week and chances are, the Canadiens will get 3 more opportunities to lose the right way. Montreal is currently 26th in the standings but could fall to 27th soon with the Canucks making ground. Vancouver is 27th and is only a point behind the Tricolore with a game in hand. Furthermore, its month of March is looking a lot less challenging with a couple of games against the Ducks on the horizon, and match-ups with the Coyotes and Hawks in the near future.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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