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In Hainsight: There’s No Quit in This Team |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
It was far from an ideal start for the Canadiens, they got scored on early but thanks to Justin Barron’s offensive instinct they tied the game up seconds later. Still, the Jets outrageously dominated play in the first frame and without Jake Allen’s brio, they never would have gone back to the locker room with a tie after 20 minutes.
It went from bad to worse in the middle frame when the Jets scored twice in the first 33 seconds to take a 3-1 lead. A lesser team would have crumbled at that point but not Martin St-Louis’ Canadiens. They rolled up their sleeves and clawed back into the game thanks to a fifth power play goal in as many games courtesy of Sean Monahan and Joel Armia’s first of the season.
Monahan’s marker came as he once again occupied prime estate in the slot and completed the play amerced by Mike Matheson and on which Suzuki for a primary assist. There’s no two ways about it, Monahan really is money in the slot. As for Armia, perhaps the demotion to the AHL did him some good, he’s no longer the absent player he was. He’s competing on every shift and his compete level is back to what a professional hockey player’s should be. His goal came early in the third and sent the game to overtime.
For a second game in a row, the Habs had to kill a penalty in the last minutes of regulation and at the start of overtime. This time around, Arber Xhekaj was the guilty party, taking a high sticking penalty as he was trying to prevent Ehlers entering the Canadiens’ zone. With no goal scored in extra time, Nick Suzuki took matters in his own hands, scoring the sole goal of the shoutout and giving Montreal the extra point.
A few players stood out last night, Justin Barron being the first one. In his fifth game of the year, the blue liner scored his third goal of the season. He went from mightily struggling in training camp to looking just what Hughes thought he could be when he traded Arturri Lehkonen to the Avalanche to get him. Perhaps he doesn’t do well under the pressure of winning a spot in the line-up, but when you hand him a place, he sure grabs it. The Canadiens sure need him to be exactly what he displayed last night, a right shooting mobile defender with the creativity needed to score some important goals.
As for Kaiden Guhle, he came back after missing four games to an upper body injury and he hadn’t missed a beat. He was named first star of the game thanks to a solid offensive performance that saw him collect a pair assist, but what’s even more impressive is the fact that he logged over 25 minutes of ice time. After Mike Matheson left the game, Guhle was asked to step in covering for his teammate and he was more than up to the challenge.
In net, Jake Allen had another strong performance. He might have given up three goals, but he ended his night with a .933 save percentage. Without him, the Canadiens would never have won the game and he’s the most reliable of the Habs’ three goaltenders early on.
It was perhaps the worst game played by the second line though. Alex Newhook was atrocious in the faceoff department winning only a single one of his 11 draws while Josh Anderson still can’t seem to capitalize on any of his scoring chances. Juraj Slafkovsky would have much more than a single assist on the year if the power forward could finally score.
Sean Monahan keeps playing a key role for this team and while the possibility of trading him at the deadline remains, perhaps Hughes will decide against it if his team keeps performing. He’s an intelligent player and he’s got the hockey IQ necessary to complete the Canadiens’ top line, on top of being the team’s second most productive player offensively. With the severe injury suffered by Kirby Dach, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be back to full strength and perhaps keeping Monahan around could come in handy should Dach struggle post knee surgery.
After eight games, the Canadiens have 5 wins and are third in the Atlantic division, fourth in the East and seventh in the league, nobody, except maybe the players saw that coming. Of course, it’s still early and they haven’t faced many top teams yet, but still, it shows that this group of players has evolved from what it was last season. There’s a stern test ahead this week as they’ll be taking on the reigning Cup Champions in Vegas on Monday night. The Golden Knights are currently at the top of the Standings and have won eight out of their first nine games, only dropping one in overtime.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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