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In Hainsight: From Hero to Zero in 14 Minutes |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
It took just under 14 minutes for Jake Allen to go from hero to zero last night. The veteran netminder was presented with the Molson Cup for the month of October prior to the game, but the Lightning decided to spoil his night. 22 seconds after the faceoff, Nikita Kucherov scored on a one-timer that had Allen looking like a kid thinking “Can we start again? I wasn’t ready!”. There are no do-over in the NHL though and Tampa Bay was merciless, adding another three goals by the 13:50 mark. That was it for Allen who was pulled by Martin St-Louis and watched the rest of the game from the bench. These four goals weren’t all on him though (two of them were), the Canadiens were simply schooled by a better team during that first frame.
Thankfully, Samuel Montembeault was able to stop the hemorrhage by stopping 22 of the 23 shots he faced, finishing the night with a .957 save percentage. As for the rest of the team, they picked up the pace and were able to hold Tampa off the scoreboard for the second frame and only gave up a power play goal late in the third.
The Canadiens have kind of made it a habit to dig a big hole for themselves way too often in games and getting out of those is never easy. That’s playing with fire and always chasing the game does take a lot out of you and that’s just not the right way to play the game. At times in the first frame, it looked like the Canadiens were just bystanders watching the Tampa Bay Globetrotters and that’s not acceptable. Martin St-Louis insist he doesn’t have a system but rather concepts that players must integrate and use in the game to make the right reads leading to the right decisions, but at least for 13 minutes and 50 seconds last night, many players looked illiterate.
There were signs of offensive life in the third when the Canadiens managed to score two goals in 34 seconds, but the momentum they had built crashed down hard when Arber Xhekaj took a very ill advised 4-minute penalty. If you add that to his fighting major, that’s nine minutes spent in the box, it all adds up. Martin St-Louis very rarely speaks up about a particular play or player, but last night, he said he didn’t like that 4-minute penalty. People shouldn’t be too quick to criticize Xhekaj though, he brings something to the Habs that had been lacking for years, but he just needs to learn when it’s time to go there and when it’s not. In a way, it reminds me of the way Gallagher had to learn how to wreak havoc in front of the net without getting penalized for it. St-Louis would probably say it’s all about learning to do what the game needs you to do, it’s about playing the game and not just your own game. That will come with time and experience, those are normal growing pains.
This 5-3 defeat was the fourth loss in a row for the Canadiens and the last three of those loses came against teams who were playing a second game in as many nights while the Habs were well rested. Logically, the Canadiens should have been able to take advantage of that, but it’s like they lack the killer instinct to zero-in on the opponents’ weakness and use them.
Tomorrow, the Canadiens will play the Red Wings in Detroit and it won’t be an easy task either. The Wings are third in the Atlantic division and have some great offensive player in DeBrincat and Larkin. St-Louis will no doubt be hoping that his players are ready from the puck drop, just that would make it more of a fair fight.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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