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Hockey Hainsight
The Habs always have trouble winning in Tampa Bay and yesterday, it looked like they might just do it. After failing to seriously threaten Florida’s net on Thursday, Martin St-Louis’ men decided they’d offer a better effort to end the year, not only by shooting more, but by preventing the Lightning from doing the same. After dominating the first frame with nine shots to Tampa Bay’s four, the Canadiens were still looking for their first goal, but they didn’t have to wait long to get on the scoreboard in the second.
Less than four minutes into the middle frame, Cole Caufield caused Steven Stamkos to lose the puck with his intense forecheck and he proceeded to score his second goal in as many games to put the Canadiens in front 1-0. This goal scored at five on five which he created from start to finish will hopefully be good for his confidence.
Less then 10 minutes later, Jonathan Kovacevic who was making is return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch thanks to Christian Dvorak’s injury, scored what is no doubt the weirdest goal I’ve even seen. After Samuel Montembeault made a save, the Tampa Bay PA system, thinking the play had been whistled dead, started to play music as if the play had stopped. Montembeault gave the puck to Kovacevic and the referee encouraged the Canadiens to play on. Lightning players were going back to the bench while the goaltender was having a little skate near the corner of the ice when the Canadiens’ defenseman shot the puck right down the middle of the ice to make it 2-0 Montreal.
By that point, the Lightning had less than 10 shots on the night but after a video review confirmed that Kovacevic’s goal was good and would stand, both the Lightning and the crowd seemed energized. John Cooper’s team clearly decided to show the Habs that when they are playing, they are the better team. Braden Point scored on a breakaway to make it 2-1 and Austin Watson tied the game at 2-2 less than four minutes later as the puck took a weird bounce to beat Montembeault, this was definitely one weird match…
There was all to play for in the third and the Canadiens’ held their own as they shot eight times on Tampa’s net while the Floridians tested Montembeault nine times. Unfortunately for the Habs though, the Lightning scored twice within the first 15 minutes. Still, Montreal didn’t give up and captain Nick Suzuki scored from an impossible angle to come withing one goal of equalizing, but they were unable to complete the comeback.
Post game, St-Louis called the effort encouraging and Suzuki said they would have deserved a better fate, but in life just like in sport, you don’t always get what you deserve. This was Montreal’s tenth loss in Tampa Bay in 11 games. Tomorrow the Canadiens will be taking on the Stars to wrap-up their road trip and a win would give them a reasonable seven points out of a possible 14 during that seven-game stretch. Tune in at 8:00 PM tomorrow night to see if the manage it.
Before then though, you might want to check out the World Junior Championships’ quarter final match-ups as the Canadiens’ four prospects made it to the knockout stage. At 6:00 AM ET, Filip Mesar and Slovakia will take on Finland. The Slovak winger is having a great tourney and is seventh in scoring with a goal and six assists. Then, at 8:30 AM ET, Owen Beck and Canada will take on the Czech. Hopefully, Canada puts on a more convincing performance than they did against Germany or their tournament could end there and then. After that, at 11:00 AM ET, Lane Hutson and Jacob Fowler’s USA will face-off against Latvia before Sweden and Switzerland close the day at 1:30 PM ET.
Finally, I wish each and every one of you a happy new year and I hope it brings you everything your heart desire, including a full calendar year without injuries for Kirby Dach, a season with only two goaltenders on the roster, a draft without any controversy and above all, some great hockey for us to discuss! Thanks for reading along for yet another year everybody and enjoy today’s festivities!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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