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Hockey Hainsight
Canadiens’ fans would have been right to be annoyed with their team prior to the game last night. After all, even in a rebuild, you’ve got to be able to see some positive elements in a team’s play and for the three previous games, it had hardly been the case.
After the expected raucous reception Patrick Roy received during the Oh Canada and the crowd had filled the building with energy, it was time to drop the puck and for once, the Canadiens were ready. The Habs were positively flying on the ice and were particularly inspired on the power play as the man advantage unit struck twice in a span of five minutes. In between those two tallies, Cole Caufield also cashed in on a turnover which allowed him to score his 17th goal of the season and keep is point streak alive, he’s now got 11 points (6-5) in his last eight games.
Down by three goals after the first half of the initial frame, the Islanders shook it off and went on the attack for the rest of the game, bombarding Samuel Montembeault with 46 shots. “Snacks” as the players call him, shone very brightly, and made sure that Patrick Roy’s return wasn’t ahead of his performance in the headlines. Unfortunately for Montembeault, he was upstaged by an unfortunate incident as Brendan Gallagher laid a terrible hit to the head of Adam Pelech and got himself thrown out of the game. New York was able to capitalize twice on the ensuing power play. The NHL Player Safety announced this morning that Gallagher would have a hearing for the hit. Given the fact it’s on the phone and not in person, he should receive a suspension of no more than five games.
With a 3-3 score and less than four minutes to play, the Canadiens needed a hero to step up to claim the win and that’s exactly what Sean Monahan did, scoring his 13th goal of the season and his second on the night on top of adding an assist on Suzuki’s goal. The 29-year-old veteran center has been playing very well of late and his 34 points in 48 games on a low scoring team could make him a very attractive option for contenders looking to pad up their line-up for the playoffs. Hopefully he stays healthy until Kent Hughes can trade him. He wasn’t at practice today as he had a treatment day, the Canadiens should tread very lightly there…
Even though the Canadiens got away with playing with fire last night and Samuel Montembeault once again bailed them out, it was not a good team performance and some individual deficiencies were also exposed. In his second game back from Laval, Arber Xhekaj took a couple of silly penalties, his third since being recalled. Asked about those penalties post-game, St-Louis simply stated: “I don’t love it”. Xhekaj will need to smarten up if he doesn’t want to have to ride the underground back to Laval soon.
The Canadiens now only have one game left before the All-Star break following which they won’t have another game for nine days. Before they can head out on their respective holidays though, they have to face Sidney Crosby and his Penguins on Saturday night. The Pens are in danger of missing the playoffs for a second consecutive year. Kyle Dubas, will have a tough time getting his aging group back to the Spring dance, he’s got hardly any cap space to work with as the trade deadline approaches. Acquiring forward Maxim Cajkovic from the Wild won’t do it…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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