|
In Hainsight: Three in a Row, Mais C’était pas Beau! |
|
|
|
|
|
Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
For the first time this season, the Canadiens managed to win three games in a row, but it wasn’t a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. Montreal only managed to get 17 shots on the night while Cayden Primeau was tested 30 times. Speaking of Primeau, he was undoubtedly the star of this game with 29 saves and a .967 SP. The young netminder also continued his sequence of minutes without allowing a goal at the Bell Centre. When Owen Tippett finally beat him, it was the first time in over 178 minutes he allowed a goal at home. That’s no small feat, the goaltender is proving his doubters wrong and showing his development wasn’t hindered by the fact he played very little this year with three goalies in the fold.
While Primeau did play well, he received some help from both the goalposts and the referees. If the post is self-explanatory, it’s worth mentioning that the Flyers had two goals denied in the third frame. On the first one, it was deemed there was a clear kicking motion from Garnet Hathaway. On the second one, to Primeau’s delight, the play was offside. The Flyers weren’t the only ones to have a goal disallowed, as Nick Suzuki struck the puck higher than is permitted before batting it in behind Samuel Ersson. The Zebras didn’t like the Captain’s nod to baseball’s opening day. While the goal didn’t count, the sequence showed how great Suzuki’s hand-eye coordination is.
Suzuki did however score in the first frame, on a great power play where he almost missed his shot, but it still managed to squeeze in. It was his 30th goal of the season and the first time he had reached that plateau. The last time the Canadiens had a 30-goal scorer in the line-up, it was Brendan Gallagher back in 2018-2019. The gritty winger had 33 goals by the end of the season, if Suzuki keeps going as he has lately (three goals in the last three games) he should reach a higher total.
On the game’s first goal, Juraj Slafkovsky got an assist keeping his points streak alive. He’s had a point in the last nine games which is a record for a 19-year-old or younger with the Canadiens. The big Slovak is increasingly fun to watch on the ice, using his size so well and making the right decisions with the puck.
Meanwhile, on the blue line, Mike Matheson reached the 50-point mark for the first time in his career thanks to his three assists against Philadelphia. Granted, two of those assists came on empty net goals, but they still count. As for Arber Xhekaj, he had a rough night taking not one, not two, but three minor penalties on top of committing a few mistakes in his own zone. He did however land a backward skating bone-crushing hit in the third that was strangely reminiscent of P.K. Subban’s crushing of Brad Marchand some years ago. His partner David Savard had another strong game blocking seven shots and spending over 20 minutes on the ice.
It wasn’t a great display to watch, it was a fairly low-event game in the first 40 minutes (aside from the Canadiens’ two goals). From midway into the second frame up to the middle of the third frame, Montreal took very few shots on goal, being outshouted 16-5 in the third. Martin St-Louis called the third period “interesting”, probably because of Philly’s domination and the waived-off goals. As for Tortorella, he was eerily calm at his post-game press conference which was a little disappointing, I expected a bit of a show, after he had two goals denied and he was irate at Kaiden Guhle’s slashing from the bench on Travis Konecny after the Flyers’ star forward had used some judo on Slafkovsky.
Team tank will be disappointed with this third win in a row, but fans should keep in mind that these are professional athletes, beat to compete and not to lose. Besides, before a team becomes a contender, it needs to learn to win. Given the team performance though, they still have a lot to learn about winning, especially when we see the all too habitual scenario in Montreal of a netminder stealing a game… Montreal will now be in action on Saturday when the Carolina Hurricanes will come to town.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»