10 Thoughts: Dobes the Star Against the Stars

After a comeback win in Utah on Tuesday, the Habs wrapped up their road trip on Thursday in Dallas.  The game was tied for most of regulation but Alex Newhook tipped home the eventual winner midway through the third as Montreal collected the 3-1 win.

Martin St. Louis only made one change from last game, that coming between the pipes.  Instead of Samuel Montembeault facing the Stars for the second time in less than a week, Jakub Dobes got the nod between the pipes, keeping him fresh heading into a back-to-back set this weekend.  The rest of the team lined up as follows:

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Laine – Dach – Newhook
Gallagher – Dvorak – Anderson
Pezzetta – Evans – Armia

Hutson – Matheson
Guhle – Carrier
Xhekaj – Savard

10 Thoughts

1) The good news for the Habs is that they avoided taking a penalty in the first few minutes of the first period.  That has been a big problem for them lately.  The bad news is that it didn’t stop them from falling behind early on.  Josh Anderson wasn’t able to clear the puck in the defensive zone and Evgenii Dadonov gained control.  He skated to the left side and sent one on Dobes.  Dobes kicked out a juicy rebound and Montreal couldn’t recover fast enough to cover Jason Robertson who had an easy rebound to put home and make no mistake.  I won’t fault Dobes too much – he made a big save on Matej Blumel early that could have beat him – but that’s a rebound he’d like back.

2) Something I covered earlier this season was how Juraj Slafkovsky isn’t shooting the puck enough.  He definitely had the shooters’ mentality in the opening period though.  One of those was a gift from Cole Caufield.  He blew past Ilya Lyubushkin and drove toward the net before sending a pass out front.  Slafkovsky was there ready and waiting and deposited it into the open net with Lyubushkin unable to get to him in time.  Slafkovsky had four shot attempts in the first, three of which hit the net.  That’s the first time he’s had more than one shot on goal since December 21st.

3) Michael Pezzetta can’t seem to get out of his own way.  Now given an opportunity to see steady minutes on the fourth line, he took a bad penalty last game and was benched not long after.  Midway through the first, he took an interference penalty on a play where Dallas was tagging up to get back onside.  Montreal killed the penalty although Robertson had Dobes beat short-side but hit the post.  On his first regular shift post-penalty, he iced the puck from just before the red line at centre ice, a play that was easy to avoid.  That’s not going to help his cause.  Oddly enough, the Habs gained control off the ensuing draw and had a two-on-one that saw Joel Armia hit the post himself.  Pezzetta had five shifts in the first, two in the second, and didn’t see the ice in the third.  Surely, there’s someone in Laval who can be more impactful at this point.

4) While they didn’t score in the back half of the first period, that was one of Montreal’s best stretches during this hot streak they’ve been on.  Defensively, they actively broke up several rushes, limiting the Stars to next to nothing.  Offensively, they controlled the puck and had some strong scoring chances but couldn’t beat Jake Oettinger.  But that’s the type of play we’re starting to see a lot more often and it’s nice to see.

5) Unfortunately, that level of play wasn’t sustained for the second period.  Let’s face it, Dallas is one of the better teams in the league for a reason and they took it to the visitors for most of the frame.  However, Dobes was at his best, kicking aside all 15 Stars shots.

6) Dallas got their second power play of the game when Alex Newhook was sent off for roughing.  They controlled most of the advantage in Montreal’s zone but it was arguably the Habs who had the best chance when Jake Evans was sprung on a partial breakaway (which is beginning to become a regular occurrence for him).  However, Oettinger made the save.  It’s safe to say Evans’ hot streak has come to an end although that was always a foregone conclusion.

7) The Canadiens then got their first chance with the man advantage when the Stars got called for too many men near the midway mark.  However, as it was for Montreal’s power play, it was Dallas who had the best chance.  Wyatt Johnston got in behind the defence and while Mike Matheson did well to disrupt him, Dobes was still forced to make a big stop.  Dallas has the top penalty kill in the league and they showed why in this one.

8) The beginning of the third period made it feel like the Habs were going to rue their missed opportunities.  In the early moments at the end of a carryover power play, Nick Suzuki just missed the net when there was room in the net to shoot at.  Then a few minutes later, the Canadiens got another man advantage but it was short-lived with Lane Hutson going off just 11 seconds later to negate the power play.  At a point in the game where Dallas was getting the bulk of the chances, this could have come back to bite them.

9) But it didn’t.  Near the midway mark of the period, Alex Newhook (taking the draw on his strong side) won the faceoff back to Hutson.  His weak wrister was then tipped by Newhook past Oettinger to give the Habs the lead.  It was quickly reviewed for a high stick on the redirect but it was clearly below the crossbar.  Montreal probably felt fortunate to be ahead at this point but they weren’t complaining.

10) Dallas pulled Oettinger with 2:35 left.  Beyond a scramble early off another bad Dobes rebound that had him diving for the puck near the no-play zone, the Habs did rather well limiting good chances from the Stars.  They were eventually rewarded for their efforts as Joel Armia was able to chip it around Miro Heiskanen and skate it uncontested for the empty-netter, his 100th career goal to seal the win.  It’s fitting that Armia got the goal as it was a perfect cap to a strong effort from him.  More on that momentarily.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: Jakub Dobes – I liked the call to give him the start to keep him sharp and give Samuel Montembeault the extra rest for a divisional battle against Toronto on Saturday.  I really liked the call after how well he played again in this one.  Yes, the rebound control was shaky but he made several high-end stops, especially when Dallas started to take control of the game.  They couldn’t have asked for much more in this one and he certainly delivered again.

Stats: 1 GA on 33 shots, 1.00 GAA, .970 SV%

2nd Star: Joel Armia – It took him a while but he has figured out how to be successful in Montreal’s system and the end result has been Armia playing with the type of consistency that has often eluded him throughout his career.  He had a solid game defensively (including a shift late in the second period without a stick that saw him throw multiple hits and eventually helped clear the zone) and added the clincher for good measure.

Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 2 shots, 8 hits, 17:25 TOI

3rd Star: Juraj Slafkovsky – Montreal’s top line was solid in this one and this spot could have gone to any of them so let’s go with the one who scored.  Slafkovsky didn’t try to shoot quite as much in the other two periods but it was good to see that aggression for a bit at least.  On top of that, he had some solid board play and a good defensive game as well.  He’s starting to show some signs of turning things around, just like he did in the second half last season.

Stats: 1 goal, +1 rating, 3 shots, 3 hits, 14:49 TOI