10 Thoughts: Matheson Makes it Five Straight Wins

The Habs looked to sweep the home-and-home set against the Sabres on Monday night.  They blew a big lead but it didn’t matter in the end as Mike Matheson potted the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory.

Despite experimenting with some different defensive combos during the morning skate, Martin St. Louis opted to keep the same lines and pairings from Saturday’s victory in Buffalo.  As a result, the only change made was between the pipes with Samuel Montembeault getting the nod.  The team lined up as follows:

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Beck – Laine
Heineman – Evans – Armia
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher

Matheson – Carrier
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Savard

10 Thoughts

1) After a chippy game on Saturday, the Sabres decided to double down on that front.  Rasmus Dahlin, in particular, looked a bit more aggressive than usual.  Montreal got an early power play when Dylan Cozens went off for roughing but they did absolutely nothing with it.  That was not a sign of things to come, however.

2) Power play number two came a little before the midway mark when Bowen Byram went off for a slash away from the play.  In the grand scheme of the physicality of the period, this wasn’t much and Lindy Ruff voiced his displeasure.  The first part of the man advantage saw Montreal struggle to even gain the zone but once they got set up, they quickly struck.  Nick Suzuki held onto the puck long enough to fool James Reimer into thinking a shot was coming.  Instead, he passed it through a defender’s feet right to Cole Caufield who fired it into the empty net.  That’s his 30th of the season, meaning those who have called him a 30-goal scorer for a couple of years now based on his scoring pace are now officially right.  Now, can he get to 40?

3) The Canadiens got an extra penalty in a scrum just past the midway point with Christian Dvorak getting an extra roughing minor.  Frankly, if there was an extra call to go Montreal’s way on that, it probably should have been Mike Matheson who played a big role in starting the line-wide scrum.  But it worked out well the way it did.  Josh Anderson made a good play to force a turnover at the blueline, springing the Habs on a two-on-one with Matheson leading the way.  He sent a feed to Suzuki who held it for a split second, then wristed it past Reimer.  Suzuki doesn’t get a ton of time shorthanded but with Dvorak in the box, Suzuki took his spot on the second unit and that couldn’t have worked out much better for the Habs.

4) The penalty parade for the Sabres continued with Dahlin going off for interference.  Montreal got a lucky bounce to build more momentum as Juraj Slafkovsky’s centring feed went off Connor Clifton and in to make it 3-0.  The top line certainly made its mark in the opening period, just not at five-on-five as it turned out.  They got another man advantage soon after with nothing coming of it but three goals on special teams is a pretty good period so you won’t get any complaints from me about a rough power play late in the frame.

5) It was a much different second period.  This time, Buffalo came out looking like a team that was more interested in scoring goals than starting scrums; I assume Ruff might have given them an earful or two at the first intermission.  They had some good early pressure but the Habs got a prime scoring chance a few minutes in when Patrik Laine made a nice one-touch pass to spring Alex Newhook on a breakaway.  Newhook was stopped but he himself couldn’t stop, running into Reimer to earn himself two minutes in the box.  The penalty kill wasn’t quite as sharp this time around

6) It’s one thing when wingers fly the zone to try to get sprung for a breakaway.  It’s another when a defenceman does it.  It’s in a whole other category when Arber Xhekaj does it.  Somehow, he got in behind Buffalo’s defence and David Savard, who isn’t known for his passing prowess, lofted a perfect pass onto Xhekaj’s stick.  He couldn’t get a great shot off with Owen Power catching him quickly but that’s two breakaways in less than two weeks for Xhekaj.  It could be quite a while before we see a third one.

7) The Sabres carried the play for the bulk of the second period, more than doubling the Canadiens up in the shot category.  They were rewarded with a little over two minutes left.  Cozens received a long stretch pass from Dennis Gilbert at the Montreal blueline and skated around Xhekaj, giving him a path to the net.  His initial shot was stopped by Montembeault but Alex Tuch was there to clean up the rebound.  Not a great period from the Habs overall but I’m sure they were fine with a two-goal lead with 20 minutes left to play.

8) Buffalo kept up the pressure in the third period.  Generally speaking, keeping shots to the outside is a good thing and Montreal did that early on.  But it didn’t matter as Tage Thompson one-timed a 99-mph shot past Montembeault short-side.  It wasn’t quite from Laine’s spot but it’s the same idea, a shot from not a particularly dangerous area that was just perfectly placed.

9) Dahlin gave the Habs a chance to seal the victory with an interference penalty with a little over five minutes left when he ran a pick in the defensive zone.  Unfortunately, Montreal couldn’t do anything with the advantage and it came back to bite them as Dahlin ultimately tied it up.  He got the puck at the point and skated in.  Evans and Suzuki got crossed up on a switch, freeing up some space for Dahlin to beat Montembeault to tie it with 1:01 to go.  Frankly, the Canadiens deserved to be in this spot as they weren’t playing particularly well at all after the first period.

10) But despite blowing the three-goal lead, they were able to emerge with the win.  After a scrambly start to overtime, Matheson once again led the way on a two-on-one.  Unlike the shorthanded break, he decided to keep it this time and fired it through Reimer to give Montreal the extra point and their fifth straight win.  It wasn’t pretty by any stretch but at this time of year, a win is a win.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: Mike Matheson – Getting the game-winner pretty much cemented him landing here but he had a solid game overall.  He helped set up Suzuki’s shorthanded marker and logged heavy minutes shorthanded; he basically didn’t leave the ice in those situations.  There are games where he plays like a top defender and this was one of them.

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, even rating, 1 shot, 4 blocks, 28:16 TOI

2nd Star: Nick Suzuki – At even strength, his line was pretty quiet.  (They all were, really.)  But on special teams in the first period, the captain made his presence felt, having a hand in all three goals.  This was his third three-point game since coming back from the 4 Nations break in all of five games.  Not too shabby.

Stats: 1 goal, 2 assists, -1 rating, 4 shots, 8/18 faceoffs, 20:11 TOI

3rd Star: Samuel Montembeault – I wouldn’t say this was a game he stole by any stretch but he was peppered with shots after the first period, facing 27 in the final two frames.  Montreal’s defence was often leaky and he did well to largely keep the Sabres at bay.  This wasn’t an ‘A’ game for him but a solid ‘B’ effort.  If he could do that on a regular basis, the Habs could make it interesting down the stretch.

Stats: 3 GA on 36 shots, 2.95 GAA, .917 SV%