Habs Weekly: Creeping a Little Closer

The Habs were able to salvage the back half of their West Coast road trip this past week before coming home and playing one of their most complete games of the season to put them within a point of the final Wild Card spot in the East.

The Week That Was

Mar. 11: Canadiens 4, Canucks 2 – Montreal’s top line has been clicking a lot as of late and they carried the Habs in this game.  All three members of that trio scored before the midway mark of the game, giving the Canadiens a cushion they’d need as the third period got more than a little rocky.  Vancouver struck twice to make it a one-goal game and came close to tying it up before Mike Matheson was able to pot the empty-netter to seal the win.

Mar. 12: Kraken 5, Canadiens 4 (OT) – This was one of those ‘eye of the beholder’ games.  The Habs were terrible early on and Jakub Dobes did well to keep them within striking distance and prevented the game from getting out of reach.  Montreal then reeled off four goals in just over 20 minutes to take control but they then squandered it down the stretch, sending the game to the shortest OT in NHL history.  Seattle ran a set play off the draw with Brandon Montour coming in on a breakaway and firing a shot past Dobes just four seconds in.  Yes, they blew a late lead meaning they ‘lost’ a point but with how poorly they played in the first 25 minutes, a case can be made that they stole one that night too.

Mar. 15: Canadiens 3, Panthers 1 – After putting up one of their more inconsistent efforts against the Kraken, Montreal had one of their most consistent outings in this one.  Patrik Laine scored yet another power play goal while Cole Caufield scored late in the frame after an Alex Newhook tally came off the board for goalie interference.  The Habs forced Florida into numerous turnovers and took advantage of them while stifling them defensively.  That’s a solid combo, especially against a top team in the East.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIMS	SOG	ATOI
8	Mike Matheson	3	1	0	-1	0	10	26:47
11	Brendan Gallagher	3	0	0	-1	0	5	14:04
13	Cole Caufield	3	2	3	+6	0	7	18:23
14	Nick Suzuki	3	1	3	+5	0	3	20:23
15	Alex Newhook	3	1	0	-1	0	8	14:50
17	Josh Anderson	3	0	0	+2	2	1	13:21
20	Juraj Slafkovsky	3	3	3	+6	2	8	17:53
28	Christian Dvorak	3	1	0	+1	2	3	13:50
40	Joel Armia	2	0	0	-2	0	1	15:01
45	Alexandre Carrier	3	0	0	E	0	3	21:54
47	Jayden Struble	3	0	1	+5	0	2	18:13
48	Lane Hutson	3	0	3	+2	0	2	21:12
51	Emil Heineman	3	0	0	-2	2	2	13:11
55	Michael Pezzetta	2	0	0	E	0	0	8:37
58	David Savard	3	0	1	+2	4	1	16:00
71	Jake Evans	3	0	0	-1	0	1	15:55
72	Arber Xhekaj	3	0	0	+1	6	3	13:18
89	Joshua Roy	3	0	0	-2	0	4	11:49
92	Patrik Laine	2	2	1	+1	0	3	13:27

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
35	Samuel Montembeault	2-0-0	1.50	.943	0
75	Jakub Dobes	0-0-1	4.99	.857	0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (33)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (49)
Points: Nick Suzuki (69)
+/-: Nick Suzuki (+12)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (97)
Shots: Cole Caufield (197)

News And Notes

– Joel Armia (upper body) and Patrik Laine (illness) both missed a game.  However, when Armia returned, Joshua Roy’s emergency recall conditions no longer existed so he had to be changed to a regular recall to remain on the roster, counting against the post-deadline limit of four.

– Lane Hutson recorded his 50th career assist in his 68th game.  Only three blueliners in NHL history (Larry Murphy, Mark Howe, and Stefan Persson) did it in fewer games.

– Emil Heineman has been held without a point in 14 straight games; his last point came back on January 3rd in Chicago.

Last Game’s Lines

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

Matheson – Carrier
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Savard

The Week Ahead

Tuesday vs Ottawa – It’s a battle between the team with the best record since the 4 Nations Face-Off and the team with the best record in March as the Sens are 7-0-1 this month.  Beyond an injury to Nick Cousins, Ottawa is fully healthy and added some extra forward depth at the deadline in Fabian Zetterlund after also swapping number two centres with Dylan Cozens coming onboard.  Adam Gaudette has turned into one of the Senators’ top secondary scorers as he’s at 16 goals on the campaign; he only had 14 NHL points in the previous three seasons combined.

Thursday at NY Islanders – At even strength, the Islanders are a decent team.  Low-scoring, sure, but they’re steady defensively with good goaltending.  But special teams have been a disaster, to put it lightly.  They are dead last in success rate on the power play and second-last in penalty killing percentage.  That’s a big reason why they’re now six points out of the last Wild Card spot.  It also doesn’t help that Mathew Barzal has been out since the beginning of February and isn’t likely to be back this season.

Saturday vs Colorado – Strong teams usually don’t undergo a ton of turnover.  The Avs are an exception.  Since the start of the season, they’ve brought in a new goalie tandem, traded one of their leading scorers, traded for two veteran centres, added a defenceman, and more.  Despite that, they’re still one of the top teams offensively, led by the NHL’s top scorer, Nathan MacKinnon.  Colorado isn’t battling for a playoff spot but they’re close to Dallas for second in the division which would give them home-ice advantage in that opening round.

Final Thought

This is something I’ve mused about already this season but it’s still a big thing now.  We’ve seen what Montreal’s top line can do and right now, they’re carrying this team.  That’s both good and bad.  Yes, it’s great that the Nick Suzuki line is lighting it up at a comparable level to some of the other top lines out there.  But it’s bad that most nights, they’re the only group that can get something going.

The Jake Evans line was scoring at a pretty good clip earlier in the season but they’re back to producing at the level of most fourth lines, next to nothing.  Christian Dvorak’s trio is getting more consistent in terms of game-to-game play but scoring-wise, they’re all prone to long droughts in the goal department.  So that leaves Montreal needing the second line to support them.  As we know, that’s asking a lot some nights.

Patrik Laine shows enough on the power play that he can keep getting a regular turn at five-on-five despite the fact that he has often struggled this season at full strength.  Joshua Roy hasn’t impressed in his limited action this season while Alex Newhook – who has been better as of late – is now adjusting to a late-season position change since Owen Beck was sent back to Laval.  Those three don’t exactly have the most complementary skill sets so it’s going to be hard to expect that group to magically come together.

For the Habs to realistically have a shot at making the playoffs, they’re going to need more than Suzuki’s line contributing offensively.  Unfortunately, right now, I’m not sure there’s another group that can be relied on in the offensive zone.