10 Thoughts: Habs Earn Win and Move Into a Playoff Position

The Habs kicked off their most important week of hockey since the 2021 Stanley Cup Final by hosting the rival Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. This matchup has included some heat in recent seasons, so that promised to boil over quickly in a match of this magnitude that included two of the hottest teams since the return from the 4-Nations Face-Off and two teams looking to secure their position within this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Montreal certainly had more incentive for this one as the Sens had created some distance between themselves and the second Wild Card spot, but on the ice, this mattered little. It was a playoff-like atmosphere and game throughout as even Brady Tkachuk and Gallagher behaved to not take penalties. In the end, Montreal’s top line dominated the second half of the game as the Habs earned a 6-3 victory. Don’t let the score fool you, the Canadiens needed some third-period heroics and two empty net goals to get to that final score. 

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Patrik Laine — Alex Newhook – Joshua Roy
Brendan Gallagher – Christian Dvorak– Josh Anderson
Emil Heineman – Jake Evans — Joel Armia

Mike Matheson – Alexandre Carrier
Jayden Struble — Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj – David Savard 

Samuel Montembeault 

10 Thoughts

1) The Habs controlled the start of the game and were able to get on the board two minutes in. It appeared to be a set play that exploited Ottawa’s system. With the defenders following the wingers to their respective boards, the middle of the ice was the responsibility of the centre. While Savard passed the puck to the neutral zone to Gallagher, Dvorak challenged the centre of the ice, and the Sens pivot did not follow. This allowed Gallagher to send Dvorak on a breakaway where Dvorak completely undressed Linus Ullmark to open the scoring. Ullmark was without his stick on the play after a hard Laine shot on the previous shift knocked it away.

2) As the period wore on, the Senators took control of the pace of play. Montembeault had to be quite strong, most notably on a rebound play where he absolutely robbed Drake Batherson who thought he had an empty net only to see Montembeault’s glove come out and keep the Habs’ lead. Both teams exchanged some rather cheap penalty calls, but neither advantage was able to capitalize, though the exchange did favour Ottawa and their takeover of the period which ended with an 11-9 shot advantage. 

3) The Senators would finally tie the score with under four minutes to play in the first when Suzuki won a faceoff but was handcuffed when the puck got lost in the skates of the official. This allowed the Senators to get out of their zone with Suzuki going in the wrong direction. In turn, this caused Savard and Xhekaj to concede the zone entry. Unfortunately, they continued to back up too much and allowed Batherson to skate to the hash marks to beat Montembeault and tie the game. 

4) The game continued its strong pace early in the second period until Xhekaj fired a puck out of play from within his zone three minutes into the period. Montembeault was extremely sharp, most notably on a chance from Dylan Cozens in the slot. His brilliance allowed the Habs to escape the shorthanded situation. Not to be outdone, Ullmark made a brilliant stop on Evans after a great pass by Armia near the midway point of the period. 

5) Batherson kicked off the second half of the game with a check from behind on Dvorak that sent the Habs to a power play. It took a while for Montreal’s advantage to get settled and once it did, an absolutely laughable call against Slafkovsky turned the sequence into a 4-on-4. The Sens took the lead on a bad goal by Montembeault as a point shot hit him and then plinko’d before Michael Amadio tapped it in. The Canadiens were resilient and killed the power play that still followed. 

6) With four minutes to play, a brilliant deke by Laine trapped Artem Zub who stuck out a knee and sent the Habs back to the man advantage. It was an excellent advantage that multiple chances and forced Ullmark to be the best player on the ice during the sequence. The period would end with a 2-1 Senators lead and a 20-16 shot advantage also for the visitors. 

7) Three minutes into the third period, Hutson got the puck from an Evans offensive face-off win. He faked walking the line before beating his coverage wide. When coverage was about to come back on him, he sent a shot perfectly through three players and over Ullmark’s shoulder and the game was tied.  

8) The Senators wasted little time gaining the lead back as only six minutes into the period, Travis Hamonic got the puck on the blue line and fired an unobstructed shot. There was no reason for the shot to get to Montembeault, never mind getting through him. That’s exactly what happened though and the Habs appeared to be in tough. 

9) Montreal’s top line was the best on the ice for the entire second half of the game. Suzuki was absolutely everywhere on the ice. This brought momentum to the Habs where the Dvorak line was able to capitalize. An excellent Gallagher (who also played awesome on this night) forecheck got the puck to Dvorak, who in turn sent it to Carrier. Carrier focused on getting the shot through and Anderson was all over the rebound as the Habs tied it again. Anderson would also score an empty netter after some strong defensive play by Evans. Gallagher would add another empty netter a minute later in what was a very deserved point for him. 

10) The goal that gets the spotlight as the final though is the game winner. A bad Jake Sanderson pass put Shane Pinto in a bad position and caused him to take a penalty. Suzuki and Gallagher won board battles on the ensuing advantage and set up a Suzuki-to-Heineman one-timer. Ullmark came across and made the save, but he was unable to keep the rebound. Through a multitude of bodies, Suzuki came in, fished out the puck, and put it home as the Bell Centre erupted and the Habs were able to skate away to victory. 

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Nick Suzuki 

What a second half of the game for the captain. He scored and deserved to score the game-winning goal and he’s been the uncontested leader and best player on this team since the 4-Nations break. This writer had some arguments with fans online earlier in the season about Suzuki being a true number one centre in this league. It would be fun to revisit that conversation with those fans at the moment. 

Stats: 1 goal, -1, 3 shots, 19:39 T.O.I. 

2nd Star – Josh Anderson 

Anderson has been an incredible warrior all season long and his lack of production hasn’t stopped him from being the workhorse that was described a few seasons ago. Considering his effort level in most games and the fact that everyone knows he’s playing through injury, it was nice to see him put up some numbers for the team.  

Stats: 2 goals, +3, 2 shots, 5 hits, 14:59 T.O.I. 

3rd Star – Christian Dvorak 

Dvorak played one of his best games of the season. He won puck battles, took hits to make plays, and was rewarded for it on this night as he was able to put some numbers on the board. If he played this way with more regularity, the fan base would likely get behind him. To be completely fair, he’s had a very good stretch of hockey since the start of December which makes it fitting that his critics are growing quieter as the season unfolds.  

Stats: 1 goal, 3 assists, +3, 2 shots, 14:26 T.O.I.