Habs Weekly: More Ground Gained

It wasn’t a great week for the Habs as they only managed to pick up a single win.  However, with both of their losses coming in extra time, they were able to move into the final Wild Card spot in the East for the time being.

The Week That Was

Mar. 18: Canadiens 6, Senators 3 – With the two rivals being close in the standings, this was expected to be a close game.  And despite what the final score might suggest, it was pretty close for most of it.  The Habs were down by one heading into the third before Lane Hutson tied it but even that was short-lived with Travis Hamonic scoring his first goal since December 2023 to take the lead.  But from there, Montreal potted four unanswered goals (two into an open net) to secure the win.

Mar. 20: Islanders 4, Canadiens 3 (OT) – Ilya Sorokin is one of the top-paid goalies in the NHL and he earned his keep in this one.  Montreal trailed for most of the game despite dominating in terms of shots on goal while Samuel Montembeault had a tough night.  But once again, a third period comeback was successful with Patrik Laine and Brendan Gallagher scoring to force overtime.  However, in the extra session, Bo Horvat potted his second of the night to give New York the extra point.

Mar. 22: Avalanche 5, Canadiens 4 (SO) – After the Avs dominated in Ottawa on Thursday, they picked up where they left off in this one, getting staked to an early two-goal lead.  It was extended to three in the third and it looked like a sure victory for Colorado.  But yet again, the Habs battled back.  But Joshua Roy and Juraj Slafkovsky scored twice in 30 seconds to make it a game again before Christian Dvorak tied it with 6:28 left, eventually forcing overtime.  Montreal killed off a power play in the extra session but Brock Nelson notched the winner in the fourth round of the shootout.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIMS	SOG	ATOI
8	Mike Matheson	3	0	0	+3	4	8	26:08
11	Brendan Gallagher	3	2	3	+3	4	9	14:09
13	Cole Caufield	3	0	0	E	0	10	19:54
14	Nick Suzuki	3	1	2	-1	0	9	22:09
15	Alex Newhook	3	0	1	-1	0	7	14:57
17	Josh Anderson	3	2	0	+3	2	3	14:40
20	Juraj Slafkovsky	3	2	0	E	6	13	19:43
28	Christian Dvorak	3	2	3	+4	0	6	15:18
40	Joel Armia	3	0	0	+1	0	2	12:09
45	Alexandre Carrier	3	0	3	+2	0	5	20:08
47	Jayden Struble	3	0	2	+4	0	4	18:03
48	Lane Hutson	3	1	0	+3	0	5	25:38
51	Emil Heineman	3	0	1	+2	0	2	11:10
58	David Savard	3	0	1	-2	0	0	14:24
71	Jake Evans	3	0	2	+2	0	6	15:20
72	Arber Xhekaj	3	0	0	-3	7	1	13:04
89	Joshua Roy	3	2	0	-1	0	5	10:59
92	Patrik Laine	3	1	2	-1	0	8	16:15

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
35	Samuel Montembeault	1-0-2	3.50	.874	0

Shootout – Skaters:

#	Player	G/ATT
13	Cole Caufield	0/1
14	Nick Suzuki	0/1
28	Christian Dvorak	0/1
92	Patrik Laine	1/1

Shootout – Goalies:

#	Player	SVS/SF
35	Samuel Montembeault	2/4

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (33)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (51)
Points: Nick Suzuki (72)
+/-: Nick Suzuki (+11)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (104)
Shots: Cole Caufield (207)

News And Notes

– Thursday’s game was a notable one for Arber Xhekaj as he officially became waiver-eligible, meaning he’d have to pass through unclaimed should the Habs try to send him down in the future (which, admittedly, isn’t likely).

– Brendan Gallagher is up to 17 goals on the season, his best mark since the 2019-20 campaign.

– Kaiden Guhle took part in Saturday’s morning skate in a non-contact jersey.  That means he still has a bit of time in his recovery left before he can return to the ice but it looks as if he could be available for the final week or two of the season.

Last Game’s Lines

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

Matheson – Carrier
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Savard

The Week Ahead

Tuesday at St. Louis – If there was one team in the West that’s like the Habs right now, it’s the Blues.  They’ve been on quite a run as of late, getting into the second Wild Card spot after it looked as if they’d be out of contention not long ago.  They have a team that’s in the middle of the pack in most categories aside from penalty killing and have seven forwards with at least 14 goals, giving them a relatively balanced attack.  The Habs will be catching them without their top blueliner, however, as Colton Parayko is out with a knee injury.

Thursday at Philadelphia – It hasn’t been pretty for the Flyers as of late as they’ve dropped 10 of their last 11 games and have only scored more than two goals twice in their last 10 outings.  Goaltending continues to be a major concern with all three of their netminders underacheving.  Offensively, rookie Matvei Michkov has cooled off a bit compared to the start of the season but he still has a solid 50 points in 70 games.  I’m sure some will use his production as a rough barometer for a certain Montreal Russian winger for next season.

Friday at Carolina – The Hurricanes recently had an eight-game winning streak snapped, safely putting them in second in the Metropolitan Division where they won’t have much to play for down the stretch.  They have just two players with more than 50 points on the season but have 11 with at least 30.  They’re a bit banged up at the moment with the team down several wingers including Andrei Svechnikov but some of that could change by Friday.  Former Hab Jesperi Kotkaniemi has 30 points through 69 games this season.

Sunday at Florida – In the first of a very odd home-and-home set, the Panthers will look to get some revenge after Montreal played one of its best games of the year against them earlier this month.  Florida is in a tight three-way battle for first in the Atlantic, also known as the position that will mean they won’t have to play in what will be a very tight two-vs-three divisional series in the first round.  It’s possible that Brad Marchand is available for this one; head coach Paul Maurice said this weekend that he’s about a week away from making his Florida debut.

Final Thought

If there’s one thing we can glean from Samuel Montembeault’s NHL career, it’s that he generally doesn’t finish his seasons strong.  He has a 3.16 GAA and a .894 SV% in 41 March outings with a 3.99 GAA and a .885 SV% in 17 April appearances.  Granted, he’s often played behind a team that, well, wasn’t putting its best foot forward in attempts to win games.  And when you’re setting a new career high in games played each year as he’s done now for four straight seasons, that’s probably playing a role too.  But it’s fair to say his performance tends to fade down the stretch.

Martin St. Louis curiously said on Saturday that Montembeault was getting the start against Colorado because he didn’t want to give his starting goalie the wrong message.  I’m not sure the message that a highly-used goalie needs a game off here or there down the stretch is really a bad one but rather an accurate depiction of what’s going to be needed to keep him relatively sharp for the final few weeks.  And while the temptation exists to not look past the game in front of you, a longer-term view needs to be considered as well.  That longer-term view says Jakub Dobes is going to need to make a handful of starts at a minimum over these final 13 games.

That’s not a swipe at Montembeault by any stretch.  He’s a big reason why the Habs are where they are in the standings.  But there’s a reason that goalies seldom get to 60 games anymore with the fatigue factor being that reason.  Montembeault is showing signs of it now and the fix isn’t to keep playing him and hope something somehow changes.  A night off isn’t a bad message and he’s smart enough to understand that.  Hopefully St. Louis will come to that realization as well.  While it’s risky to trust a relatively untested rookie in this situation, the reward of a fresher Montembeault for some of his upcoming must-win starts is worth the risk.