10 Thoughts: Costly Third Puts Habs on the Brink of Elimination

After a big win on Friday to get back into the series, the Habs looked to equalize things against Washington on Sunday.  They had the lead in the third but couldn’t hold on, falling 5-2.

Martin St. Louis was forced to make one change to his lineup from the group that started Game 3, that coming between the pipes as Jakub Dobes got the start in goal with Samuel Montembeault unable to dress; Cayden Primeau was the backup.  Meanwhile, somewhat surprisingly, Logan Thompson got the nod for Washington despite being helped off the ice less than 48 hours earlier.

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Newhook – Evans – Demidov
Heineman – Kapanen – Armia

Matheson – Carrier
Guhle – Hutson
Xhekaj – Savard

Dobes

10 Thoughts

1) Once again, it was quite the atmosphere to start the game but this time, there wasn’t much in the way of early pressure.  Montreal got an early power play after Alexander Alexeyev interfered with Emil Heineman in front of the net on a shot and did absolutely nothing with it; the Capitals had the only shot.  Space was hard to come by with the physicality still there including Alex Ovechkin lining up Alexandre Carrier at the bench.  He nearly landed in Montreal’s bench but Carrier was banged up on the play.

2) The Capitals then got their first turn with the man advantage on an interference penalty from Kaiden Guhle, one that came on a communication mishap with Dobes.  Aside from a Washington goal post, the penalty kill kept things shut down, running just three blueliners and one of those, Carrier, played one shift and headed for the dressing room.  Fortunately, he came back for the second.

3) Down to five defencemen, Arber Xhekaj made his presence felt by nailing Alexeyev with an open-ice hit.  Unfortunately, the puck was about 45 feet away at the time, making for a very easy and obvious penalty call.  He needs to be much smarter knowing the circumstances and knowing his reputation.  Once again, the penalty kill could only run three defenders but once again, they got the job done.  Washington started to put some pressure on late but the Canadiens got through it.  All in all, it was a pretty good defensive period in front of Dobes.

4) If you’ve seen Dobes this season, you know he’s a bit of an aggressive goalie.  If you didn’t see much of him before this season, the Montreal version is a much less aggressive goalie than when he was coming up.  In this game, he was even more reserved in his movement, understandably so given the circumstances.  But it came back to bite him on Washington’s first goal.  Anthony Beauvillier sent a weak shot toward the net and instead of coming out to meet it, Dobes stayed in his crease and opted to play it off his pad.  It went right to Dylan Strome and he made no mistake.  He could have played it more aggressively or covered it but tried to stay more casual and it bit him.  That’s part of the learning curve, especially when he’s trying to rein himself in to begin with.  Tough way to learn a lesson there, though.

5) Montreal got into some penalty trouble after that, going down two men at one point with Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia both in the box, two of their better killers.  Dobes made one crucial stop early in the sequence and from there, the penalty killers once again shined.  They went down a man late in the frame as well with Josh Anderson taking a penalty that didn’t need to be taken with a late hit on Tom Wilson.  This game was called much tighter than the first three and it’s up to the players to adjust to that.  Anderson should have been smarter; it’s not as if there aren’t other chances to hit Wilson as the two are matched up against each other somewhat regularly.  Wait for a better opportunity when the puck is being played to take a shot.  Full credit to the penalty killers again as they shut Washington down.

6) The good news is that the very strong shorthanded efforts weren’t all for naught.  The Habs got another chance on the man advantage when Nic Dowd went off for interference on Nick Suzuki.  Juraj Slafkovsky made a nice play to enter the zone and got the puck to Lane Hutson who sent it quickly to Ivan Demidov.  Demidov showed nice poise, eschewing what would have been a poor shooting lane to skate behind the net.  His patience was rewarded and after going behind the net, he found Slafkovsky with a quick pass and Slafkovsky beat Thompson far side to tie it up.  I have to think there aren’t too many goals that Hutson has been in on this season where he was the oldest player to get a point on it at the whopping age of 21.

7) The power play got another chance late when Alex Ovechkin went off for interference on Jake Evans with less than two minutes to go.  This time, Demidov got it started with a pass to Hutson who went cross-ice to Cole Caufield and his one-timer just squeaked through Thompson short side.  Caufield was in his preferred spot on the left dot and Demidov was making things happen opposite him.  If Patrik Laine is able to return next game, boy, it’d be hard to put him back on the top unit, wouldn’t it?

8) The third period has been Montreal’s best in this series.  It was not in this game.  They squandered another power play opportunity early on and that came back to bite them.  A few minutes later, Wilson crushed Carrier, forcing a turnover.  Carrier was slow to his feet understandably and slow to the bench (he left the game and did not return), giving Washington a mini advantage.  Jakob Chychrun flipped the puck in with Brandon Duhaime chasing it down.  He tried to find Connor McMichael with the pass and instead banked it off Caufield and in to tie the game.

9) All things considered, Dobes had a decent game, especially given the circumstances.  But he’s going to be thinking about the last goal he allowed for a while.  With a little under four minutes left, Kaiden Guhle got caught out of position, setting up a mini two-on-one between Andrew Mangiapane and Ovechkin.  Mangiapane kept it, much to the surprise of many, including probably Dobes.  He wasn’t well-positioned for the shot which came back to bite him as Mangiapane roofed it to give Washington the lead.

10) The Canadiens pulled Dobes with 2:47 left on an offensive zone draw.  I’ve been critical of St. Louis for pulling the goalie too early and without control of the puck.  Yes, there was a TV timeout to draw a play up but the Habs struggled on faceoffs all night.  They actually won the draw but didn’t get a chance to execute their play as Hutson turned it over, leading to Duhaime’s second of the period into the empty net.  With that much time left, get control, then pull the goalie.  Wilson added another empty-netter in the final minute to put the final nail in the coffin, giving the Capitals a chance to close out the series on Wednesday.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: Mike Matheson – You won’t find his name on the scoresheet and if you look at the GameScore Card, he was near the bottom.  But this was a very strong game by Matheson, especially shorthanded where he was nothing short of stellar.  Think back to the opening game of the series where he didn’t play well.  This was a much better effort for sure.

Stats: 0 points, -1 rating, 1 shot, 28:00 TOI (8:06 SH)

2nd Star: Ivan Demidov – I was curious to see if he was going to have an impact in this series or if he’d stay in more of a depth or supporting role.  He made a big impact on the second with his two power play assists and continues to look more comfortable in each game.  Even if this series ends on Wednesday, he’s showing a lot to be encouraged about.

Stats: 2 assists, -2 rating, 1 shot, 13:38 TOI

3rd Star: Lane Hutson – Yes, the giveaway at the blueline that led to the first empty-netter is going to sting as it killed any hope of a comeback.  But before that, he played a role in both power play goals and a decent defensive performance.  Even as the expectations get higher, Hutson continues to live up to them most shifts.

Stats: 2 assists, -3 rating, 3 shots, 21:00 TOI