10 Thoughts: Habs Win Home Opener Over Seattle
After a three-game stint on the road to start the season, the Habs had their home opener on Tuesday against Seattle. Neither team could hold a lead for long, resulting in the game needing overtime where Cole Caufield was the hero, scoring the winner to give Montreal the 5-4 victory.
Martin St. Louis elected to keep his lineup unchanged once again, meaning that Jayden Struble and Joe Veleno will be waiting a little while longer to make their season debuts. The team lined up as follows:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Kapanen – Demidov
Bolduc – Dach – Gallagher
Laine – Evans – Anderson
Guhle – Hutson
Matheson – Dobson
Xhekaj – Carrier
10 Thoughts
1) Early on, the game had plenty of pace. The two teams went back and forth with speed and there wasn’t a whistle for nearly four minutes. There weren’t many scoring chances but it looked like there was going to be some good tempo. It didn’t last as the first period largely slowed to a crawl after that with shots limited and scoring chances even fewer and farther between.
2) While Oliver Kapanen’s line has had some individual success, they’ve had some issues at five-on-five in terms of puck control. It was nice to see them get something going their way at even strength. Less than five minutes in, Ivan Demidov skated in with the puck, held onto it while looking for a seam to pass through, and found Alex Newhook who only needed to slide it through Joey Daccord’s pads to open up the scoring. That type of offensive patience is rare to see in a rookie and it’s going to take some adjusting for the rest of the team to know that he can be holding it one second and, out of nowhere, be passing it the next. Good things will happen once that adjustment is made.
3) It’s rare to see pick plays called in the NHL; teams get away with it a lot. Vince Dunn took one, negating a Seattle power play but during the four-on-four segment, Demidov took one himself. Two in a span of 34 seconds was a little funny, though it did cost Montreal a second power play chance after they didn’t do much with their other opportunity shortly after the goal.
4) Mike Matheson took a tripping penalty early in the second and that forced the Habs to decide between giving a penalty killing shift to either Lane Hutson or Arber Xhekaj. They chose the latter and it didn’t end well. Xhekaj got caught puck watching while Seattle quickly moved the puck high to low to Shane Wright who went cross-crease to Jaden Schwartz. Noah Dobson couldn’t stop the pass and Xhekaj lost Schwartz in coverage, leaving him wide open for the tap-in to tie the game. If Xhekaj wants to show he can play the penalty kill, this was not something that will help his cause.
5) While Juraj Slafkovsky is supposed to be doing a lot of the board work, Nick Suzuki is getting better at that element as well. He had a board battle with Chandler Stephenson and while he didn’t steal the puck away, his pressure did the next best thing. Stephenson tried to pass the puck out of trouble and sent it right to Cole Caufield, who quickly fired it home. While Suzuki won’t get an assist on the play, his actions led to the perfect pass.
6) Unfortunately for the Habs, the puck luck went the other way before the end of the period. Ty Kartye sent a feed toward the net and while both Xhekaj and Carrier were in a good position in coverage, the pass wound up going off Jani Nyman’s skate and in. Not much they could have done differently there. Samuel Montembeault then had to come up big in the final minute to keep the game tied, ending a period that at least had a bit more flow to it than the first.
7) The third period saw the puck luck go back to the home side as Dobson’s point shot went off Kirby Dach’s skate and in. Not quite a carbon copy play of Nyman’s goal but it had the same effect. Dach was well positioned in front of Daccord and it’s nice to see him get one relatively early. He’s someone who needs to play with some confidence to be effective, maybe this gets him going.
8) I felt bad for Montembeault in the third period. He didn’t have much of a chance on the first two goals and then had another one get by him that would have been a tough stop as Jamie Oleksiak sent a wrister through about six players that Montembeault didn’t see until it was too late. Then, three minutes later, Seattle benefitted from a good bounce with the puck going right to Jared McCann who spun and fired it home. At this point, it was four goals on less than 20 shots but he still wasn’t having that bad of a night.
9) While the power play didn’t score in this one, it helped generate a goal. Just as a late power play was ending, the second wave had some puck control. Instead of Demidov finding Patrik Laine for the shot, it was the other way around; Laine sent it to Demidov in the slot and the rookie showed terrific poise passing up a good shot for a great out as he out-waited Daccord and flipped it into the net with less than three minutes left. Again, few Habs have that type of patience and once again, it led to a goal.
10) The overtime was largely uneventful for the first three minutes with nary a shot on goal. But the Canadiens were able to get an offensive zone draw with less than two minutes to go. Suzuki won the draw to Hutson who skated around until the opening presented itself to drop a pass to Caufield. Caufield didn’t have much room but sniped a perfect shot top corner for the winner. Caufield hasn’t had a great start to the season but a two-goal effort in this one should get him going.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Cole Caufield – Montreal’s top line was once again their best in terms of puck control and this time, it was Caufield who was supplying the scoring. He had a good shot for his first goal and had a great one for the winner. That makes him a pretty easy choice here.
Stats: 2 goals, +2 rating, 2 PIMS, 2 shots, 2 hits, 17:43 TOI
2nd Star: Ivan Demidov – The rookie hasn’t been quite as impactful as some expected to start the season. (Which is perfectly fine; he’s a 19-year-old rookie. That’s pretty normal.) He was a big difference-maker in this one though, setting up Newhook’s goal with a precise pass and then had the crucial tying goal late in the third.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +1 rating, 2 PIMS, 1 shot, 2 blocks, 14:43 TOI
3rd Star: Noah Dobson – He’s not known for being the ‘Steady Eddie’ type of defenceman but he was in this game. Hutson was more flashy, Matheson more up and down. But Dobson was solid defensively, made some good decisions on when to jump into the play, and made several strong plays in the offensive zone. The Habs will happily take more games like this from him.
Stats: 1 assist, +2 rating, 1 shot, 23:08 TOI