Habs Weekly: More Blown Leads, More Wins

It was a light week for the Habs as they wrapped up a West Coast trip and had one of their longer breaks of the season.  The bad news is that the blew a multi-goal lead in each of their two games.  The good news is that they still won both in overtime.

The Week That Was

Oct. 28: Canadiens 4, Kraken 3 (OT) – For about 48 minutes, the Habs were in control.  They scored twice in the first and then Alex Newhook potted one early in the third.  With Seattle not mustering up much, this looked close to being over.  But the Kraken pushed back.  Brandon Montour potted a pair, including the tying goal with less than two minutes left in regulation.  However, Cole Caufield was once again the OT hero, setting a new franchise record for overtime goals although this was hardly a highlight-reel tally like the others as he banked a side-shot off Joey Daccord and in.

Nov. 1: Canadiens 4, Senators 3 (OT) – While there was some talk about this being another rough game given the fiasco that was their first preseason meeting, that didn’t wind up being the case.  It was chippy, yes, but not over the top.  Things were looking up early with a pair of goals from the top line in the first ten minutes of the game (the second coming on the power play) but they blew it in the second, including an unfortunate bounce on a rebound going off Mike Matheson’s skate and into the net.  Tim Stutzle then gave Ottawa the lead in the third but Ivan Demidov was able to get that back on a give-and-go play with Lane Hutson with 2:23 left.  In overtime, Drake Batherson cleared the puck off the side boards and sent a perfect pass right to Alex Newhook, springing him on a breakaway.  After Zach Bolduc was stopped on a breakaway earlier in the game and Hutson didn’t score on a penalty shot, the third breakaway was the charm as Newhook buried the shot for the extra point.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIMS	SOG	ATOI
8	Mike Matheson	2	0	1	E	0	2	26:04
11	Brendan Gallagher	2	0	0	-1	0	2	10:52
13	Cole Caufield	2	3	2	+2	2	8	17:38
14	Nick Suzuki	2	0	5	+2	0	4	18:56
15	Alex Newhook	2	2	0	+2	0	4	15:15
17	Josh Anderson	2	0	0	-2	0	2	12:59
20	Juraj Slafkovsky	2	2	0	+1	2	4	17:55
45	Alexandre Carrier	2	0	0	-1	2	1	19:44
47	Jayden Struble	2	0	0	-1	7	3	15:36
48	Lane Hutson	2	0	2	+1	0	1	22:34
53	Noah Dobson	2	0	2	-1	0	5	21:43
71	Jake Evans	2	0	0	-3	0	1	14:44
72	Arber Xhekaj	2	0	0	E	0	1	13:01
76	Zachary Bolduc	2	0	0	-1	2	2	14:28
77	Kirby Dach	2	0	1	-1	2	2	14:33
90	Joe Veleno	2	0	0	-1	9	0	13:11
91	Oliver Kapanen	2	0	0	E	0	1	12:56
93	Ivan Demidov	2	1	0	+1	0	5	14:02

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
35	Samuel Montembeault	1-0-0	2.92	.824	0
75	Jakub Dobes	1-0-0	2.96	.857	0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (10)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (16)
Points: Nick Suzuki (18)
+/-: Nick Suzuki (+9)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (15)
Shots: Cole Caufield (34)

News And Notes

– Entering Sunday’s action, Cole Caufield is tied for the league lead in goals with Nathan MacKinnon while Nick Suzuki sits all alone atop the leaderboard in assists, one ahead of Evgeni Malkin.

– When the Habs returned from their road trip, they sent Joshua Roy and Marc Del Gaizo back to Laval.  Of the two, only Roy suited up while on recall, getting into only one game.  At the moment, the Canadiens don’t have any extra healthy skaters on their roster.

– Jakub Dobes was named the NHL’s Third Star for October, finishing behind Jack Eichel and Mark Scheifele.  Oddly enough, he wasn’t Rookie of the Month as that went to Matthew Schaefer of the Islanders.

Last Game’s Lines:

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Kapanen – Demidov
Bolduc – Veleno – Dach
Gallagher – Evans – Anderson

Struble – Hutson
Matheson – Dobson
Xhekaj – Carrier

The Week Ahead

Tuesday vs Philadelphia – Thought of as a potential basement-dwelling team entering the season, that hasn’t been the case for the Flyers as they have a points percentage over .500 in the early going.  They’re one of the lowest scoring teams in the NHL but also one of the stingiest defensively thanks to a terrific start from Dan Vladar and a new system under bench boss Rick Tocchet.  Trevor Zegras is doing great with his new team, averaging over a point per game while Christian Dvorak is a little above last year’s pace offensively as well.  That has offset a tough start to the season for Matvei Michkov who entered Sunday’s action with just one goal on the season.

Thursday at New Jersey – The Devils are banged up at the moment with around half-a-dozen players out but it doesn’t seem to matter as they’re one of the top teams in the NHL early on.  Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are once again a strong one-two punch while Dawson Mercer and Nico Hischier are carrying a second strong scoring line.  Jake Allen is off to a strong start in goal, doing rather well covering when Jacob Markstrom missed a couple of weeks; that will be the goalie tandem for a couple more years after Markstrom signed a two-year extension a few days ago.

Saturday vs Utah – A team that’s emerging from a rebuild as the Habs are, the Mammoth are off to a similar start this season, sitting in an early playoff spot in the very tough Central Division.  Nick Schmaltz, a pending UFA centre, is off to the best start of his career, averaging well over a point per game while Logan Cooley, fresh off an eight-year, $80 million extension and selected two spots after Juraj Slafkovsky, is at a point per game.  In fact, they have four players at or above a point per game while also being one of the stingiest teams in the league in terms of goals allowed.

Final Thought

It’s certainly fair to say that Samuel Montembeault has had a rough go as of late.  He has allowed 19 goals on his last 111 shots (spanning five games) for a save percentage of .829.  There’s no sugarcoating it, that’s a rough stretch.

Oh, sorry, hold on a minute.  I have my numbers crossed.  That was his five-game stint to end October last year, not this year.  This season, he has allowed 19 goals on his last 112 shots (spanning five games) for a save percentage of .830.  That’s still a rough stretch, one that Montreal actually won three games in.

Yes, while it’s more than understandable to have some concern about Montembeault at the moment given that he is Montreal’s starter, all is not lost here.  It’s not like he’s in uncharted territory slump-wise, he had a very similar stretch of games at this time of year just last season.  And we all know how that turned out, he rebounded quite well and was a bit part of the Habs getting to the playoffs.  In terms of save percentage, October is the worst month of his career out of the seven months he’s played in.  If anything, he’s surprisingly consistent.

But if history continues to repeat itself as it did last month, there should be cause for optimism that he will play his way out of this before too long.  With Jakub Dobes off to a terrific start and the team boasting one of the top records in the league, the Canadiens are in a good spot where they don’t have to just throw Montembeault to the wolves and hope today’s the day he turns things around.  Instead, they can have some patience and let him get his form back gradually.  It’s not time to worry too much about Montembeault’s play just yet, history suggests he’ll turn it around soon.