10 Thoughts – First No Star Of The Season

On Thursday evening, the Montreal Canadiens looked to rebound from their Tuesday thrashing at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings. They did precisely the opposite, to both the pleasure of Stars fans and trend-bettors and the chagrin of Canadiens fans and streak-hawks.

For the team, the seven-to-nothing loss is a bitter pill to swallow because of the chances they did have and the loss of Alex Newhook. After he went down, the Canadiens were understandably affected. They recovered, in theory, but achieved nothing. With a significant amount of the season remaining, Newhook likely gone for a while, and the Olympics soon approaching, Montreal has much to prove moving forward.

Starting Lines

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

Struble – Hutson
Matheson – Dobson
Xhekaj – Carrier

Dobes (Pulled) – Montembeault (Relief)

10 Thoughts

1) Early offensive pushes characterized the first ten minutes of the opening frame, as Montreal was able to penetrate the Stars’ slot multiple times. Mike Matheson and Ivan Demidov both were able to shrug off their coverage and achieve high-danger chances on Casey DeSmith. Dallas also showed up to play, absorbing the Canadiens’ attack and releasing their own transition game in the form of Thomas Harley and Roope Hintz getting shots on the rush. These exchanges culminated in a Habs power play, as Liam Bichsel interfered with Josh Anderson as he was trying to chase down a dumped puck. The Dallas defender needed to actually finish his check, since the slight push exactly fit the definition of interference but would likely have been a legal check had he followed through.

2) Unfortunately for the home fans, their team failed to convert on the ensuing power play and take advantage of the call. Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky played catch on the half-wall and tried to get the defenders to bite, but the Stars’ penalty killers were disciplined on both sides of the zone. Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki played the same game after a whistle, and were unable to get any more purchase. All in all, the Habs achieved a Lane Hutson one-timer, an Alex Newhook rush chance, and a delayed penalty against themselves.

3) Kirby Dach was called for holding Jason Robertson at 6:56 of the first. Jakub Dobes was immediately put to work against the second-best power play in the league, and his saves earned a faceoff that resulted in two Jake Evans rushes while shorthanded. Following this, Wyatt Johnston finished off a textbook passing play into the slot from Hintz and Rantanen. Rantanen worked the top of the zone and coaxed the defenders’ box into a smaller form, then sent the puck to the goal line for Hintz. The Finnish forward then one-touched the pass to Johnston as Mike Matheson was only just realizing the puck had gone behind him to the line. The remainder of the period went well for the Canadiens, although they went to the dressing room down a goal.

4) Both teams came out of the break determined to make an impression on the outcome of the game. Montreal enjoyed the possession and chances for a few minutes, but disaster struck in a very short sequence. While pinned in their own zone during Dallas’ first real push of the second period, Alexandre Carrier’s stick broke and Kirby Dach gave his up. As the play continues, Dach laid out to block an incoming shot and goes down, hard. He crumpled into the corner and the play effectively evolves into a power play, one that results similarly to the first. Esa Lindell was the scorer as he whipped a point shot near the top of the circle past Dobes to put the Stars up by two.

5) Moments later, as the Canadiens tried to mount a comeback with determined forechecking and too much passing, Alex Newhook fell while pursuing a puck into the corner. As he slid into the boards, his legs and feet were first to make impact, particularly his ankle and knee. He was helped off of the ice, and now each forward felt the shift in the lineup as matchups and opportunities changed.

6) In a play starting in their own zone, Dallas was able to take the puck from Montreal and transition the play into a goal. Hutson kept the puck in after a period of sustained attack for the home team, but sent his shot wide of the net where Evans lost the battle with Bichsel for the puck. The defender passed up to Robertson, who sprung a streaking Tyler Seguin. Hutson was the last man back, but nobody had covered him since his time in the zone and the rest of the line was changing. Seguin had plenty of time to beat Dobes with a seeing-eye wrist shot to only continue an onslaught that was about to get much worse.

7) The teams exchanged penalties to no avail, continuing another concerning trend of a predictable power play and perhaps some players trying to pick corners while hitting crests. Robertson poured on the pain at 15:10 with a backhand shot that ended up with Kapanen on the opposite side of the ice as his offensive chance thirty seconds before. He lost possession at the Dallas blue line, when Rantanen sent a pass to a very Olympic-looking Harley inside the zone. Harley caught the Habs puck-chasing and slipped into the right circle, received the pass and sent it across to Robertson for that sharp backhand every hockey player loves to practice. The angle never feels like it’ll work, it’s not supposed to work, but then you see it happen on TV, and go back outside.

8) Robertson got his second of the game and the Stars’ fourth of the period at 16:49, less than two minutes later, and underscoring the momentum of the contest as lopsided. Consequently, none of the goals necessarily seemed to be Dobes’ fault, if not for a lack of desperation saves that would be expected of top goalies. Samuel Montembeault entered to start the third period to the cheers “Monty! Monty! Monty!” 

9) Unfortunately, the adoration of the fans could not keep Dallas’ next shot on net, and 14th of the game (Montreal has 17 at this point), from exposing how estranged this team is from being a true contender. Alex Petrovic sent a slot shot past Montembeault after taking a spinning pass from Radek Faksa, another Star right on Montembeault as insurance. With over seventeen minutes remaining, the slow crawl to an inevitable finish began, as the admirable number of loyal fans cheered their teams’ futile puck possessions and perimeter jukes. They did earn the opportunities to make those jukes with an admirable effort to play out the game.

10) Once more, those efforts were rewarded with a Stars goal, Colin Blackwell putting up the seventh on another play that started in the visitors’ zone. Montembeault let in his second in relief as Faksa beat out Matheson and Noah Dobson drifted back. The puck was behind the Canadiens’ goaltender, then chipped like a backwards sand wedge by Faksa to Blackwell, who batted it out of the air standing in Montembeault’s face.  The condemning 7–0 finish is an uneasy repeat of Tuesday for Canadiens fans.

HW Habs 3 Stars

There are no stars. If this happens for a third time in a row perhaps there should be anti-stars.