Habs Weekly: Two Out of Three Out West

The Habs had a tough three-in-four stretch out West this past week.  The last game was certainly a struggle but they played well in the other two to pick up a pair of victories and make it a successful showing as they continue to work to right the ship after some struggles.

The Week That Was

Nov. 26: Canadiens 4, Mammoth 3 – The Habs have had good first periods this season and this game was no exception.  They picked up a pair of goals including a power play marker from Zach Bolduc and things were looking up.  But the Habs have had a lot of terrible second periods this season and once again, this was no exception as the Mammoth beat Jakub Dobes three times in a span of barely four minutes.  However, they were able to bounce back in the third with two goals in the first five minutes in the third with the second of those coming from Ivan Demidov which held up as the winner.

Nov. 28: Canadiens 4, Golden Knights 1 – It has been a tough season for Samuel Montembeault, to put it lightly.  But after going nearly two full weeks between starts, the rest appeared to do him some good as he was a big part of the Habs being able to shut Vegas down save for a late Mark Stone goal.  Meanwhile, Bolduc opened the scoring for the second straight game while Cole Caufield’s beyond-tough-angle precise shot that beat Akira Schmid early in the second was the winner with Montreal tacking on a pair in the third for good measure.

Nov. 29: Avalanche 7, Canadiens 2 – The score notwithstanding, there were times that the Habs looked pretty good in this one.  They just couldn’t score.  Colorado, meanwhile, took advantage of their opportunities, several of which came thanks to some porous defence, leaving Jakub Dobes out to dry a little too often.  Demidov and Lane Hutson scored for Montreal, the latter coming on a rare point shot on the power play.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIMS	SOG	ATOI
8	Mike Matheson	3	0	1	E	4	3	24:27
11	Brendan Gallagher	3	0	1	-2	0	3	12:44
13	Cole Caufield	3	1	3	+1	0	6	17:20
14	Nick Suzuki	3	2	3	+3	0	4	20:41
17	Josh Anderson	3	0	0	-1	4	4	16:11
20	Juraj Slafkovsky	3	1	2	E	0	2	16:26
42	Adam Engstrom	3	0	0	E	0	2	12:06
45	Alexandre Carrier	3	0	1	-3	2	1	19:58
47	Jayden Struble	2	0	0	E	0	1	15:58
48	Lane Hutson	3	1	1	+2	0	4	22:24
49	Jared Davidson	1	0	0	-1	4	0	5:23
53	Noah Dobson	3	0	1	-1	0	3	23:52
63	Florian Xhekaj	3	0	0	-1	0	2	10:09
71	Jake Evans	3	1	0	-1	2	6	16:26
72	Arber Xhekaj	2	0	0	-2	2	1	12:31
76	Zachary Bolduc	3	2	3	+2	0	6	15:02
85	Alexandre Texier	2	0	1	-2	0	1	13:04
90	Joe Veleno	3	0	0	-2	0	2	12:49
91	Oliver Kapanen	3	0	2	E	4	4	14:31
93	Ivan Demidov	3	2	0	E	0	4	13:04

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
35	Samuel Montembeault	1-0-0	1.01	.968	0
75	Jakub Dobes	1-1-0	5.00	.857	0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (14)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (21)
Points: Nick Suzuki (28)
+/-: Nick Suzuki (+14)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (42)
Shots: Cole Caufield (65)

News And Notes

– Adam Engstrom was recalled from Laval to serve as extra defensive depth for the road trip instead of Marc Del Gaizo.  He wound up getting into two games, the last of which was due to an upper-body injury for Jayden Struble.

– Samuel Blais was claimed off waivers from Toronto.  Since the Habs originally lost him on waivers and no one else put in a claim for him, Montreal was able to send him down to Laval.

– Defenceman Mike Matheson signed a five-year, $30 million contract extension that begins next season.  We’ll have more on that move in a separate piece early in the week.

Last Game’s Lines:

Caufield – Suzuki – Bolduc
Slafkovsky – Kapanen – Demidov
Texier – Evans – Anderson
F. Xhekaj – Veleno – Gallagher

Matheson – Dobson
A. Xhekaj – Hutson
Engstrom – Carrier

The Week Ahead

Tuesday vs Ottawa – The Senators recently welcomed back Brady Tkachuk from the injured list and frankly, they did pretty well without him to stay in the thick of the playoff race.  After a rough start to the season, Linus Ullmark has bounced back in recent weeks, posting a .914 SV% in his last six outings (compared to just .863 before then) heading into Sunday’s action.  They also got Thomas Chabot back from IR but after just one game, he was injured again and just went back on IR over the weekend.

Wednesday vs Winnipeg – Life without Connor Hellebuyck hasn’t been too fun for the Jets who have won two of six games since the reigning Vezina winner landed on IR.  They’re getting a ton of production from their top line (Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Gabriel Vilardi have combined for 36 goals and 45 assists) but that goal total is nearly half of Winnipeg’s offence.  Former Hab Tanner Pearson is in his first season with Winnipeg and has played a regular role on their fourth line although his production is a lot like his time with the Canadiens.

Saturday at Toronto – The Maple Leafs are a bit healthier now compared to their last matchup with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies back in the fold, giving them a second scoring line.  But their 7-2 drubbing of Pittsburgh notwithstanding, they’re still near the bottom of the standings in the East.  They added some secondary scoring over the summer to try to replace Mitch Marner by committee but newcomers Matias Maceclli, Dakota Joshua, and Nicolas Roy have nine goals combined between the three of them while former Hab Max Domi is sitting on just three himself.  And somehow despite that, they’re still third in the league in scoring thanks to their top four forwards leading the way.

Sunday vs St. Louis – The Blues might very well be the NHL’s biggest enigma this season.  Last year, they were a little better than average in terms of scoring goals and preventing them.  This season, with almost entirely the same roster, they’re near the basement on both fronts.  They can’t score, are struggling to defend, and aren’t getting good goaltending.  For context, they have one player with 15 points (Robert Thomas, 16).  The Habs have five.  Their goaltenders’ combined numbers are nearly identical to Montreal’s as well.  Meanwhile, Logan Mailloux has just one assist in 13 games with even less ice time than his brief minutes with the Habs last season; that trade hasn’t worked out great for St. Louis so far although it’s still early.

Final Thought

The addition of Alexandre Texier drew a lot of attention even though it basically amounted to a half-cost waiver claim relative to his old contract.  While he has shown signs of upside in the past back in his days with Columbus, there’s a reason he couldn’t crack the lineup in St. Louis and cleared waivers multiple times.  This is a depth addition, someone with a bit more of a known track record versus some of the unknowns that prospects like Joshua Roy represent.

While we’re looking at a two-game sample size here, the early results are about what I was expecting.  From a raw skill perspective, he’s not half-bad.  How that’s going to fit in a Montreal bottom-six group that effectively has a checking line and a leftover line that they just hope doesn’t get scored on remains a mystery.  Right now, they’re trying him on the checking line which is allowing him to play a little more but it’s an odd fit as his defensive awareness isn’t good enough and it feels like that’s something teams could look to exploit.  On the other hand, he brings a bit of offensive skill to a line that, frankly, doesn’t have a lot of it at the moment.  So there’s a bit of upside there.

In reality, the Habs shouldn’t be looking for too much from Texier.  Low-risk in-season additions rarely move the needle much and him simply being adequate would be a positive outcome for him and Montreal’s coaching staff.  I think he can do that but over his first couple of games so far, this feels like a bit of a ‘square peg, round hole’ situation and it wouldn’t shock me if he’s moved down to the leftover line before too long with Brendan Gallagher getting another shot with the other two.