10 Thoughts – Cats Lose Eight Lives in a Row at the Bell Centre, Montreal Completes Another Comeback

The Montreal Canadiens gave their fans two full periods of lacklustre performance during Tuesday night’s tilt against the Florida Panthers. Florida had lost their last seven in a row at the Bell Centre, and despite their diminished roster, they took the task to the Canadiens throughout the night. During the third, Montreal pushed to even the score and earned two miraculous goals that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Lane Hutson’s tying setup showcased both Montreal’s grit and skill in a single play.

Caufield is still awaiting his 50th of the season, and continued to be forced puck by Slafkovsky. He got some shots on net, but again looked more tentative towards driving the puck to the middle, contenting himself with setting up Demidov and scoring in the shootout to cement the 4-3 victory.

Jakub Dobes was phenomenal when he needed to be, but his style seemed much more extemporaneous and reminded the viewer of his initial play in the league. Thankfully, his aggressiveness was the difference as he pressured Sam Bennett’s shootout attempt with a poke-check that rushed his shot. Montreal came away with another two points in their pursuit of the divisional lead and a home-ice advantage in the playoffs. Whoever Montreal encounters this spring, they had better be prepared for the multi-faceted approach of one of the youngest and hottest teams in the National League.

Starting Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Texier – Newhook – Demidov
Bolduc – Evans – Dach
Kapanen – Danault – Anderson

Matheson – Dobson
Struble – Hutson
Engstrom – Xhekaj

Jakub Dobes

Ten Thoughts

1) One of Montreal’s newer faces in Adam Engstrom – recently recalled from Laval – committed the game’s first infraction. Following a giveaway by Kirby Dach in the offensive zone, the Panthers quickly moved the puck up the middle of the ice. As A.J. Greer was attempting to gain the middle of the ice alone, Engstrom wrapped his free arm around him opposite the puck, clearly holding him. Alex Newhook and goaltender Jakub Dobes were responsible for blocking shots and passes, eventually fighting off the entire two minutes.

2) Carter Verhaeghe got the Panthers on the board first with a rebounded chance, beating Dobes with a wrist shot that went through him. Montreal and Florida had been exchanging possessions and perimeter opportunities until Donovan Sebrango beat out Kirby Dach over the length of the ice. Sebrango gained possession in his own zone and looped the net, then skated the puck through both zones until reaching the top of the slot in front of Dobes. Uncontested, he fired on net, Dobes kicked out the rebound – as has been his wont of late – but this time directly to Verhaeghe.

3) Florida took their first penalty of the game when Dmitry Kulikov got his stick high into the face of Ivan Demidov. Despite winning the opening faceoff, Montreal was unable to hold the zone and struggled to complete passes when regained. They spent the first minute regrouping, the first unit exiled back to the bench as the second unit spent their 31 seconds accomplishing little more. With approximately three and a half minutes remaining, Arber Xhekaj failed to maintain control of his own stick and it ended up being pushed into Dach’s cheek, drawing blood. Dach rose after lying prostrate for a moment and left the ice once the play was blown dead. The officials didn’t call a penalty on the play originally, assessed one after conferring so it could be reviewed, and quickly withdrew it.

4) Shortly thereafter, Demidov drew the second minor benefitting the Canadiens when he burst into the offensive zone, skating through Sebrango and causing the trip. Nick Suzuki and Demidov nearly connected for Montreal’s first score with quick one-touch passes to the front of the net, but the pass was just ahead of him and the shot went above the net. Another set of Demidov and Lane Hutson one-timers were stopped by Daniil Tarasov, and the enormous rebound was nearly capitalized on by Florida with a two-on-one rush.

5) 30 seconds into the second period, Demidov drew a second penalty on a similar play to the first, except along the right wall. Taking a pass mid-spin and crossing into the zone, Demidov was slashed by Tobias Bjornfot. It took the Habs no more than 20 seconds to make them pay for it: a clean and quick entry into the zone by Suzuki, a drop-off of the puck at the blue line for Hutson, and then a pass across the zone to Demidov for a one-timer blast.

6) The next minutes of play during the middle frame were characterized by one or two rushes by individual players, bouncing pucks, and a shooting mentality by the Canadiens defencemen. Noah Dobson executed a spectacular diving block during a two-on-one. By the halfway point of the game, shots had reached 14 for Florida and 13 for Montreal, and an evenly matched flow of the game further reflected its tone. Despite their position in the standings and injury-riddled roster, the Panthers had their trademark biting attack whenever they had the chance to implement it. Phillip Danault, with just under nine minutes left, forechecked and stripped Sebrango of the puck before feeding Josh Anderson crashing the net. Tarasov was able to get his pad down to block the bouncing puck, and Florida took the puck back down to Dobes. He stopped shots from Greer, Eetu Luostarinen, and Mike Benning over the next few minutes as the Habs iced the puck numerous times. Montreal engaged Florida with their run-and-gun chances up and down the ice in the latter half of the second period, and Cole Reinhardt was able to finish off one of his. Beating Xhekaj to the inside, Reinhardt scored his fifth of the season after taking a forwarding pass through the neutral zone from Luke Kunin. Reinhardt held onto the puck long enough as he passed by Dobes to extend him out of the net and then slide it past him while out of position.

7) Seth Jones and Ivan Demidov were jostling for position while chasing down a puck in the Panthers zone when Jones went down in a heap in the corner. The referee closest called a tripping penalty in the moment, however, the review vividly depicted the ease with which Jones slipped on the slippery frozen water. The Habs were able to kill off the duration of the penalty with an assortment of blocks, saves by Dobes, and a pristine clear at the hands of Jake Evans. With the second winding down in period two, Montreal surely felt the pressure from their expectant fans even as they left for the dressing room.

8) Dobes was called upon to keep the Canadiens in the game less than a minute into the third period. A spectacular arm save as he was sprawling kept the skaters from eating another minus as they allowed the Panthers to collate all around the slot and feed pucks into the clogged ice. In a play started by the engine of Anderson that drew a delayed call, Danault finished off a determined effort by the Habs veterans.  Dobson and Danault worked together – after getting the zone – to dig the puck out of the corner and get it to Engstrom at the point. Engstrom pivoted to the middle before backpedaling, creating space at the blue line and then feeding the puck back to the corner where Dobson remained situated. Danault, conversely, had circled up to the blue and around the rear of Engstrom as he had gone to the middle, then drifted back into the zone and was in the slot when Dobson’s pass was knocked backward by Kapanen. Danault curled the loose puck and shot it in the top corner, tying the game for Montreal and bringing the crowd back to life.

9) An excellent tip from Luostarinen in front of the net put the Panthers back ahead once more with 12 minutes remaining in the third period. Kunin had possessed the puck inside the Canadiens zone and was skating down the right wall before curling around and feeding the point, similarly to Montreal’s own oft-used tactic. Forsling received the pass and wasted little time before firing on net, and Suzuki was unable to adequately tie up Luostarinen’s stick or box him out to clear the line of sight for Dobes. The Canadiens pushed during the final closing minutes of the game; Dobes was pulled near the two-minute mark. Tarasov and the Florida defenders held their ground as the Canadiens tried to penetrate the middle of the ice, but with little time and even less space in the offensive zone, Montreal was left with few options. Hutson took the team on his back and broke into the zone with no less than 30 seconds left, split the defencemen, and carried his defenders and Tarasov out of position before feeding the puck behind himself. Suzuki, having just missed a glorious chance in the slot seconds earlier, couldn’t miss the gaping empty net and open puck in front of him.

10) Just after setting up the tying goal for Suzuki, Hutson caught a stick in his face courtesy of Tomas Nosek. The only penalty of the third period, Montreal got a quick shot on goal from Caufield before the buzzer sounded for overtime. The four-on-three overtime was run by Montreal’s best four forwards: Suzuki, Slafkovsky, Caufield, and Demidov. Tarasov robbed Slafkovsky at the far post with a wondrous push-off, and the Panthers held off the sustained attack by Montreal’s finest. After a shot from Demidov ended up on top of the net and play transitioned back to three-on-three, Sam Bennett uncorked Florida’s first shot on net in overtime to be stopped by Dobes. Newhook, Dobson, and Texier saw the ice before the captain’s line returned to play, and neither team was able to score.

Shootout Results:

MON: Caufield scores; Texier scores;

FLA: Luostarinen stopped; Bennett poke-checked by Dobes for the win.

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Lane Hutson

Without his individual effort, the game would have been lost. As Montreal fans have seen numerous times before, Hutson is willing and eager to take on whatever challenge and opportunity lies in front of him in order to win the game. He makes the right pass, sees the right lanes, and is fearless in his pursuit of chances at the net. He knew the time was short, he knew the Habs had been struggling to get in the zone, and he saw the opening at the blue line. Hutson needs to be treasured by the management and coaching staff of this team, shepherded by counseling and guidance in order to develop the man as well as the player, because the brain attached to that highly talented hockey player is invaluable for the decades to come. 

Stats: 1 assist, 0 +/-,  2 shots, 1 block, 1 hit, 25:44 T.O.I.

2nd Star – Ivan Demidov

The young Russian star was dancing off his edges on Tuesday night and served as an offensive dynamo throughout. His curving turns terrorized the Panthers defenders, and his skating was unmatched by none on the ice other than perhaps Hutson. He may have been surprised that his shot beat Tarasov from so far out, but none should be surprised by his milestone 18th goal during his first full season in the NHL.

Stats: 1 goal, 0 +/-, 4 shots, 20:19 T.O.I.

3rd Star – Jakub Dobes

Montreal’s starter was key in the saving of the game against Florida, earning the win with huge stops in overtime and the shootout, as well as an engaging attitude and demeanor for his skaters. In a relatively low-event game on the whole, the netminder took actionable and material steps to attempt to give Montreal an advantage. Not all were successful, such as his non-trip at the hands of Greer near the end of the game, but with the Habs clinched, Dobes has the opportunity to embrace the moment, each moment.

Stats: 30 SV, 3 GA, .909 SV%