The Montreal Canadiens weren’t able to win the game, but they at least got a point as an exciting third period ended in an overtime loss to Columbus.
In all honesty, you can make the case that the Montreal Canadiens shouldn’t have won this game. It was the usual slow start that eventually picked up in the third period, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to run away with it as they’ve done in the past. Instead, they ran into a goaltender as hot as theirs, and an overtime period that will make you want to flip a table.
The Habs now have 18 points on the season and unfortunately, haven’t moved anywhere in the standings. There is still an opportunity to further this homestand when they take on the Arizona Coyotes who have just recently made history by being the first team not to get a regulation win their first 20 games. That game will also be Montreal’s 20th, and we know how important that will be.
Thoughts and Observations
The Montreal Canadiens were already walking into this down another man with Artturi Lehkonen out with a lower-body injury. We then found out that Torrey Mitchell would also be out with the flu, so the Habs had to go with eleven forwards and seven defencemen.
Well not quite. Claude Julien decided to have rookie Victor Mete play left-wing on the fourth line. It actually didn’t look like it was too terrible of an idea as the game continued. Mete even set up Jacob de La Rose pretty well for a scoring chance.
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The 19-year-old did go back to the blueline later on in the night, but he only played a little over seven minutes. Not sure what Julien is doing with Mete here, however seeing that he played half the minutes that Joseph Morrow played is concerning. Not sure if I’m missing something, but I haven’t seen a reason for the Habs to play him so few minutes. It may be to protect him a little conditioning wise but who knows.
The first two period and a half of the game didn’t have much going for it. Charlie Lindgren had another quality start and made two solid saves to keep the Montreal Canadiens within reach of a win. Unfortunately, they gave up the first goal of the game because of a defensive problem the team has been fighting all season.
Anderson left wide open out front and buries his first of the year. #Habs trail the #Jackets 1-0 pic.twitter.com/boiYn2w9cb
— Alex Metzger (@nhlsensandstuff) November 15, 2017
Brandon Davidson partially blocked a shot from Markus Nutivaara, but the puck flips up to Josh Anderon who is free to settle it down and put it past Lindgren for his seventh. It’s the amount of time he has to get the shot across that is concerning. You may be able to shrug that one off because Davidson was down on one knee and couldn’t get up quick enough but still.
That goal marked the third game in a row where the Montreal Canadiens have surrendered the first of the night. Doing it against the Blue Jackets is even worse, and I’ll explain why.