On Thursday night, the Montreal Canadiens played their first home game of the season against the Detroit Red Wings in search of their first regulation win but instead received their first regulation loss after a poor effort in front of the home fans.
If there’s one thing that’s certain, no one does a better home opener ceremony than the Montreal Canadiens. Chills. Every time. The home opening ceremony started with a choir rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” before the player introductions and the proceeded with the national anthems and then the puck dropped.
First Period
After an OT loss to the Buffalo Sabres the previous night, the Montreal Canadiens were looking to rebound but the first period started with the Habs struggling to keep a hold on the puck but after minutes the scoring chances started coming, albeit on the slower side.
Nearing the seven-minute mark, Carey Price stopped a 2-on-1, looking poised early in the game.
Around the halflway mark, the Drouin–Kotkaniemi–Armia line started to look dangerous as they have in last three games. They have arguably been the top line so far this season.
With 6:26 left in the first period, Darren Helm gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead in a sloppy defensive performance by Christian Folin. The Habs responded by further struggling defensively.
With less than a minute remaining, Joel Armia (from Jonathan Drouin and Philip Danault) tied up the game with his third goal in two games but Tyler Bertuzzi quickly responded and gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead to conclude the period.
Second Period
The Montreal Canadiens started the second period in hopes of shifting the momentum and tightening up defensively but proceeded to struggle in their own zone but after getting a powerplay, Max Domi tied up the game 2-2 in rather confusing goal on Red Wings goaltender Jonathan Bernier.
The Habs a chance to capitalize on a second powerplay but relied too much on Shea Weber’s slapshot this time around.
With 4:22 left in the second period, Anthony Mantha scored on the powerplay giving the lead back to the Red Wings. The Canadiens tried to quickly respond with a few good chances by Jonathan Drouin, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Max Domi but with no such luck.
Worst for Last
This is the third straight game in the season where the Habs are trailing going into the third period.
The third period was the least entertaining of three. The Montreal Canadiens almost seemed to sit by idly with few offensive chances. This is disappointing considering the Canadiens have been able to come hack from deficits in the first 3 games of the season.
The Canadiens last attempt to tie up the game led to an empty net goal by the Red Wings forward Luke Glendening leading to a final score of 4-2.
Looking Ahead
With a record of 1-1-2, the Montreal Canadiens have to figure out how to fix their issues on defense and the penalty kill as well as play three full periods because the next few games are not going to be easy match-ups for them.
There are some alarming issues so far in the Canadiens play style. They have not looked as fast as they normally do but hopefully that was just fatigue after playing the Buffalo Sabres the night before. Another concern is the defensive zone breakouts. With almost every Habs defenseman stumbling and fumbling in their own zone, they are not being given any opportunities to bring the puck up front to aid the forwards.
A glaring systematic issue is the penalty kill. Along with the poor defensive play, the Habs penalty killing unit has been putrid since game one of the season. This will also need to be solved as soon as possible.