The Montreal Canadiens were off to one of the best starts we have ever seen from this team. Then, they let it all slip way and couldn’t even claw their way into a single point in the standings.
The Montreal Canadiens were off to a tremendous start against the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. Actually, just calling it tremendous is underselling how well the first ten minutes of the hockey game went. The Canadiens had an absolutely perfect first half of a period against their division rivals, and were firing on all cylinders coming out of their Christmas break.
Then it all came crashing down. What looked like the easiest two points they could ever receive ended up with a big fat zero. And it couldn’t have come at a worse time, with literally everyone near them in standings adding points. It is only the midpoint of the season, but the Habs saw a lot of teams leapfrog them last night.
If any team knows the razor thin margin for error they have in chasing down a playoff spot, it has to be the Montreal Canadiens. The 2018-19 version of this team had 96 points but it wasn’t enough to make the postseason. Every single point matters when they games calendar reaches April and playoff seeds are hard to come by.
The Habs looked well on their way to earning two points last night with goals from Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Max Domi in the opening ten minutes of the game. Not only were the Lightning shutout on the goals section of the scoreboard, they were even showing a zero for shots on net. The Habs on the other hand, were showing 16.
It was about as dominant a performance you could ever ask for at the National Hockey League level. In fact, if the Canadiens were playing a mediocre ECHL team, I don’t know if they could outshoot them 16-0 in ten minutes of hockey.
The Lightning would finally come to life after the midway point of the first period and actually fire a shot on goal. It was one of the few that Carey Price would handle easily all night without letting it get behind him or roll around out in front of him.
The Bolts would continue to push but the Habs held their 2-0 lead into the final minute. Then, Steven Stamkos fired a cross-ice pass to Ryan McDonagh who one-timed it at the Habs net. He missed but it hit Alex Killorn and bounced right into the Habs crease where Killorn easily tapped it into the net to make it 2-1 Habs heading into the intermission.
That was all the life the Lightning needed heading into the second period as they came out flying. Goals from Stamkos, Mitchell Stephens first ever (how often does that happen against the Habs?) and another from Killorn made it 4-2 Lightning 12 minutes into the second period.
So, the Habs were exceptional for ten minutes and it led to a 2-0 lead. They were not exceptional for the next 22 and it resulted in four goals against. Ben Chiarot quickly responded with a goal of his own to bring it back to 4-3 for Tampa Bay heading into the third period.
Once again, the first and last couple minutes of a period proved to be the Habs downfall. Killorn scored in the last minute of the first period. Stamkos scored less then two minutes into the second period and then Anthony Cirelli scored less than a minute into the third period after a comedy of errors by Habs players in their own zone.
The Canadiens trailed by two for most of the third period, even though they actually got two power plays. I didn’t know the Habs were allowed to get power plays. I watched the German World Junior team play the Czech Republic yesterday morning and there were more power plays in that game than all the Habs games combined in December.
Jordan Weal snuck a puck over the line off a nice feed from Tomas Tatar from behind the Lightning goal with 1:28 to play in the game, but that was as close as the Habs would come to tying the game. They would lose 5-4 in regulation and get zero points in the standings from a game that saw them lead on the shot clock 16-0 after ten minutes of play.
Not only did they lose, but they lost to a division rival who were two points behind them in the standings. That means the Lightning are now tied with the Habs with 42 points, though Tampa Bay has played two less games.
Also, the Florida Panthers won 5-4 over the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs came back from a 4-2 deficit to force overtime before losing to the New York Rangers. The Panthers jumped from one point back of Montreal to one point ahead and the Leafs now move five points up on the Habs, though Toronto has played two more games.
Had the Canadiens won last night’s game, they would have 44 points and would be in third place in the Atlantic Division. Instead, they are jumped by the Panthers, Lightning and Rangers and fall all the way to fifth in the wild card chase.
It may seem like overreacting in the moment, but this could be a game we look back on in April and wonder what could have been. It seems like Habs fans have already said that a few times. You can only blow so many leads before you sink too far outside the playoff picture to ever claw your way back in. Let’s hope the Habs can bounce back tonight against the Florida Panthers.