Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Habs Lopsided Loss To Blues

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The Montreal Canadiens head in to their 11th game of the season with a record of 5-3-2. This has been a bit surprising as they have played better than expected to begin the 2023-24 season.

They will look to continue that with Christian Dvorak making his season debut as they wrap up a road trip in St. Louis where they face the Blues.

Here are tonight’s 24 Thoughts on the Canadiens game:

First Period

Giving up three consecutive Grade A scoring chances against on the second shift is probably not the best way to find success. Sam Montembeault made a great save on Colton Parayko on the first one, Johnathan Kovacevic seemed to get just enough of the second one to disrupt it but the third one ends up in the back of the net. Less than a minute and a half in and that was not pretty.

Speaking of Montembeault, and definitely not pinning that first one on him, but Jake Allen was a member of the Blues organization for over a decade. It is surprising that things weren’t lined up so he would get the start against his former team.

Playing Josh Anderson on the top power play continues to bedevil me. He touched the puck three times to begin the man advantage and the next player to touch the puck each time was wearing a blue sweater. And this ain’t that weird retro reverse jersey night so that means he turned the puck over every time.

Slafkovsky scores his first of the season on the power play!! He was moved up to the top line for this game after everyone with a pen wrote this week that he needs to be sent down to the AHL. He got the puck to Caufield on the opening shift which led to a shot on goal, and now Slafkovsky gets the puck down low, gets open, cuts to the net and his shot beat Joel Hofer to tie the game. Maybe he should be on the first power play instead of Anderson?

I think Anderson would be one of the hardest players in the league to play with. Everything is done at 100 miles per hour, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of thought put into decisions. Just skate really fast towards the net and then shoot at some point. That would be difficult to work with.

Mike Matheson has been far better than expected after arriving in Montreal, but he seems to be a little too aggressive offensively lately. He was beat a few times so far this period leading to odd man rushes against. Having Kovacevic with him as a stay at home defender is the right decision.

Matheson gets beat as the Blues enter the attacking zone and Robert Thomas uses all that space to fire home a wrist shot and give the Blues the lead back.

Nick Suzuki went 0-for-6 on faceoffs in that period. I wonder if he is playing hurt. He would never complain about it, and takes pride in playing every game, but he hasn’t really been himself this year. He has played fine and has eight points in ten games, but seems a little off at times and just not quite at his usual level. I wonder if something is bothering him early this season.

Nov 4, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Montreal Canadiens Alex Newhook. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports /

Second Period

Kaiden Guhle is

going to be

a beast on this blue line for a long time. That’s all.

I’m not really sure why Jesse Ylonen has to sit. I know he wasn’t piling up points but he is a smart young player with a great shot. Would make sense to have him in the lineup over Joel Armia or Michael Pezzetta. I like Pezzetta, he works really hard but he’s the definition of a placeholder in the lineup while Ylonen has some potential.

Justin Barron makes a great defensive play to save a goal. Calmly just knocks the puck away as a Blues player tries to tap it into a wide open net. When fully healthy, I don’t know who sits because it isn’t gonna be Barron again…. Imagine talking about the Canadiens and using the phrase “fully healthy”… hilarious.

The puck over glass rule is not the best one in the book. Just don’t let them change like on an icing. I have hated this rule since April 30 2006 when Andrei Markov got called for it against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of a first round playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes and Matt Cullen scored the game winning goal on the power play. But I’ll probably get over it.

Kudos to Joel Hofer for stopping both a Brendan Gallagher jam play at the side of the crease and a hard snap shot from Cole Caufield within about two seconds of each other. It was like watching the past and future of Canadiens goals but without the puck ever going in the net.

Newhook has been kind of fighting it recently. I hoped a move to the wing would help his game and he did set up Slafkovsky for the first goal, but a brutal turnover at center ice leads to the Blues third goal.

Now Gallagher scores from above the hashmarks?!?! This is a whole new Gallagher as he has not scored from outside the crease area in 12 years. Kidding. But it was a great play by Sean Monahan behind the net to steal the puck from the Blues defenseman and find Gallagher in the slot. What to do with Monahan? The trade offers are going to be hard to pass up if he keeps this up but what a great leader and scorer to have around.

Pearson drags his stick behind him on the backcheck, leaving it in the passing lane and the puck hits him right on the tape which leads to a turnover. It is easy to see how him and Tyler Toffoli worked so well together for those years in Los Angeles.

Nov 4, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Montreal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports /

Third Period

Slafkovsky looks like a completely different player. Makes a great move to the middle of the ice on the opening shift of the third period, but can’t quite get the shot off. Takes a hit to make a play along the boards behind the net but takes it in stride. Gets to the front of the net and tips a shot that nearly goes in. He looks far better on the first line than he ever did on the second.

Referees are funny things. Sometimes they make fairly weak calls like they did when Mike Matheson was grabbed. Then, sometimes, since the team is already on the power play, they don’t call things like blatant hooks that knock down Justin Barron and allow a Blues player to go in all alone on a breakaway from his own zone and score a shorthanded goal to make it 4-2.

Kovacevic doesn’t offer a lot offensively, but man is he good defensively. Who is playing defense on this team at this time next year? Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher are probably here but Matheson, Guhle, Harris, Xhekaj, Barron, Savard and Kovacevic are signed next year too. Logan Mailloux and Mattias Norlinder were terrific in training camp. That’s 11 guys.

Monahan actually loses a faceoff and everyone is so confused they forget how to defend for a second. It is just long enough for Brayden Schenn to fire home his first goal of the season and give the Blues a big 5-2 lead.

Matheson is playing a lot with Harris tonight and I like that pairing. Matheson is a pretty high risk player and I think Harris can become a really dependable defensive defenseman who plays a ton of minutes and just doesn’t let bad things happen when he is on the ice. He’s getting a chance to prove he can do that tonight and looks calm and comfortable in his own zone.

Newhook gets outmuscled in his own zone and instead of an easy clear the puck ends up in the Habs empty net to make it 6-2. He skates so well and has a lot of potential yet, but there are some warts he needs to work out.

Aside from gliding around on the power play while facing away from the other team’s net, I haven’t noticed Josh Anderson at all. Did you know that he is making $8 million this season?

After starting the season 5-2-1, the Canadiens have lost three straight. A tough road trip that started with a kind of uplifting loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in a shootout. Now 5-4-2 the Habs are barely above 0.500 and have only beaten the Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres in regulation after 11 games played. It is starting to look like a long season ahead.

Next. Three Potential Joel Armia Trades. dark

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