Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Habs Win Over Blue Jackets

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The Montreal Canadiens wrapped up a five game road trip last night with a visit to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The two teams find themselves sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and will likely be sitting near each other at the draft lottery in the spring.

The Blue Jackets are in turmoil as they can’t find room for Kent Johnson in the lineup, benched Johnny Gaudreau recently and made Patrik Laine a healthy scratch after the winger didn’t look great as a center.

Oh and they fired their coach before he coached them. Should lead to an interesting game. Here are 24 Thoughts on the Habs 22nd game of the season.

First Period Thoughts

Sam Montembeault starts tonight and it seems like he gets the easiest possible games all the time. Why is Cayden Primeau playing against the Florida Panthers tomorrow night after facing the Vegas Golden Knights and New Jersey Devils in his few starts, which Montembeault gets the putrid Blue Jackets? Isn’t Montembeault supposed to be the future starter… or are they just trying to make him look good so they can trade him?

Kaiden Guhle nearly scores on the first shift of the game. Can’t say enough good things about this guy. With all the options on the blue line coming over the next couple years, I would be shocked if this guy didn’t turn into the team’s top pairing left defenseman. He’s huge, skates like the wind and is showing some offensive touch this season. Total package.

Now Guhle gets beaten on a race for an icing but the linesman blows it down anyway. You can see Guhle laughing as he makes his way to the bench. NHL officiating never ceases to amaze me with their inabilty to make the easiest of calls.

Haven’t seen Emil Bemstrom yet. He carved up the Canadiens last time these two teams met, wonder what happened to him. Oh, he passed through waivers and was sent to the minors? He literally only looked good against Montreal? Cool.

Jayden Struble steps up along the boards in the defensive zone and lands a heavy body check. I can’t see #47 and not think about Alex Radulov, but when I remember it is this Struble kid I am impressed by his physicality and defensive awareness in his own zone. Another young blue liner looking for full time employment on the Canadiens in the near future.

Eric Engels just tweeted there are three scouts from the Edmonton Oilers at tonight’s game. They are obviously watching Monteambeault so let’s hope he is phenomenal and then gets traded for Xavier Bourgault.

Adam Fantilli just had an excellent scoring chance in the slot but whiffed on the puck and then turned it over. I think this is the time when the home crowd starts calling their own teenaged high draft pick a bust and try to chase him out of town. Oh no, that’s only in Montreal? Okay, they’ll probably just let him develop properly and not go insane over every mistake? That’s a fascinating idea.

The scouts from out west must be impressed by Montembeault who stopped all 12 shots he faced in the opening period. If they came to watch any of the other 18 Canadiens to touch the ice tonight, they might not be as impressed. There were a lot of turnovers in that 20 minutes, including two brutal ones by Cole Caufield.

Nov 29, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Montreal Canadiens center Jake Evans. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /

Second Period Thoughts

Patrik Laine is 6’5″ and just skated past the entire Habs team on his way to a breakaway goal. His combination of size and skill and unbelievable shot make him a unique player in the league. The Canadiens need a player like that to put a few dozen pucks in the net before they can become playoff contenders again.

The line of Christian Dvorak between Slafkovsky and Caufield had the team’s first real shift of sustained offensive pressure and we are nearly five minutes into the second period. Then, they get caught and are stuck in their own zone for a long time. They survived it, but why can’t this team just hang out in the offensive zone for a while?

Alex Newhook uses his speed to get a partial breakaway but rips the puck off the post. Seconds later he gets another chance in the slot and makes no mistake as he scores his seventh goal of the season. He is now on pace for 26 goals this season which would be a fantastic first year with his new team for the 22 year old.

Joel Armia does very little on the ice. I wonder what it would cost to get a team like the Chicago Blackhawks to take on the rest of his contract. He played well when Luke Richardson was coaching Montreal and now he is the head coach in Chicago. Blackhawks veterans Taylor Hall and Corey Perry are done for the year… or probably forever in Perry’s case. Could they use an experienced winger who is still really good defensively for a 9th round pick in 2046? I don’t see why not.

Guhle makes a costly turnover as all the Canadiens forwards had already left the zone. It gave the Blue Jackets a 4-on-1 down low and they ripped the puck back and forth before finding the back of the net. I never said Guhle was perfect, I just said he’s going to be a tower of power on that blue line for a long time.

Cole Caufield scores and he needed it. He had just one goal in his past eight and only two in his previous 14 games. He got into traffic in front and banged in a rebound. Good to see the undersized winger scoring from a dirty area in the crease.

The Dvorak, Caufield, Slafkovsky line had the best shift of any Habs trio tonight on their shift after scoring a goal. I don’t know if Dvorak will stay on that line long term but Kirby Dach would look amazing between these two young wingers right now.

I hope the Oilers scouts saw that Montembeault pass to Armia. Sent him on a partial breakaway but Armia, umm, did not score. With the Oilers defense playing the way they are, they could use someone who makes a great first pass from their own zone.

Nov 29, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Montreal Canadiens. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /

Third Period Thoughts

Heading into the third period there have been zero penalties called so far tonight. That is pretty rare and the lack of special teams play has led to evenly spread ice time. Guhle leads the pack, as he often does now, with 17:38 but up front it is Josh Anderson playing the most with 11:13. WHY!?!?!?

Anderson gets his lip split open by a high stick early in the third period but the referees really want to keep their no-hitter going and look the other way.

When Gustav Lindstrom arrived in a trade from the Detroit Red Wings, there were fans who said he was actually kinda sneaky good and could play a bigger role than people thought and there were fans who pointed out he was often a healthy scratch on a bad Wings blue line and thought he was not great. The fans who were concerned he could not play on a bad Wings team were the correct ones.

Sean Monahan is a smart, talented two-way player. I just feel so bad watching him play with Anderson and Armia. You would think $9 million worth of wingers would get you more than one goal every quarter of a season…. but sometimes it does not.

The Blue Jackets forgot to make a line change which left only three players on the ice while the Habs broke out of their own zone. In their own Habs-way, the Canadiens turned a gift of a 5-on-3 into zero shots on goal, but it was interesting to see the seas part as the Blue Jackets just didn’t know who to put on the ice. After sitting Laine and benching Gaudreau earlier this season, maybe they have benched literally everyone tonight.

Slafkovsky uses a couple of quick strides to get into position to win a puck battle and then just tosses Ivan Provorov aside to regain control of the puck for the Habs. This guy is going to be a beast that is nearly impossible to contain in the next couple of years.

Armia makes a great tip as he gets to the front of the net and redirects a point blast by Mike Matheson. Maybe the Hawks will give up a 7th rounder in 2036.

Canadiens move back to NHL .500 with 22 points in 22 games and are on pace for 82 points on the season. That would still probably leave them nearly in the bottom five, and be a big step forward. Bring Dach back next season and the team is immediately better. Adding another top six scoring threat is a huge need to keep building toward the playoffs.

Next. Jacob Fowler Gives Habs Reason For Hope In Crease. dark

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