Montreal Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Habs Slow Start, Loss To Red Wings
Third Period Thoughts
Weird play early in the third period where Josh Anderson kind of grabs onto a Red Wings defensemen but then gets thrown to the ice by that defensemen while both players are several feet from ever reaching the puck. Anderson gets a holding penalty, but there is no call for him being fired to the ice. Strange time to apply the rule to one player but not the other.
Habs back on the power play and it is interesting to see Caufield setting up on the right side a lot with the man advantage tonight. That’s usually Nick Suzuki’s spot, but Caufield can fire a wrist shot from the high slot like the best of them…. and then Suzuki heads back to that spot and fires a wrist shot into the back of the net to make it a one goal game!
The Canadiens are trying to rebuild and most would suggest you need to take your time through the draft to do that. The Red Wings however, have built a lot of their team through free agency and trades and look to have taken a big step. Just by my count (I actually checked capfriendly) it looks like nine players playing tonight for the Red Wings were free agent signings, five were acquired via trade and only five were draft picks of the team.
Now, I am not saying the current Detroit Red Wings are the only blueprint to follow, and the five drafted players include Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Joe Veleon, Michael Rasmussen and Moritz Seider who are some of their key building blocks, but rebuilding teams can’t be terrified of trading for a great goal scorer like Debrincat or signing a key free agent if they fit a role on the team. Just something to keep in mind for the Canadiens when they have oodles of cap space in the summer.
Joel Armia taking a shift with Suzuki and Caufield just makes no sense. Ever.
The high sticking rule is so weird. Mitchell Stephens pretty much pitchforked a Red Wings player in the face but it is only two minutes since that player was not cut. However, had he skated past him with his stick up too high and accidentally clipped him in the lip and cut it then it would have been twice the penalty with half the impact.
Gustav Lindstrom jumped into the offensive zone and tied this game as he capitalized on a great pass from none other than Josh Anderson. It is almost unfair at this point that Anderson has not scored a goal, but he recovered a bouncing puck in the slot and instead of panicking and firing it at the net (who would blame him at this point?) he made a spinning pass to Lindstrom and set up the tying goal which sent the game to extra time.
Valiant effort to come back from a 3-0 first period deficit, but the Canadiens fall short and lose in overtime when Jake Walman hammers a puck home after looking to pass the puck from about three feet offside. Habs now have 23 points after 24 games.
Next. Predicting Habs Future Defense Pairings. dark
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