After a disappointing loss to the Carolina Hurricanes earlier in the week, the Montreal Canadiens were hoping to get back on track against the Nashville Predators. Early in this game, it certainly looked like they were going to, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period.
However, Nashville did not go away and would score two before the end of the period and be tied going into the third period. It would remain that way until about three minutes left in regulation when Nashville scored on a power play to take a 3-2 lead.
They added two empty-net goals before the end of the game and shut down any chance Montreal had to make a comeback. When looking back at this game, these are three notable takeaways from the game for Montreal.
Canadiens third pair puts together a solid performance with Adam Engstrom and Arber Xhekaj
The Montreal Canadiens have struggled early in the season to find the right pairs for their blueline, especially the third pair. On Thursday, Martin St. Louis inserted Adam Engstrom into the lineup for the first time this season and paired him with Arber Xhekaj.
Without question, the results were notable and in a good way. Engstrom and Xhekaj had only 7:34 of ice time together, due in part to Xhekaj receiving a game misconduct at the end of the second period, but they finished with a CF% of 73.33% together, according to Natural Stat Trick.
There is no reason for the Canadiens to break this pair up going into the game against Detroit and stick with them as long as they play at this level.
Canadiens best forward line against Nashville might be surprising
The Montreal Canadiens have had to shuffle their lines with the recent news of Ivan Demidov's injury. Once again on Thursday, Juraj Slafkovsky was on the top line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, with Chris Kreider on the second line with Alex Newhook. However, they moved Josh Anderson up to this line and replaced Kirby Dach.
This trio ended up with one goal, which was scored by Alex Newhook on an assist by Josh Anderson, and almost had a second one when Chris Kreider found the back of the net. However, that goal was challenged by Nashville and overturned, as it was ruled that the Canadiens were offside entering the zone.
The Canadiens' second line would actually finish the game with the best xGF% of the four lines at 91.58%, over seven percentage points higher than the Suzuki line, according to Natural Stat Trick. Similarly to the Engstrom-Xhekaj pair, the Canadiens have no reason to break up this line going into Saturday.
Montreal Canadiens have a second period problem
One concerning trend early in the season is that the Montreal Canadiens have trouble winning the middle period of the game. While each team scored two goals in the second period, the Canadiens scored their two first and let Nashville get back into it.
This season, the Canadiens have been outscored 8-4 in their four games in the second period, and it is tough to win consistently while giving up this many goals. In fact, in only one game this season, the Canadiens have had the lead going into the third period, and that game was the first of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
While the Canadiens have plenty to work on ahead of Saturday's game against Detroit, they have found some bright spots that they can build on.
Add us as a preferred source on Google