Montreal Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Habs Meek Effort In Game 34
The Montreal Canadiens emerged from their Christmas break last week and were back on the road as they took on the Carolina Hurricanes.
It was the team's 34th game of the season and they entered the night with a record of 15-13-5 and were surprisingly just four points out of a playoff spot.
Here are 24 thoughts on the Canadiens 34th game of the season.
First Period Thoughts
Cayden Primeau got the start as the three goaltender rotation took a rare night off of rotating. It is the first time all season that Primeau gets the call in consecutive games, though there were five days off in between.
The Canadiens have a chance to close out this road trip and really put themselves into a position to be closing in on a playoff spot. The Hurricanes are in a wildcard spot and were just five point ahead of the Habs at the start of last night's game. The Habs then head to Florida for a couple of games and began last night just four point back of Tampa Bay and the Panthers were seven points ahead. A couple of key wins to close out 2023 could push them within a point or two of a playoff spot.
Just 1:35 into the game and the Hurricanes took the lead as Andrei Svechnikov redirected a Brent Burns shot. The tip came just in front of the crease and moved the puck up and over Primeau's glove. The goaltender has been criticized for his glove hand but there was no chance to stop that one.
The Canadiens look pretty sluggish coming out of the Christmas break. They even had an extra day to sleep off the turkey coma as the Hurricanes played on Wednesday night but it is clear the home team is more ready for the start of this game. The Canadiens got the first power play of the game but were being outshot 7-2 when the call was made. When the penalty ended, the Canadiens were being outshot 7-2.
Jesper Fast extended the Canes lead to 2-0 when he redirected a pass from Sebastien Aho. I know it's only Jesper Fast, but someone may want to cover him when he is standing at the edge of his crease and is on the ice with Aho.
Mitchell Stephens got the Canadiens on the board as he flipped a rebound over Antti Raanta with a nifty backhander. Raanta used the never effective method of sliding across the crease with his mask touching the blue paint for some reason and it left a lot of room for Stephens to find the back of the net. Heck of a play by Jesse Ylonen who beat out an icing call with great hustle and then got the puck to Jayden Struble at the point which led to the goal.
Martin St. Louis made a great decision to challenge a goal that was scored by the Hurricanes. Jack Drury skated into the crease, made contact with Primeau's skate which did not allow him to get his pad down, and then redirected the puck into the net with his own skate. The contact was fairly minimal but it did stop Primeau from doing what he intended to stop the puck so it was the correct call to challenge it, though always a risky proposition.
Of course, seconds after the disallowed goal, the refs made a weak interference call on Jayden Struble on a play that is almost never called. But, Rod Brind'Amour yelled at them a lot for calling back the Canes goal so they gift him with a power play.
Second Period Thoughts
The Canadiens are making a habit out of falling behind 2-0 but were able to come back and beat the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks just before the Christmas break after allowing the first two goals of the game. They were able to pull even on a power play goal with a couple second left in the first period and now get to start the final 40 minutes on even footing although their effort in the first period was not the greatest.
No one listened to me when I said you should cover Jesper Fast in front and he scored just over a minute into the second period to give the Hurricanes back the lead. Some careless play with the puck by Kaiden Guhle and Justin Barron behind their own net resulted in a turnover and a quick pass to the slot where Fast was standing all by himself (again).
The Canadiens neutral zone play could use some work. Several times in a row to start the third period they had full control in between the blue lines and the puck went from a Canadiens player to a Hurricanes player. Carolina undoubtedly plays a smart defensive style, but you don't have to just give them the puck at the blue line.
Jordan Harris changes that pattern as he picks up the puck with speed and chips it behind the Hurricanes defense before breaking down the wing for a decent scoring chance. With Johnathan Kovacevic scratched for this game and Arber Xhekaj still in the minors it is anyone's guess who ends up sticking around on the blue line long term.
Michael Pezzetta is a very likeable player as he works super hard and was never expected to make an impact at the NHL level but has now played 137 NHL games. He gives a tremendous effort every night but has very limited offensive abilities. He did use a burst of speed to get open in the offensive zone and had a wide open net when he got the puck but he just fired it wide with no goaltender to beat. I guess you can't expect too much from your fourth line when the team has a bunch of injuries, but that's a puck any NHLer should be able to slide into the net.
Joel Armia is the most frustrating man in the world. He was sent to the AHL to begin the season, even with a cap hit of $3.4 million and no one batted an eye. It was fully deserved. However, the 30 year old probably saved a goal by getting back on the backcheck and stealing a puck near the net, slowly carried it around his own net and though he was seemingly flanked by seven Hurricanes players he just stickhandled through them all even though he was moving at a glacial pace and carried the puck the entire length of the ice which led to a couple of scoring chances for the Canadiens. Is he a minor leaguer? An elite defensive player? No one knows.
The Canadiens appear to be angry as they leveled a pair of Hurricanes late in the second period. Mike Matheson took out a Hurricanes forward as he crossed into the Canadiens zone with the puck. It was a perfectly legal body check and quickly wiped out any offensive opportunity. Not long after that, Josh Anderson was in on the forecheck and crushed Seth Jarvis into the boards.
It was Jesperi Kotkaniemi that was demolished by Matheson. I don't know much about him as he barely played in this game and only has three points in his last 21 games.
Third Period Thoughts
The Canadiens had five days off heading into this game and the Hurricanes played last night. The Habs were able to take over a lot of the play in the second half of the second period and you would expect that to continue with them down a goal entering the third period.
Within the first 25 seconds of the third period, Primeau made a great save, Jake Evans made a key shot block and Josh Anderson blocked a point shot to eliminate Hurricanes offense, Anderson quickly turned his shot block into a breakaway as he used his blazing speed to leave the defensive zone and leave everyone in his dust. He showed tremendous confidence by deking to the backhand and just slid the puck through the legs of Raanta and barely over the line to tie the game. A lot of great plays in the defensive zone led to that goal.
Canadiens youngsters showing a lot of confidence early in the third period. Jayden Struble went into the corner in the defensive zone with Sebastien Aho and decided not to fall for any of the fancy headfakes and just pinned the star center to the boards and kicked the puck away from him to take possession of the puck. In the offensive zone, it was Juraj Slafkovsky taking out Brent Burns with a body check and stole the puck away from the Norris Trophy candidate.
Just seeing those young Canadiens players on the ice with the experienced, All-Star caliber Canes should have been a huge matchup advantage to the home team but it was the young Canadiens using their size to win battles and take the puck away from much more experienced players.
Speaking of Slafkovsky and Struble.... both of them showed more confidence carrying the puck in the neutral and attacking zone and each of them drew a penalty early in the third period as the Hurricanes struggled to get the puck off them due to their combination of size and speed. Slafkovsky's going to be a great player and Struble is not going anywhere either.
Mike Matheson had put up a lot of points for a defenseman this season and that comes with some risk for sure. But turning the puck over twice withing seconds on the same power play because you are trying to do too much at the offensive blue line is not worth the risk. Credit to him for getting back to harass Seth Jarvis just enough to take away a terrific scoring chance and Nick Suzuki for coming all the way back to take control of the puck on the other turnover. It didn't kill them, but those risky plays by Matheson when he is the last man back are not a good habit.
Primeau made a great save off Jack Drury on a clear breakaway, but Andrei Svechnikov fired a one-timer past him just after the ensuing faceoff. Justin Barron seemed to have cut off the pass to Svechnikov but it somehoe snuck through him and he somehow did not block the shot either as the puck just eluded him and then beat Primeau.
The Canadiens continue to decline covering Hurricanes players in the slot and Jordan Staal was absolutely robbed by Primeau on a quickly developing one-timer from the middle of the slot. It was a great effort from Primeau but it went for naught as the Canadiens fell 5-3 after Svechnikov completed his hat trick with an empty netter.