Montreal Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Habs Holding On For Win In Game 31

The Montreal Canadiens headed to Winnipeg for their only visit to see the Jets last night. The Habs entered with a 13-13-4 record and remain on pace for 82 points after playing 30 games.

Last night's game kicked off a seven game road trip, that is really two separate road trips. The Habs will play the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild later this week before having five days off for Christmas break and then they head down south to face the Carolina Hurricanes after the break.

Here are 24 thoughts on the Habs 31st game of the season.

First Period Thoughts

Jake Allen got the start last night and is looking to extend his seven game losing streak. Okay, he is probably not looking to do that but he could pull it off. His last win was on October 28th against..... the Winnipeg Jets!

Speaking of Habs goaltenders, this is the fourth game in a row Cayden Primeau is not playing. That's unfortunate as he was exceptional against the Buffalo Sabres in his last start. That December 9th win against a division rival saw Primeau stop 46 of 48 shots, but it remains his only action in the month of December.

The top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky may not score every night but they are going to get a lot better by facing the tough opposition they are sure to line up against every night. The Canadiens don't really have a second line that poses a threat so when they hit the road, this trio will get the toughest matchups. Watching how they perform on this road trip will be interesting.

Regardless of whether they score two goals per night or none, I think the right thing to do is just keep the three of them together to let them battle through and learn. We are kind of counting on the three of them being top six players on a good team in a couple years so now is a great time to learn how to deal with tough matchups on the road.

I don't know if the Laval Rocket coaching staff are expecting Jayden Struble back anytime soon, but they may never see him again. He showed a calm presence in front of his net clearing away a weirdly bouncing puck that he whiffed on the first time. Instead of panicing or taking a penalty when the puck got behind him he just moved to the backhand and knocked the puck away from the crease to keep it out of a danger area. Shortly after he broke up a play in front of the net when Mark Scheifele was sniffind around trying to redirect a centering pass. He gets the job done defensively and has shown a tremendous skating ability as well. He is sticking around for a long time.

Juraj Slafkovsky showed a lot of confidence and poise on a subtle defensive zone play late in the first period. His line, with Suzuki and Caufield as well as Kaiden Guhle and Justin Barron, were stuck in their own zone for a long period of time and were all clearly gassed. Slafkovsky got the puck deep in his own zone and made a fake to continue going in one direction before he turned 180 degrees on a dime to open up some space for himself. He then stickhandled around another Jets players, using his long reach to keep the puck and then easily got the puck out of his zone.

It was not a highlight reel play at all, but it is the kind of play that players need to be able to make to stay on a top line in the NHL. He didn't panic and ice the puck, and most importantly he didn't turn it over. Instead, he showed 1000 times more confidence than he ever had last season and probably saved a goal against. Now to actually put up a couple of points....

The Canadiens were not able to create a lot of chances in the first period and they played the last eight minutes without a single whistle as both teams just kind of slogged it out. In good news, they didn't allow a ton of chances either which is a good way to start a seven game road trip.

Second Period Thoughts

Juraj Slafkovsky made a nice little play to get the puck from the defensive zone into the attacking end but is called for roughing as he did a little stiff arm to a defender that he was blowing past. Odd call that you never see. Slafkovsky finally starts using his size to his advantage and now the refs are going to call him to leaning on a guy? Not cool.

Joel Armia is an odd place right now. When the team was healthy, he was banished to the minor leagues. But when he gets called up he immediately becomes one of the team's top penalty killers. His $3.4 million cap hit throws a wrench into any trade talks, but if the Habs even ate $650,000 (or paid a team like the Blackhawks a small price to do so) I think there is some trade value there. A veteran excellent penalty killer with a cap hit of $2.75 million? Maybe get the Blackhawks to eat half ($1.7 million) for a slightly higher fee and Armia could fetch some value in a trade.

Mike Matheson made a couple of great plays to open the scoring. He cut off a Jets breakout attempt by sealing off the boards just inside the blue line and caused a turnover. Then, he moved the puck and jumped directly into the play to help join the offense. He got the puck back, fired it on goal and though it was stopped, the rebound bounced off Josh Anderson and into the net.

Speaking of Anderson, he does look like a big weight was lifted off him after scoring twice against the New York Islanders on Saturday. He has been creating chances since the opening shift and seems to be carrying the puck a bit more with confidence as he finally beat a goaltender for the first time since the middle of March.

Kaiden Guhle had a stretch of games early in the season where he looked like a future Norris Trophy winner. The he had a stretch of games where he looked like he was not a future Norris Trophy winner. Last night's game was another one of the really good ones. His combination of size and speed isn't common and he was active in joining the offense last night while also clearing the front of his own net and destroyed a Jets player in the corner with a big clean body check. He's a huge piece of the rebuild puzzle already in place.

Brendan Gallagher had a tremendous burst of speed to negate an icing and get in on the forecheck. Shortly after he made a couple of quick passes on the power play that made him look like he was 23 years old again. He has done this for a little while this season but then has another stretch of games where he looks old and slow. I can't figure this guy out. What year is it anyway?

It is really not his fault, but Jake Evans looks out of place on a second line. He was set up for a great scoring chance by Sean Monahan but couldn't pull the trigger. Seconds later, he had a chance to spring Josh Anderson on a breakaway with a stretch pass but just was not able to connect on the pass. Injuries to Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook have really highlighted the Canadiens lack of depth.

Anderson is officially on fire as he goes to the net, plays the puck with his hand, then just taps it enough to negate a hand pass and gets it to Christian Dvorak who fires the puck into the back of the net to give the Habs a power play goal. That is four points in two games for Anderson.