Montreal Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Habs Starting All-Star Break A Week Early
The Montreal Canadiens were at the Bell Centre last night hosting the Ottawa Senators in the 47th game of their season.
The Canadiens entered the game with a record of 19-20-7 putting them just below .500 points percentage and could get back to a pace of 82 points with a win which is a place they have been hovering around all season.
Here are 24 thoughts on the team's midweek meeting with their division rival.
First Period Thoughts
Jake Allen got the start in goal with his 5-8-2 record and 3.49 GAA with a .901 SV%. How have the Habs allowed this three goalie system to go on for this long? Has Allen really be so good that you can't let him go? I don't think so.
The Canadiens have an odd lineup as they placed Mitchell Stephens on waivers and are left with just three centers. This seems shortsighted as they have three games in five days this week. Why didn't they just pull a Toronto Maple Leafs and keep Tanner Pearson on injured reserve even though he is healthy for another week?
Jayden Struble jumped up into the play while the teams were briefly playing four on four and he just looks so comfortable and poised with the puck. He received a quick pass on the rush in the slot and without hesitation made a no look backhand pass directly to Josh Anderson who just missed the net. It was an incredible play by Struble who somehow had just 12 points in 31 college games last season.
The Canadiens have forgotten how to play defense. Two quick goals for the Senators were scored in the middle of the first period because the Habs had no idea who to cover in their own zone and players were given way too much time and space in the middle of the slot. After allowing 15 goals in their past two games, including six against these Sens recently, things are not getting any better in the defensive zone.
Why do so many bad teams have the Canadiens number? Remember a few years ago the Red Wings were historically bad and the Habs missed the playoffs by a couple points because they lost like four or five times to the Red Wings? The Sharks have been terrible for years but win every time they come to the Bell Centre. The Senators thought their rebuild was over three years ago (it was not and is still not) but they have won seven in a row against the Canadiens.
Josh Norris pulled a Tim Stutzle and dropped like he was hit by a truck when Mike Matheson barely tapped him on the chin as they battled for a puck.
David Savard made a great play to break up a cross ice pass on the Sens power play late in the first period. The Canadiens may get pretty enticing trade offers for Savard but he is seemingly the only defender on the team capable of stopping the other team from firing the puck across the Canadiens zone with ease.
Not a very encouraging period for the Canadiens after being awful defensively for the past two games. You start to get the feeling a long losing streak could be on the horizon when they fail to muster much offense and also allow some great scoring opportunities in their own zone.
Second Period Thoughts
Do other teams do as much standing around on the power play as the Canadiens. It seems they are often just standing still and the puck carrier is stickhanling by himself and looking around for someone to do something but they do not. I have noticed the team's the Canadiens play against often just shoot the puck into the net when they have a power play but the Habs do not.
Jacques Martin is the head coach of the Senators and serves in that role for the first time since the Canadiens fired him in 2012. He was the Habs bench boss in a tight first round series against the Boston Bruins in 2011 where the Habs were missing Andrei Markov and Max Pacioretty but still pushed the Bruins to overtime in Game 7 before Boston went on a run to the Stanley Cup.
This weird "too many wingers not enough centers" lineup feels like my beer league team. Jake Evans just had a shift with Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield then Nick Suzuki took about half a shift before Evans was back out with his regular linemates. It is just an odd jumble that doesn't feel necessary.
Tanner Pearson made a nice pass to Evans in his first game back after a lengthy absence. Pearson last played on December 9th and brings some veteran experience back to the lineup that could use it after a couple of tough losses.
Joshua Roy made a ridiculous move in the offensive zone to stickhandle around a Sens defender and slide a great pass to Sean Monahan but the veteran completely fanned on the puck and didn't get a shot on goal. Roy did this stuff in the QMJHL, at the World Juniors, with the Laval Rocket and is now showing incredible puck skills and playmaking ability in the NHL as well. He's a big part of the future.
I know the top unit isn't dominating, but the Habs second power play unit included Tanner Pearson, Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson. What year is it again?
Joonas Korpisalo signed a large contract with the Senators last summer because no one else wants to play goal in Ottawa and he now has a 3.56 GAA with a .887 SV%. Imagine being jealous of the Canadiens current goaltender situation. Of course, the Canadiens did a great job of making him look great early on.
Recent 35 goal scorer Josh Norris cut to the net late in the second period, apparently with a step on Struble. The Canadiens defender just calmly leaned on him with the inside shoulder and reached out with one hand on the stick and knocked the puck cleanly away. He's a keeper. I don't know how the Canadiens reduce what they have to just six defensemen but Struble has to be one. And good on Norris for not taking a huge dive as he is wont to do.
Third Period Thoughts
The Canadiens shook up their lines to start the third period with Josh Anderson moving up to the top trio with Suzuki and Caufield. They immediately got a great scoring chance but Korpisalo abolsutley robbed Caufield off a one timer. Maybe too little too late but good to see some spark to start the third.
Speaking of Josh Anderson, he is playing in his 500th career game. He has had his ups and downs in Montreal but that is an impressive accomplishment. And his current contract has him signed up for about another 800 games so he will go for the all time record with the Canadiens.
Arber Xhekaj was called up a day earlier and he looked good in his first game back. He had 11 points in 17 games with the Laval Rocket and looked calm and poised with the puck last night. Again, I don't know how they get their current crop of defenders down to just six in a couple years, but Xhekaj has that element of toughness and feistiness mixed with skill that is hard to find.
Joel Armia was using his size to win battles on the penalty kill and helped create a couple of scoring chances as well. I don't think he was the Canadiens best forward but uhhh, he wasn't far off either. Good for him but that isn't a great spot to be for the team.
Less than half a period to play and Michael Pezzetta has played less than two minutes. Why keep him on the roster to just sit on the bench while Mitchell Stephens is not playing? Stephens can actually play center and the Canadiens are trying to run with three tonight. This makes zero sense.
Johnathan Kovacevic, a waiver claim depth defenseman and sometimes healthy scratch has as many goals as Jake Sanderson and just one less than Jakob Chychrun.
Juraj Slafkovsky needs to just blast the puck sometimes. He really tends to look for the pass no matter what and got burned late in last night's game. He had a tremendous opportunity to shoot but deferred to Anderson but the pass was cut off and the Senators clinched the game with an empty netter a few seconds later.
The Canadiens lost their 8th straight to the Senators which is embarrassing enough. They looked pretty much disinterested for 40 minutes before turning it on in the third period. You would think 20 minutes of hockey would be enough to beat the Senators but that was not the case.
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