First period
- Juraj Slafkovský picks the puck off the wall, sends it to Cole Caufield, and Caufiled flips it up onto the stick of Nick Suzuki. Suzuki has to fight off a backcheck on his mini break, but has the presence of mind to stop the puck before it gets to Kevin Lankinen, push it away from his body, and backhand it into the open net while being checked. A great pass from Caufield, an incredible finish from the captain.
Caufield Sends Suzuki on a partial break, and the captain scores a beauty with a guy draped all over him. 1-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 11:12 PM
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- Decent start I would say.
- Josh Anderson makes a nice pass across the crease to Christian Dvorak. Dvorak does not get a shot.
- The Canucks were just starting to get some momentum, and the top line strikes again. Suzuki makes a little phantom touch of the puck to fool a defender and allow a full-speed Slafkovský to pick it up. The Slovak flies in on the wing and sends the puck far-side to beat Lankinen.
Juraj Slafkovsky picks it up in the NZ, then snipes one far side top corner. 2-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 11:25 PM
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- That’s two goals from the main trio. Time for the others to help out.
- Lane Hutson has his glove knocked off while skating through the neutral zone. Somehow it isn’t a penalty.
- Montreal is allowing a lot of plays to the slot tonight. That hasn’t been happening since the break.
- Anderson gets a breakaway and goes in for a backhand shot (his go-to move this season). The play had been blown down for offside, so the Canucks players aren’t happy about it.
- Emil Heineman makes a nifty pass right between two defenders, but Jake Evans is stopped by Lankinen.
- The best news from that period? The Habs didn’t make it a three-goal lead.
Second period
- The refs missed the slash on Hutson’s hand in the first frame. They call one on the Canucks about five minutes into the second.
- Slafkovský cuts the power play short with a pick at the offensive blue line, despite Suzuki flying with an open lane into the zone.
- The Canadiens fumble the puck just as the play shifts to the Canucks’ power play, and that means Hutson is on for a penalty kill shift. It ends well enough with him picking off a pass and skating it out of the zone to get a change.
- Give each member of the top line a goal as Suzuki connects with Caufield on a two-on-one
Slaf – Suzuki – Caufield – 3-0 #Habs and the top line has all three. 32 on the year for Cole.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 12:19 AM
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- It’s a three-point night for Slafkovský, the fourth of his career.
- Craig Button almost gets choked up describing a defensive play Hutson makes. He’s just a proud dad.
- Suzuki just about adds a short-handed goal to his nightly total.
- The crowd is booing as Montreal’s penalty kill is crushing the Canucks’ power play.
- Button keeps saying the Canucks have no good chances. Samuel Montembeault thinks otherwise, and the advanced stats show 2.51 expected goals for Vancouver about halfway through this game.
- The game is at the point where a fourth Habs goal probably seals this win. Get it, rest in the third, go into Seattle relatively fresh.
- To the Canadiens’ credit, they are pushing late in the period. They will have to get the dagger in the third.
Third period
- Nothing much is happening in the opening minutes of the third period, and that’s perfectly fine. Unless anyone is trying to stay awake for the finish.
- The suddenly, a wrist shot from Filip Hronek at the point makes it a 3-1 game. The Habs might rue their inability to find that fourth goal.
- Martin St-Louis calls a timeout in order to have a conversation with Montembeault about whether he feels there was interference on the play. The goaltender seems to have felt the contact was minimal, as the play goes on.
- And I don’t mind using a timeout for a reset after losing just one of the goals you lead by before it becomes two or three.
- Montreal has responded well since the goal. They’re not sitting back hoping to drain the clock, but attacking.
- Evans trips his man behind the net, and I don’t know why neither ref called it.
- Hutson goes end to end to turn a potential defensive-zone faceoff into an offensive one. He’s been particularly great in these last two games.
- Montreal’s penalty kill is going back to work after Pius Suter went down in front of the net. They’ve shown a couple of replays and I still don’t know what the infraction was.
- The Canucks miss an open net, but convert on their second shot. Elias Pettersson makes it 3-2 on another long-range shot.
- Now Montreal is just trying to see out the final minutes.
- Until the top line comes on the ice and sets up in the offensive zone for about four more scoring chances. Caufield gets cross-checked to the ice twice on the shift. The refs are only giving power plays to the trailing team it seems. They must get a bonus every time their game goes to overtime.
- Mike Matheson takes a second to line up a shot and hits the empty net to secure an important 4-2 win for Montreal.
- The Canucks decide to go after Brendan Gallagher with seven seconds to play.
- With the win, Montreal moves to ninth in the Eastern Conference, two points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
- One final game versus the Kraken tomorrow night on this road trip.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Habs fans are everywhere
2) I would recommend she just become a Canadiens fan
1) Time is a flat circle
