- They really needed a carpet for this ceremony with the kids.
First period
- I looked at the Golden Knights stats when doing the preview and saw that Mark Stone had 21 points and figured he must be playing regularly. Apparently he’s out injured yet again.
- The Canadiens make a change but have more players jump on the ice than ones leaving, and that math doesn’t work.
- Now the 40% power play goes to work.
- It wasn’t the prettiest, but they got the kill done.
- David Savard has a stretch pass intercepted and leads to a good Vegas chance. Those rarely work out, especially off Savard’s stick.
- Nick Suzuki pulls a Lane Hutson pass off the end boards and tries to quickly tuck it in, but Adin Hill is just a bit quicker.
- There are too many times when the Canadiens have possession in their zone and its ends up back with the Golden Knights. This was one of the things they worked on this week. That’s going to burn them at some point.
- Lane Hutson makes two effective plays at the blue line to set up two chances. The second one results in Jake Evans getting cross-checked, and that’s a Habs power play.
- “I think he tried to react like he touched it,” Garry Galley observes on a missed stretch pass.
- Hutson defends a short-handed one-one-one with a shoulder to the chest of Cole Schwindt. He gets his fourth cheer of the period.
- It wasn’t a good period for Montreal. They need to be more patient with their transition plays in the final two.
Second period
- Brendan Gallagher and David Savard lose their balance while defending a potential shot from the left side. It never comes, and that leads to a wide-open shot at the opposite of the net for Tomas Hertl. It’s 1-0 Golden Knights.
- Cole Caufield tips a point shot and gets his stick on the rebound, but both are stopped by Hill.
- Kirby Dach turns the puck over on a backhand pass to the middle of his zone, and seconds later it’s 2-0 as Cal Burke scores his first NHL goal.
- No one expected Dach to be this bad this season.
- Now Mike Matheson is responsible for a two-on-one with Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev, and the deficit is three.
- I guess these players don’t want Samuel Montembeault to represent Canada at the 4 Nations.
- Tanner Pearson walks right through the slot and makes it 4-0.
- Galley says the Canadiens need some more brawn to compete with the Golden knights. I think tonight, they needed more brains.
- Montembeault stops the puck and completely loses track of the rebound. He looks left, and the puck goes in for a fifth time.
- What a dreadful performance all around.
- That may have been one of the worst periods I’ve ever seen the Montreal Canadiens play.
Third period
- Cayden Primeau is in the net to begin the third. I was a bit surprised that Montembeault stayed in after the fifth goal.
- A delay of game penalty 10 seconds in gives Montreal a chance to start the comeback.
- It could have been a chance to experiment with some new power-play looks, but instead the first unit gets its 90 seconds.
- Out comes the second unit. Emil Heineman scores.
- Just four more to go!
- Kaiden Guhle gets hit trying to skate around the Las Vegas net by Nic Hague. Arber Xhekaj comes over to rough up Hague a bit, and now the Canadiens are killing a penalty.
- Armia gets a short-handed breakaway but misses the net. That close to making this a bit of a game.
- Now the Canadiens have decided to stay tighter together and work a series of short breakout passes.
- There are clearly some score effects at work here, but Montreal looks a lot better. They could have just played as 18 individual skaters trying to score goals on their own, but they’re staying connected and working as a unit of five. It’s an important 20 minutes to set up their next game.
- Jayden Struble makes it 5-2 with seven minutes to play, thanks to some good work from Brendan Gallagher on the setup.
- Bruce Cassidy is starting to get upset on the Golden Knights bench.
- Vegas has to be surprised by the sudden shift in the Canadiens’ play. From the worst team that has ever played to a cohesive unit bent on scoring.
- The effort fizzles out as the minutes tick away.
- Eichel winds up a snapshot and makes it 6-2.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) And Galley said they needed to add size

2) Thanks, coach

1) The highlight of the night for sure
