- Of all the pairings, the duo of Jayden Struble and Lane Hutson was the one that needed to be tinkered with the least. Struble is the seventh defenceman in the lineup tonight.
First period
- I like this start much more than the recent ones. Brendan Gallagher finds Josh Anderson, who was left all alone in the slot, on the opening shift, and Montreal has a 1-0 lead on a team that has had some issues scoring recently.
- Guhle is on the ice for 10 seconds before taking a minus on the second shift of the game. Not the response Martin St-Louis was looking for from his team.
- Definitely not the start he wanted to see from Samuel Montembeault after having to pull him from the game versus the St. Louis Blues.
- Struble and Hutson are back together immediately.
- Montreal gets a power play as Jake Evans is taken down. Montreal goes up against the league’s top penalty kill.
- The power play accomplished very little, but Montreal earns another offensive-zone faceoff right after it ends.
- Mike Matheson tries to skate around Brent Burns, who can do nothing but haul his man down. It’s another Canadiens power play as they look to break down a stout formation.
- Another zero-shot power play for Montreal. Carolina might be a good PK team, but it’s not that good. Montreal needs a bit more bravery on the attack.
- The home fans would really like a penalty every time one of their players goes down.
- The seas part a bit and Patrik Laine is able to get a shot from the slot on a zone entry, but it isn’t his best release.
- Josh Anderson gets taken down by a hip check on Josh Anderson, aggravating what seems to be a groin of hip flexor injury for him. Anderson does get up after a few moments.
- Montreal ends up on the penalty kill after the ensuing scrum.
- While killing off Dvorak’s minor for roughing, Montreal puts the puck over the glass, so they will be two men short for 34 seconds.
- Carolina passes the puck too much on the power play, just like the Canadiens do, but they do compress the zone to have the puck switch hands more quickly. That’s the missing ingredient from a Habs power play that is too spread out (even though Carolina rarely scores with that setup).
- Despite the fans being angry about everything that happened in that period, it ends in a 1-1 ties.
Second period
- Montreal is finishing second in all the one-on-one puck battles in the neutral zone right now.
- Midway through the second period, the Canadiens are finally beginning to have the puck on their sticks a bit. Carolina did nothing with their possession, can Montreal do something with theirs?
- They cannot,because Matheson turns back and loses the puck to Sebastian Aho, forcing Hutson to take a penalty to save a goal.
- Carolina puts David Savard in a spin cycle, and he can’t block all the passes. Taylor Hall scores his seventh goal since the trade deadline, and, as RDS has pointed out, five of the team’s last seven.
- Aho makes it 3-1 not long afterward.
- The Dvorak line is the only one that can make anything happen right now, and that’s still very little versus this suffocating defence.
- Montreal heads to the dressing room, somehow needing to find two goals in their 9th period of hockey since Tuesday evening.
Third period
- Alex Newhook leads an early two-on-one, but his shot misses the net, as they too often do.
- The Canadiens want to get back in this game, but their legs aren’t cooperating and everyone is looking dejected on the bench.
- Slafkovský has gone back to the jersey tuck hoping to change his fortunes.
- Newhook gets another breakaway. He hits the net this time, but Andersen made the save.
- The players are trying to will themselves back into the game. It’s the best they’ve looked all night.
- The puck trickles toward the goal line after bouncing off a Hurricanes defender, but dies before it can cross the line, and Aho clears it away.
- Anderson winds up in the neutral zone, bursts through the two defencemen, and just lifts the puck over the crossbar and out of play.
- They used up all of their reserves on that flurry, and are now just playing out the final minutes.
- St-Louis calls his timeout hoping to draw up a play for a quick goal with 78 seconds to play.
- Carolina scores again to make it 4-1.
- Montreal has now dropped five in a row.
- Back in action Sunday afternoon in Sunrise, Florida.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) We need to remember there will be two top-five picks making the team next year
2) He better watch out
1) NHL logic at work
