- Struble keeps his powder dry for tonight’s match and will settle for watching from a bird’s-eye view tonight.
- Patrik Laine seems ready to score some goals on Connor Hellebuyck. Let’s see what he has in store against his former team with which he recorded eight hat tricks.
First period
- “Dvorak with a shot right on,” John Bartlett narrates, and the game has begun.
- Montreal has started well. The question is for how many of the 60 minutes they can keep it up.
- On his 34th shot of the season, Lane Hutson has scored his first goal.
- Both Cole Caufield and Mike Matheson raced to the net to get the puck. It will sell for a min on eBay.
- There’s no home crowd to deafen him with cheers, but all the Habs fans in attendance give him a loud cheer.
- I said at one point earlier in the season that he could score four once he gets his first, so that’s something to watch for.
- Laine’s first ever shot versus Connor Hellebuyck is snags by the glove. Laine will be leaning on the boards in the TV timeout getting some tips from Hutson on how to solve him.
- Kaiden Guhle got away with a high stick on new scoring sensation Nikita Chibrikov, but the refs get Kirby Dach for the same infraction about a minute later.
- Winnipeg ties the game on the power play. You can’t give the league’s top-ranked power play a lot of chances.
- That will be another minus for Dach.
- Adam Lowry scores once again to give the home team a lead. Hutson and Mike Matheson ended up defending the same player at the left post.
- How will the Canadiens respond to two quick goals against?
- Well they didn’t give up a third, and that’s the most important thing.
Second period
- There’s Slafkovský winning pucks on the boards and setting up teammates. That’s how he enjoyed so much success last year. It must be nice for him to be freed from playing with Dach for this game. He needs to do enough to keep this top-line spot.
- It’s a good start to the period fro Montreal, holding more possession than Winnipeg in the opening minutes. They were able to settle things down in the intermission.
- And then Caufield takes a hooking penalty, so the Jets’ power play goes back to work.
- Dvorak punches Mark Scheifele in the face right off he draw and puts his team down two men. Sure, we all want to do that, but now this is all but an automatic goal.
- 3-1.
- Do they just keep playing Dvorak every night until he gets flipped for a fifth-round pick at the trade deadline?
- The refs feel a little guilty about the score of the game it seems and call a light tap on Josh Anderson slashing. Montreal’s power play goes to work.
- Winnipeg really focused on Laine on that power play, so Hutson, Suzuki, and Caufield set up a few chances for themselves. It’s nice to have some options.
- Anderson goes to the box for two minutes for being stronger than Neal Pionk in a hit along the boards. The call is cross-checking.
- Scheifele gets upset about an altercation with Savard, gets up, and punches him the face. He will cut his team’s power play short with that roughing penalty.
- The top unit is making too many passes again.
- Emil Heineman gets pitchforked in the face, and this will be a five-on-three for Montreal. Less of an automatic goal in this case, but still a great chance to make it a one-goal game.
- Hellebuyck robs Laine on a one-timer attempt.
- The second unit doesn’t accomplish much because no one was in a position to accept a pass.
- A pretty good period for Montreal even if they were outscored. That’s mostly the fault of Dvorak.
Third period
- Dach tips Hutson’s point shot off the post.
- Montreal has another power play as Armia’s stick is slashed away. They have to make this one count to get back in it.
- More of a shooting mentality on this one.
- Caufield takes a hooking penalty making a stick life to prevent the puck from being cleared down the ice.
- Anderson makes this a game again with a very good far-side shot past Hellebuyck’s blocker. Another impressive play by him this season.
- Hellebuyck robs Caufield close to a tie game.
- Winnipeg very nearly made it 4-2. Dach made a great defensive play to tie up a stick to prevent an easy tap-in.
- The Canadiens are all over the Jets with five minutes to play.
- Winnipeg now holds possession in Montreal zone. Brendan Gallagher whacks at Josh Morrissey’s stick, the contact you could clearly hear in the rink. The stick doesn’t break. Possession isn’t lost. Gallagher goes to the box anyway because Morrissey shook his hand at the contact. Refs get duped again.
- An impressive kill by the Habs keeps them in the game.
- Laine forces a toe save from Hellebuyck, Slafkovský just can’t put the rebound in.
- Montreal made a valiant effort to come back, but Vladislav Namestnikov makes it a 4-2 final with the empty-netter.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) He should start to get the more regularly now
2) Maybe replaced by Owne Beck later in the season?
1) He just wanted to make it a memorable one
