- Logan Mailloux draws in for Jayden Struble tonight. He should help the team with its neutral-zone transitions in the game, though I’m not the biggest fan of pairing him with Mike Matheson. That’s two very similar players with the same weaknesses.
First period
- Five quick shots for Los Angeles to start. Montreal needs to survive this early push.
- On the eighth shot, Vladislav Gavrikov makes it 1-0. The Canadiens have barely been out of their own zone in the opening two minutes.
- At the first commercial break, the shots are 11-1, and I imagine it’s at this point of the article that most of you will revisit it tomorrow.
- Montreal finally gets the puck out, and it’s a two-on-one with Kirby Dach and Lane Hutson. the pass is too high to the rookie defenceman, though he still throws himself at it trying to bat it in and ends up crashing into the end boards.
- Now that they realize there isn’t an invisible wall at their blue line, the Canadiens have started to get some shots on goal.
- Phillip Danault’s pass to Trevor Moore was more on the tape, but that two-on-one was failed on the back end as the shot hit the side of the net.
- At the second break, shots are 12-4 and Alex Newhook just drew a penalty. A chance to get back on even terms … if they can get set up.
- They cannot get set up.
- Christian Dvorak goes just offside dragging his foot while trying to attack down the wing with speed. It didn’t work that time, but that’s the correct strategy.
- Kevin Fiala tried to cut to the net, but Cole Caufield leaned on his and denied him that route, allowing Hutson to collect the puck behind his net.
- Considering how one-sided the opening two minutes were, the Canadiens settled in and had a decent end to that period. Shots ended up 13-7 and Montreal had some good chances.
Second period
- Montreal is getting a penalty right off the hop in the second. Alexandre Carrier was caught hold Adrian Kempe’s stick.
- … And the game is tied! On one of the most harmless-looking shot the Canadiens have taken this season. Mike Matheson is pinball wizard as he bounces a shot off Drew Doughty’s back, off the top of Darcy Kuemper’s head, and sees it flutter into the net..
Mike Matheson gets a member's bounce off the ass of Drew Doughty, and somehow the #Habs have tied this game at one.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 12:40 AM
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- Warren Foegele earns a penalty shot after Logan Mailloux took him down a breakaway.
- Dobes’s first NHL penalty shot faced … is a goal.
- Montreal gets another power play as Kempe hooks Juraj Slafkovský.
- Caufield sends a pass across the top of the crease to Nick Suzuki, but the captain can’t get his stick on it.
- Quinton Byfield gets a short-handed breakaway, but Dobes forces his shot too high by coming way out of the crease.
- Arber Xhekaj will take a turn in the box now after high-sticking Anze Kopitar.
- The top line comes close to tying the game and Slafkovský drops is back to Suzuki, but his short-range shot it stopped.
- Josh Anderson is blasted into the boards by Gavrikov, and Montreal will have another power play. You can;t say they’re not getting opportunities in this game.
- The Canadiens pick the puck up after the Kings put it in their zone, but they realize they can’t execute a drop-pass in that situation, and have to spend 10 seconds getting into that formation.
- As they did in the first, the Canadiens are a lot better in the second half of the period than they were in the first 10 minutes. They just can’t quite connect on the passes across the zone to create something really dangerous, and that’s what the Kings do well.
- Beck finds himself as the lowest player in the zone after following his man behind the net, and executes a perfect box-out to eliminate his man as an option and allow Dobes to see the incoming shot. He’ll have to show that to Matheson on the tablet.
- Shots were 11-8 Los Angeles in the frame and goals 1-1. Now how do the Canadiens break what is sure to be a shutdown style from the home team in the third?
Third period
- The Canadiens just weren’t prepared to start any one of the three periods tonight. Brandt Clarke makes it 3-1 15 seconds into the third. A two-goal lead is all but insurmountable against a team as strong defensively as the Kings.
- But not impossible. It seems the slower and farther out the shots come, the more likely they are to go in tonight because Carrier just floated one in from the blue line.
Alex Newhook falls after gaining the zone, and Alex Carrier somehow finds the net with his shot. #Habs back within a goal.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 1:38 AM
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- Credit to the Kings they’re not just trying to clamp down their half of the ice and wait for the clock to expire. They’re still pushing for goals.
- Hutson sees a dangerous play developing and has to pinch up to try to play the puck deep. He gets knocked down at the blue line and that allows the Kings to come up ice. Even so, it was a three-on-three, but not one checked Fiala in the circle and he converts the one-timer.
- Mailloux answers back by following up into the open space Newhook created by attacking up the wall with speed. If only they could have found these goals when the deficit was just one instead of two.
Great work by Alex Newhook, gets in deep with his legs and curls, finds Logan Mailloux for a snipe.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 2:02 AM
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- But, it’s a two-goal lead again immediately as Fiala scores his second goal, matching what he did in his previous match.
- Moore hits the empty net. It’s the fourth time this season the Kings have put a six on the scoreboard.
- Montreal Canadiens’ playoff hopes time of death: 10:09 PM Pacific Standard Time.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) He has the ability to do it
2) Too many big errors from him this season
1) It’s going to work anytime now
