First period
- A defensive breakdown comes 25 seconds in. It’s not a rookie, but Miike Matheson losing track of Eeli Tolvanen right at the top of the crease, and actually batting the puck in his his desperation to make a stick-check.
- Montreal has a couple of good shifts in the offensive zone following the goal.
- The puck gets back in Montreal’s zone, and ends up in the net off the stick of Jared McCann.
- Faceoff win, cycle, point shot, deflection, goal. The recipe for success against Montreal during the recent slump.
- Kirby Dach loses a skate, and has to do some 80s workout moves to get back to the bench 100 feet away.
- Arber Xhekaj goes end-to-end and backhands the puck off the post. Didn’t even gets called for unsportsmanlike conduct.
- Now Dach is in the box. He got a cross-check, responded with a shove, and gets the call.
- Seattle scores again.
- Samuel Montembeault might be playing himself out of that 4 Nations roster spot. More importantly, he’s not at his usual form to help the Canadiens in this tight Atlantic race.
- Alex Newhook gets a semi breakaway, but Joey Daccord gets his blocker on it.
- 4-0 Seattle as Xhekaj gives the puck away behind his net for a quick pass to the slot.
- That might be it for Montembeault, or maybe St-Louis leaves him in after issuing his netminder a challenge in recent days.
- The coach calls a timeout and shows his frustration with his group.
- That’s four goals on eight shots, but Montembeault stays in.
- There’s something about that third win in a row this team can’t handle. It’s a full-team non-effort tonight on defence.
- With a power play, the first unit spends a minute looking for the perfect shot; the second unit tries to score a goal, and hits the post on back-to-back shots. Really good work from Lane Hutson, who will get his first NHL goal in short order.
- Montreal is getting its chances, but unlike its opponent, they’re not all going in.
- The Canadiens finally get one of their shots past the iron, and it’s Cole Caufield with his night goal of the season.
- Emil Heineman drives into the zone and draws a hooking call. Time for more Hutson after the top unit lulls the Kraken to sleep.
- In the end, Hutson only gets about 10 seconds of time on the two-minute power play as the top unit spent 1:50 with the puck. They did get a shot, though.
- It might be a real first-world problem to complain about a power play operating at 25%, but it would be much more effective with the most dynamic player on the ice.
- The period ends with Montreal up 15-9 on the shot counter but down 4-1 on the big numbers on the scoreboard.
Second period
- Alex Newhook beats out an icing that the linesman call anyway. Dach stands over the faceoff and makes sure the linesman hears about it before he can drop the puck.
- Newhook gets called for slashing. Do you suppose that was because he complained to the officials about that icing call?
- David Savard spins and clears the puck … right off the shoulder blade of the linesman. Even the puck is angry at the officials to start this period.
- Brandon Montour scores on the power play to make it 5-1, a wrist shot from not far inside the blue line.
- Now Montembeault is out, and destroys his stick on the way to the dressing room. That might be the first time we’ve seen him show any emotion. Five goals against on 10 shots tonight, which is going to impact his save percentage for a long time.
- Montreal heads to the power play, a hook drawn by Lane Hutson.
- The second unit starts.
- Hutson finds the stick of Newhook, but the forward can’t deflect it in.
- It ends up being a 25-second shift.
- 6-1 Seattle. The Habs have quit playing again. Poor coverage following another faceoff loss.
- Jake Evans gets tied up by Will Borgen and prevented from moving. He eventually drops his gloves to deal with the frustration, but no punches are thrown.
- The horn mercifully sounds.
Third period
- This is all about preparing for Thursday’s game in Washington now.
- Hutson stops a Kraken cycle by stealing the puck on the boards, then gets a shot at the other end. Before the season, I don’t think anyone would have guessed Hutson would be the one with the most consistent effort at five-on-five of the current group of defencemen.
- On that note, Kaiden Guhle should return on Thursday, and that will make the team better. I wonder if he gets paired with Hutson again.
- Oliver Kapanen and Logan Mailloux go on a nice rush, requiring a save from Daccord.
- Hutson does a little dance at the blue line that even gets a few of these dejected fans to ooh and ahh.
- On a power play. Mike Matheson leads a two-on-one rush, but turns back instead of making the pass because a goal wouldn’t have satisfied the seven-pass quota.
- The first unit gets booed off the ice. Hutson gets cheered the moment he comes on. It seems we’re not the only ones who want Hutson’s role elevated.
- Xhekaj stands up Matty Beniers at the blue line. Captain Jordan Eberle comes to his teammate’s defence, and Xhekaj and Eberle head off.
- Montreal gives up the hat trick goal to Brandon Montour. Seven goals against once more.
- 8-1. Get all the goals out of the system before facing Alexander Ovechkin.
- Josh Anderson scores! The crowd goes wild! The comeback is on!
- Hutson still gets his cheers.
- The good news is that Montreal limited Seattle to 23 shots….
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Eventually they’ll stop watching him and start playing with him
2) It seems like a good place to start
1) Always trying their best to make something happen
