- Apparently we can only have one Finn in the lineup at this point of the season. Patrik Laine is in, but Joel Armia is out.
First period
- The top line gets the call to start, Not surprisingly, they spend the shift in the offensive zone.
- Interesting that Josh Anderson was tasked with keeping the crease clear on a shift while Alexandre Carrier skated around trying to win the puck back. Is that something they discussed?
- Jakub Dobes tries to clear the puck off the glass, but Jordan Eberle intercepts it and gets it to Brandon Montour in the slot. The defenceman makes it 1-0.
- That’s Montour’s fourth goal versus Montreal this season.
- On the bright side, there is no 3-0 lead to have to defend tonight.
- Montreal is coming dangerously close to giving Seattle a 2-0 lead to defend.
- Adam Larsson fires a shot off the post. The Habs are just hanging on here. It could be another 8-2 game at this rate.
- Matty Beniers sees an open net, but has to settle the puck down, and that allows Dobes to zip across and make the save. The Kraken could have five goals right now.
- Arber Xhekaj lands a big hit on Shane Wright. Then he wraps up his man as he skates toward the point, and that will be a penalty.
- A PK might not be a bad thing to help settle the Canadiens down.
- Jani Nyman hits the post, and won’t score his first NHL goal on this power play. Seattle tips another puck off the post moments later.
- That was a very bad period. It would have been difficult for the Canadiens to play any worse. Shots were 15-5, and that doesn’t include the posts.
- And they’re only losing 1-0.
- Seattle has won four of its last 12 games, by the way.
Second period
- Montreal has come out hard in the opening minute. Can they maintain it for the whole period?
- No they can’t. Seattle is in control again.
- Eeli Tolvanen makes it 2-0. It’s a second goal on Dobes within five three seconds of him going behind the net to play the puck. This time he missed it, and Eberle made another pass off the wall to the slot.
- Jake Evans draws a penalty in the offensive zone. Montreal really needs to make this power play count.
- Joey Daccord is expecting a Patrik Laine. He moves across to face the Patrik Laine shot. He sees off the stick the Patrik :Laine shot. He doesn’t stop the Patrik Laine shot.
Nick Suzuki tees up Patrik Laine on the power play, and the #Habs have some life. 2-1
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 12:45 AM
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- Lane Hutson records his 50th assist of the season on the play.
- Alex Newhook flies in off the wing and his shot hits the post.
- Dobes makes a save, and then Adam Larsson drives his thigh right through Dobes’s head. Arber Xhekaj goes after him. The ref hands out penalties to both teams, and nothing to Larsson, so apparently that was a perfectly legal thing to do.
- Tolvanen and Slafkovský had a spirited wrestling match after that hit as well.
- Newhook reloads in the defensive zone and starts the rush up the ice. Patrik Laine makes the zone entry, and shows great patience waiting for Newhook to race to the crease, finding his stick for the tying goal.
Patrik Laine puts a perfect pass into the (very) low slot, and Alex Newhook ties this game up for the #Habs.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 12:55 AM
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- Laine now has eight points in the seven games he’s played since the 4 Nations.
- Seattle is all over the Canadiens with the Habs’ top line on the ice, and Dobes is doing a gymnastics floor routine in the crease to keep the puck out.
- The shift ends with a snipe from Slafkovský.
Jakub Dobes makes a desperate save, puck goes the other way, and Juraj Slafkovsky goes absolute cookie jar. 3-2 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 1:00 AM
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- Somehow, despite being completely outclassed, the Canadiens have a lead.
- Hutson adds another point.
- Evans draws a penalty in the offensive zone … again. His namesake, Ryker Evans, is off to the box.
- Seattle is paying a lot of attention to Laine this time.
- So the Canadiens just set up some plays on the right side of the zone and get a couple of point-blank chances.
- Christian Dvorak made some nice offensive plays in the shift after the power play expired. Really.
- Suddenly Montreal is starting to dictate the play in this game.
- The Kraken really pushed for a tying goal, but Dobes made the necessary saves, and the Canadiens take a one-goal lead into the third period. Everyone in the building is shocked, and you can probably include the Canadiens players in that group.
Third period
- Ideally, Montreal would defend this one-goal lead by making it a two- or three-goal lead. Actually, maybe they can make it a six-goal lead and make up for that 8-2 loss earlier in the season.
- Eberle hits another post.
- A couple of back-to-back icings for Montreal. It might take a while to drain the final 14 minutes off the clock five seconds at a time.
- Slafkovský tips the puck in from the slot. The ref points goal, but Daccord says it’s a high stick, and Slafkovský’s celebration is muted. We’ll see after a review.
- It stands, and it’s Slafkovský’s 100th NHL point, 10 of which have come since the 4 Nations.
Surely this will not count, but a nice effort by Slafkovsky nonetheless.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 1:44 AM
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- Montreal got a little bit too aggressive in defence, and they will go on the penalty kill halfway through the period with Xhekaj off for hooking.
- It took a while, but there’s the first NHL goal against Montreal for Nyman. The Habs lost the lot a bit and were too worried about the top of the zone and not he net-front. Another primary assist for Eberle.
- The game had settled down as the Kraken were just putting an occasional shot on net, but David Savard just took a tripping penalty, and Seattle will have a power play, and likely a six-on-four with 2:29 to go.
- They didn’t even need to pull the goalie. Matty Beniers tips a shot in to tie the game at four.
- Well, it’s a point, but the Canadiens can’t move into a playoff spot tomorrow without the regulation win
Overtime
- Right off the faceoff, the puck is pushed past Dvorak, and Montour secures the win on a breakaway five seconds in.
- It’s amazing that the Canadiens even got a point given how the game started, but they should have been able to hand onto that two-goal third-period lead.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) It’s an inside joke
2) A perfect spot to see a couple of snipes from Laine and Slafkovský
1) Alaska Daylight Time, clearly
