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Canadiens @ Utah HC Top Six Minutes: Habs show up late, take two points anyway

The Habs erase a dismal first period with a strong final 40 minutes.

Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images

First period

  • Twenty-nine seconds in, Michael Pezzetta goes to the box for holding the stick. That’s the second time in three games he’s taken a penalty in the opening minutes.
  • Mike Matheson joins him right away in the box. So it’s a five-on-three right off the hop.
  • Samuel Montembeault keeps the puck out after Utah did a great job slowly compressing the zone.
  • They do so again, and Josh Doan makes this one count.
  • As bad a start as the Habs could have possibly had.
  • I don’t think Matheson liked sitting in the box for the opening goal. He blew through the Hockey Club’s defence on an end-to-end rush and deked Karel Vejmelka’s five-hole open to tie the game.

MIKE MATHESON GO BRRRRR

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 14, 2025 at 10:16 PM
  • Utah has nine shots through seven minutes.
  • Patrik Laine comes to the defence of Matheson after he took a bump from Juuso Valimaki after the whistle. Valimaki was prepared for just such a thing to happen, and went down like it was a Laine slapshot that hit him. The ref ate up every bit of it.
  • And now Kirby Dach is off to the box for tripping after just placing his stick at the feet of a player in transition. Get it all out of your system in this period, guys.
  • David Savard tried to hit Josh Anderson with a 100 km/h pass for a short-handed rush.
  • Jake Evans keeps on a two-on-one on the same PK and … fans on it.
  • Utah’s 14th shot of the opening period pinballs of the post Montembeault several times before trickling over the goal line. You get that kind of bounce when you put so many pucks on target/
  • That’s going to be another minus on Dach’s season record.
  • The good news is the Canadiens can’t possibly play any worse than that in the second period!
  • A member of the Montreal media just penciled Emil Heineman into the fifth slot on their Hart Trophy ballot.

Second period

  • The period starts with a high-sticking penalty on Brendan Gallagher away from the play. Matheson made up for his penalty, now :Laine will have his shot at redemption.
  • Nick Suzuki charges right down the centre. He gets stopped by Vejmelka, and Ian Cole stops the follow-up attempt.
  • Hutson just denied a goal after a nonchalant backhand giveaway from Suzuki. The rookie has probably prevented about three goals in the last four games with last-second plays.
  • Christian Dvorak throws the puck to Alex Newhook in front of the net. Newhook can’t tuck it inside the post.
  • Jake Evans gets stopped on a two-on-one with Anderson. Vejmelka looked the wrong way for the rebound, but Evans couldn’t get to it.
  • Juraj Slafkovský drives to the net on the next shift, and draws a hooking call. I think the Canadiens have finally arrived at Delta Center.
  • This time the top unit tries a little harder for a goal, led by the work of Slafkovský.
  • Newhook hits the post on the shot from the slot.
  • Kaiden Guhle fires one off the post on the first shot after the PP expires.
  • Barrett Hayton is now going off for an offensive-zone roughing penalty. The calls are about even now. Now it’s time for the Habs to do the same to the score.
  • Another energetic power play, but still no goal. It should come eventually if they keep playing like this.
  • Well, Hockey Club, you have to take Laine’s shot away at five-on-five as well. They don’t, and he has the equalizer, and his first five-on-five goal of the season (even it looked exactly like his nine power-play markers).

Laine's laser makes it a 2-2 game in Utah!

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 14, 2025 at 11:29 PM
  • Utah just got its first shot of the period with five-and-a-half minutes to play.
  • Dach glides from the boards to the slot through a Utah defence that had been mesmerized by Lane Hutson, pulls the puck around Vejmelka, and makes by far his greatest backhand play of the season.

Lane Hutson draws in the entire Utah team, Kirby Dach scores a highlight reel goal

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 14, 2025 at 11:45 PM
  • Just Michael Pezzetta left to make up for a minor penalty.
  • Now that’s a comeback effort. Twenty more minutes like that and they’ll have another win.

Third period

  • It’s a tight-checking start to the third, and the Canadiens are perfectly happy to spend 20 minutes in the neutral zone.
  • Utah is the first team to ramp up their play a step, and it leads to the tying goal. A shot deflects off Guhle, right to stick of Logan Cooley at the side of the net, who had been abandoned by Christian Dvorak.
  • This is just the second time since Christmas that Utah has put a ‘3’ on the scoreboard.
  • There’s the Cole Caufield goal I predicted for this game. He just provided the solid matter for Lane Hutson to deflect his shot off.

Lane Hutson threads it to Cole Caufield at the back post A third point on the night for Hutson and Caufield's 24th goal of the year

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 15, 2025 at 12:19 AM
  • Hutson earns his third assist of the game on the play.
  • Brendan Gallagher’s immediate response in a tripping penalty in the neutral zone. Nothing easy.
  • Montreal showed zero interest in seeing this game tied up again, fighting hard to shut off lanes on the penalty kill.
  • Slafkovský goes to the box for interference. They just needed a challenge.
  • Evans gets past Mikhail Sergachev and gets hooked by the former Habs prospect, earning himself a penalty shot. Vejmelka stayed with Evans and denied the Habs from getting a two-goal cushion.
  • Dach flings a puck at the net, it knuckles off a defender’s stick, and suddenly that comfortable two goal lead is in place.

Probably a save you want to make…Anyways two goals for Kirby Dach on the night

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 15, 2025 at 12:41 AM
  • I won’t say it’s just as impressive because Hutson’s offensive game is incredible, but his rapid ascent on the defensive side of the puck has been truly spectacular.
  • Montreal wins just a completely normal 5-3 hockey game.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) Concerto through three defenders in D minor

2) Mission: Accomplished

1) Mormontreal magic in a comeback win

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