First period
- Martin St-Louis starts Jake Evans’s line and looks like a genius when the centre picks off a rimmed pass from the Blue Jackets and sets up Brendan Gallagher for a goal 21 seconds in.
- Gallagher moves into a tie with Joel Armia for fifth in team goals with 11. Good for him, but hopefully that total ranks a lot lower three-quarters of the way through next season.
- Montreal heads to the power play as Rafaël Harvey-Pinard craftily grabs onto a stick behind his net and draws a hooking call.
- Two shots, two goals for Montreal. Juraj Slafkovský takes a pass from Mike Matheson and wires it in.
- The goals aren’t the only notable thing in this start. Cayden Primeau just made a great sliding glove save to keep Columbus off the board. That used to be his biggest physical weakness, but it’s been much better in just the past couple of weeks.
- Elvis Merzlikins makes a save to get his save percentage up to .333.
- Joshua Roy tips the puck from the top of the crease into the net, and that’s three goals on four shots.
- Elvis has just left the crease.
- Roy now has nine points through a part of his 20th game.
- Columbus gets a needed power play for a chance to get into this game. Jayden Struble couldn’t fool the officials twice with a stick hold.
- Montreal kills that penalty, but gets called for another as Gallagher slashes a stick away and was about to get a break.
- Another great save from Primeau as he gets his left toe on a shot from in close.
- Arber Xhekaj takes a pass in his skates, and immediately accelerated back toward his own zone. He got burned a few times recently trying to hold those in.
- Trevor Letowski says on RDS, “We have to learn how to separate and put this game away now.” He doesn’t want this three-goal lead squandered.
- The Blue Jackets have 16 shots through 13 minutes, so it’s easy to understand his point.
- So far in this game Gallagher has knocked the stick out of a player’s hand and gone after a puck in the crease and been called for two slashing penalties. At least a Blue Jackets player heads off for a penalty as well this time.
- Xhekaj backhands a puck on net, and it ends up landing right on the goal line between Daniil Tarasov’s pads. That close to 4-0.
- Kaiden Guhle defends a one-on-one with the puck in his feet. The Columbus player goes down, Guhle goes to the box. The refs really want to make a game of this.
- The horn sounds as Primeau turns aside a 22nd shot. Columbus is on pace for 66. The Habs just lose all semblance of structure when they have a big lead.
First intermission
- Slafkovský interrupts his interview with Marc Denis to note a goal from the young kids on the ice. It wasn’t so long ago he was one of them.
Second period
- The period begins with three players heading back to the penalty box to serve the rest of their time.
- Primeau has turned the button with the left hand, left tow, and now right foot for three big saves in this game.
- Guhle races out of the box and sends the puck off the elbow of the net.
- Cole Caufield flies down the wing and forces Tarasov to lunge at a shot labelled for the far side.
- Josh Anderson gets ridden into the rounded Pacioretty pane and glances off, as one is supposed to with that alteration.
- This must be some kind of initiation thing for Primeau. He’s up to 27 saves as the Habs are preventing very little in front of him.
- Xhekaj just sent a man careening into the boards as he tried to gain the zone on the big defenceman.
- Montreal just has no answer for the Blue Jackets’ attack. They can’t flip the switch that got toggled off at 3-0.
- Roy and Joel Armia just tried to occupy the same spot on the ice on forecheck. That’s the kind of game it’s been.
- Montreal is getting a few one-and-done chances, then going right back to panicked defensive-zone play. It’s not just the start of the second period thing tonight.
- The Canadiens force the Blue Jackets to ice the puck with 97 seconds to play. The first sustained pressure they’ve had all period.
- David Savard went down and was slow to get up.
- From 22-8, shots are now 30-18, so Montreal did use that late-period play to outshoot the Blue Jackets in the second.
Third period
- Anderson fights for a puck and gets called for hooking. It’s another Canadiens penalty kill.
- This one is killed off as well. The penalty kill has the structure tonight (and in the last few games) that the five-on-five play is lacking.
- The penalties were getting a little too lopsided, so the ref calls Columbus for a hook.
- Montreal looks more worried about keeping Columbus from getting a goal that scoring one themselves, and that’s probably the correct strategy with a 3-0 lead.
- Savard loses his skate blade, and defends on one skate like Hal Gill used to with two. Savard then does a one-legged hop over the boards to get off the ice, and that should make the highlights reel of this game.
- They might need to rethink those skate-blade latches, though. That’s few now in recent weeks.
- Columbus is beginning to whack at Primeau now after his saves. The refs will need to put an end that right away.
- Guhle gets cross-checked in the face. Two of the final four minutes will be played with only four Blue Jackets on the ice.
- A four-on-two is created by Columbus, but a “Primeau!” chant goes up as he makes the sliding save.
- He’s now on 40 saves with another short-handed shot.
- That’s the second shutout of Primeau’s career. The second in four starts. And a lot more than 13 saves for this one. Montreal wins 3-0.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) He’s finding out where the line is
2) A very poetic way to predict a shutout without saying “shutout”
1) The inspiration for the game-winner, and the ballad inspired by the inspiration
