First period
- Just going to start by pointing out that Rogers Place has the best sound system in the NHL. No delays or echoes when the music is playing.
- It looks like we’re in for a high-tempo game tonight.
- Duelling “Let’s Go Oilers! Go Habs Go!” chants from a split crowd.
- Sam Carrick and Michael Pezzetta have a duel of their own. Pezzetta started out the stronger, but ran out of steam first and got taken down.
- Montreal looks good so far. putting pressure on Edmonton’s top line in the Oilers’ zone.
- Josh Anderson hands the puck off to Connor McDavid, and that means it’s 1-0 Edmonton. Hard to contain the best player in the league when you provide him an extra setup man.
- Edmonton’s coach is choosing Anderson’s line to send McDavid out against. It’s hard to criticize that strategy considering that Anderson just allowed another chance for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins by not playing a puck sitting in the slot.
- Meanwhile, the Habs’ second line draws the game’s first penalty with some relentless effort around the crease.
- Cole Caufield took a stick near his eye and is in some discomfort. Staying on the bench, however.
- The Habs held Edmonton to just seven shots, but one of them had no chance of being stopped by Samuel Montembeault. Montreal does need to start converting some goals, however.
Second period
- Nick Suzuki starts the second period by backchecking, intercepting a pass with his hand, turning on a dime and immediately going on offence.
- Anderson said he was “going back to basics” to help his games. Skating around doing little with or without the puck may be a little too basic.
- To his credit, he just made a nice drop-pass in the offensive zone to set up a Kaiden Guhle blast.
- Arber Xhekaj just about broke his shot-speed record with a shot that banged off the end glass.
- Partner David Savard very nearly banked another puck in off the glass.
- A couple of times now Anderson has sent the puck back against the flow and the Oilers were completely unprepared for it.
- That was a good shift from Anderson. He was the one controlling things in the offensive zone.
- Montreal is back on the power play following an offensive-zone tripping call on Edmonton.
- The man advantage looked okay, but couldn’t get any point-blank chances.
- Edmonton gets a bit of zone time, and Adam Henrique slips in behind David Savard to tip a shot home for his first with his new team. Edmonton will be hoping for more of that when the playoffs arrive.
- As has been the case a lot recently, the Habs control the play, give up a goal, and go right back to full possession. They just can’t do much with it lately.
- Matheson is in the box for roughing, getting his hands high on a too-late hit.
- Evan Bouchard lost a glove reaching out to prevent Suzuki from breaking away short-handed, and the refs decide not to call anything.
- A decent penalty kill from Montreal to keep Edmonton to the perimeter and not the front of the net when they usually score from.
- RDS says the shots were 10-9 Edmonton that period, and even at 17 after 40 minutes. Montreal is down two where it counts.
Third period
- A quick start to the period has Montreal within a goal, thanks to a goal from Suzuki. He has Montreal’s last two. A good setup from Juraj Slafkovský.
- One guy in the crowd is singing “Olé!” all on his own. He just really wanted to see the captain score.
- Guhle makes another good decision to jump up and keep the play alive. Most of his decisions have been good ones tonight.
- A less good play from Slafkovský is a trip while the Canadiens were working their cycle. He didn’t really do much other that have his stick on the ice in a puck battle, honestly.
- Joel Armia is playing some nice defence on the penalty kill as well.
- And draws a call as I was typing that.
- Guhle’s best decision of the night is to jump up on the left side at four-of-four to collect a pass, and score on a mini break.
- Caufield hits the post on the abbreviated power play.
- This is a perfect period from Montraal so far. They look like the Stanley Cup favourite.
- The Oilers have no choice but to ice the puck after about six shifts in their own zone. The Habs fans are loving it.
- The first real error is Matheson overskating a puck to allow a potential two-on-one, but Suzuki races back to hassle the puck-carrier and nothing materializes.
- The first dangerous Oilers shot comes with less than eight minutes to play.
- Joshua Roy blocked a shot with his hand and is grimacing on the bench. Hopefully he’s alright.
- Anderson gets the puck and fires a shot that Calvin Pickard just stops enough of. It’s been quite a turnaround in this game for #17.
- Edmonton has a bit more pushback late, but nothing Montembeault can’t handle.
- Brendan Gallagher blocks a shot with his hand and is wringing it pretty hard. He skated right to the room. Hopefully just scared about some broken fingers and not some actual ones.
- Yes, he’s back on the bench. Still intact.
- Meanwhile, Savard has taken a penalty to put Edmonton on the power play for two of the final three minutes.
- Corey Perry very nearly scores and than falls very dramatically over the back of a defender trying to buy a call. the Habs.
- Armia tries to play the puck at centre ice and has Evander Kane life his stick right into Henrique’s face. It’s a four-minute penalty.
- He Habs kill off a few seconds, and will now have nearly four to fend off at three-on-four in overtime.
Overtime
- It’s another point versus one of the elite teams in the NHL. Don’t let anyone gaslight you into believing these one-goal results are somehow a bad thing.
- Jake Evans pokes a pass away to kill of 20 seconds. One hundred sixty more to go.
- I think you pretty well have to be thinking offence here.
- One minor down.
- An attempted zone clearance hits the ref, who was right up against the boards.
- They had it down to 15 seconds before Draisaitl scored from his one-time spot. A bit of a miracle it made it to that point.
- Montreal loses another close one to a great team, 3-2 in overtime.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) It’s nice to have conditions that make you cheer for the player rather than against him
1) An excellent game for the defenceman
1) That’s just three Martys in a trench coat.
