First period
- Surprise! It’s actually a 4:00 PM start.
- You know some of these teams wait until the Canadiens come to town to hold their ceremonies just out of spite.
- David Quinn looks too happy behind the Sharks bench to start. Better turn that smile into a frown quick.
- Newhook starts his first shift like he wants another two-goal game. It’s a giveaway while attempting to go one-on-four, but I admire the confidence.
- Michael Pezzetta gets taken down behind the net as he’s trying to get to the puck. Apparently he’s ineligible for penalty calls on this trip.
- A slow start for Montreal that allowed San Jose to have an odd-man rush, but they’re starting to hold more possession now. There isn’t a whole lot of structure to their play, however; it’s all just improvisation in the offensive zone.
- Mackenzie Blackwood makes a nice glove save on Cole Caufield to extend the winger’s goalless run.
- The Sharks’ main issue seems to be that they don’t have a forward who can skate better than any of the Canadiens’ defencemen. There are other issues, but that’s a hard thing to overcome.
- The thing they are good at is treating five-on-five like a penalty kill, so their sticks are always in passing lanes.
- The constant offensive-zone time finally leads to a Sharks breakdown as the hosts clear the puck into the … surprising full crowd. It’s Mike Hoffman in the box.
- Montreal put zero shots on goal during those two minutes. Still at a 9-3 advantage.
- Matheson might be Montreal’s best skater, but he just took a holding penalty after having his man slip by him along the boards. It leads to San Jose’s fourth shot of the period, and their first power play.
- They get lots of chances as the defence scrambles in front of Cayden Primeau. They look much more dangerous than the Canadiens did on their man advantage.
- Just like that, the shots are 10-9 San Jose.
- After 20 minutes, it should be Martin St-Louis wearing the scowl on the walk back to the dressing rooms. Montreal didn’t have anywhere near the execution necessary to deserve a lead.
- The good news it was another good opening 20 minutes from Primeau.
Second period
- The players are back on the ice for the second period. Surely it will be a better one than the first.
- The puck goes all the way down the ice. The linesman waves off the icing because it’s apparent the Sharks defenceman just can’t skate fast enough to catch up with it.
- So far, it’s not a better period. I think the Canadiens players may have had their Thanksgiving Day feasts before the game began.
- A fifth one-timer goal for Hoffman in his last five games. It’s 1-0 San Jose. Josh Anderson got caught watching the puck behind the net and didn’t take his former teammate.
- Martin St-Louis held a crash course in defence during the first commercial break. I think the organization may need to bring someone in who specializes in that area, because this issue isn’t getting resolved by the current group.
- A rare dangerous shift from Montreal sees shots from close range for both Slafkovský and Caufield, but Blackwood stops both.
- I’m not going to advocate for Stéphane Robidas to lose his job because of plays like we just saw from Jayden Struble jumping up to join the rush. He has inspired a much more complete offensive attack incorporating the defencemen, and that should remain an element of this group of player during this era.
- Primeau does well to deny Hoffman a second goal.
- Justin Barron takes down a player who isn’t Pezzetta behind the net, and will go to the box for it.
- More excellent power-play execution leads to San Jose’s 2-0. I don’t think they’ve had many multi-goal leads this season.
- The Canadiens look like they actually want to score a goal for the first time tonight. It started with an individual rush into the offensive zone by Mike Matheson. It ended with a Johnny Kovacevic goal, set up by Jayden Struble’s first NHL assist. It also saw Caufield earn his 100th NHL point.
- Three goals in four games for Kovacevic.
- The Sharks are determined to get it right back with a good shift of their own, but Primeau keeps the deficit at just the one goal the Canadiens have gotten it to.
- That’s how the score remains as we hit the second intermission.
Third period
- The Sharks are again the better team to start the third period. I really thought the Canadiens would come out looking for a quick goal.
- Slafkovský has missed several chances in this game, but he’s getting them at least.
- The slump is over for Caufield after a perfect shot to the opposite corner from the left side of the ice. A two-point night for him as he jumps up onto a crowded top step of the Canadiens’ podium with six goals.
- The Canadiens get their quick goal after all.
- Slafkovský handles the neutral zone transition and crosses the blue line in possession. A nice play, and one he follows up with a forecheck that nearly results in a takeaway on his next foray.
- The Sharks get an odd-man rush, but hooked down Slafkovský to do it. Montreal gets a power play.
- The puck is out at centre ice now, but I think Caufield was in the zone early on a power-play entry once again.
- Some looks, but nothing like what San Jose has done on the man advantage in this game.
- They really want to make a cross-ice pass work, but there are too many defensive sticks in the way. And the players are spread too far apart, but that’s a separate issue.
- Nick Suzuki take a hit to the head, but the play goes on.
- The Canadiens get a point. It’s the fifth time this season the Sharks have claimed at least one this season.
Overtime
- Caufield comes in all alone in the opening seconds, fakes a slapshot, but then can’t score on his real one. He had too much time to think there.
- Slafkovský comes out and … just misses the net. If he could just improve his aim.
- Primeau gets just enough of Tomas Hertl’s shot to have it spill wide.
- Off to the …
Shootout
- It really shouldn’t have gotten to this point, but here we are. Hopefully Nick Suzuki can score, or this could be a long one.
- Well now he has to, because Willaim Eklund opened the scoring.
- Suzuki made it look too easy. He pulled Blackwood right out of the crease and deposited the puck into an open net.
- Primeau stops a slapshot from Fabian Zetterlund.
- Caufield gets stopped twice. The shootout really isn’t his thing, for whatever reason.
- Hoffman pings one off the post.
- The game is on the stick of Juraj Slafkovský.
- He does the opposite move to Suzuki, but can’t get his stick on the puck on his backhand.
- Mikael Granlund misses on the delayed drag release.
- Christian Dvorak tries the Suzuki special, but Blackwood is onto this game now, and just left his pad at the post.
- Hertl gets Primeau down, but then misses his backhand. Some nice moves here, but a lack of finish.
- Monahan hits Blackwood’s blocker as the goaltender followed his cross-crease move.
- Anthony Duclair hits the pad of Primeau on his backhand attempt.
- Here comes Jesse Ylönen to win it. He does with authority after drawing Blackwood down onto his stomach.
- That’s game-winners in consecutive games in San Jose for Ylönen.
- Play that man more.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) I think that had negative odds before the game
2) It should have been a nice relaxing game for him.
1) Just let him develop a bit of chemistry with someone
