First period
- An early three-on-one for the veteran line results in a deflected puck and no scoring opportunity. I guess passing will be tomorrow’s drill.
- Some great lateral movement from Cayden Primeau keeps the Vegas Golden Knights off the board. This is going to be a tough game for him, but he’s doing his part in the early minutes.
- He’s called into action again as Justin Barron gets beat to the net and he has to make a desperation slide to prevent a wide-open look. He wipes out the forward, and goes to the box for tripping.
- Six shots for Las Vegas, and three of them would have been goals if not for some great saves.
- Two more shots are turned aside, and the Canadiens score on their first one of the game. It’s Alex Newhook, after a very strong shift working the puck along the boards.
- Habs are shooting at 100%. Shooter Tutor for Jack Adams.
- Christian Dvorak nearly makes it 2-0 on a breakaway, but Adin Hill just keeps it out of his net.
- Ten shots in 8:30 for Primeau. He has to be feeling good about his start.
- Even Johnny Kovacevic is scoring goals? What madness is this?
- Shots are 13-5 Vegas, but the Habs have a 2-0 lead. I’m not going to complain about that after the Flames game.
- The glove hand is probably Primeau’s main physical weakness, and it seems the Golden Knights are aware of that, but he’s snagged everything sent that way so far.
- Good of Vegas to take a penalty and give Primeau a short rest on the bench.
- The Canadiens go to the power play with a chance to go up by three goals.
- The end result is two, but the score should really be about 3-0 Vegas. It seems every time St-Louis praises the team’s effort, they respond with a bad one (or three), but at least they have a lead. Better defence will be needed to see this one out.
Second period
- There will be a brief moment of five-on-three as Nick Suzuki gets taken down in the neutral zone.
- No goal for the Habs, but the Golden Knights get their first one while short-handed.
- It did take them 19 shots to solve Primeau, so you can’t be too upset.
- Kaiden Guhle is off the box for two minutes for a high stick. Time for a Jesse Ylönen short-handed goal.
- Another shot for the top right corner snared by Primeau’s glove.
- Guhle comes out of the box after the kill and immediately pins a forward against the boards to help win the puck. The next play is another trip of Suzuki for a Canadiens power play.
- A rare Guhle sighting on the power play, but only with 12 seconds left and a return to five-on-five in mind.
- Arber Xhekaj takes a hit from from the front and the back by two Golden Knights players and ends up standing right where he was while an opponent goes flying. I think he just created his own law of physics.
- What an effort from Jesse Ylönen! I’ve been wanting to see that type of goal for a long time. A highlight-reel breakaway goal, set up completely on his own.
- Now he needs to stay in the lineup so he can do that more often.
- Vegas gets that one right back to hand Guhle a rare minus on the season. Brayden McNabb was given too much space too close to net.
- A puck bounces off the seam of the glass and leaves Hill out of his crease, but Dvorak can’t corral it to score an empty-net goal. He’s had a couple of great chances in this game.
- Kovacevic gets the puck in his feet in the neutral zone and swings wildly trying to play, but it takes a bounce and heads toward Montreal’s end for a two-on-one. The game is now tied.
- But only until Ylönen hits the ice again. A quick one-time snapshot from a Michael Pezzetta pass put Montreal back in the lead. It’s his first two-goal game in the NHL.
- Montreal survives a shift while Lindström has no stick, but the breakout attempt from Xhekaj is a pass to … Lindström. Back to defending.
- A 2:48 shift for Xhekaj, after which he heads to the dressing room. He had taken a hit from behind a bit earlier.
- Vegas hits the post on a power play, and then gets on in the net. After stopping the first 18 shots he faced, Primeau has now allowed four goals on the last nine shots. His main mental weakness is allowing goals against to affect his game.
- Ylönen can’t get quite enough of a one-time pass from Michael Matheson to complete his hat trick, but another good offensive chance for him and the fourth line.
- Heading into the final period, the score is 4-4, or, for all intents and purposes, 0-0.
Third period
- The news is that Xhekaj will not return to the game. If he and Harris are unable to go on Saturday, the Canadiens will need to bring someone up from Laval to face the Bruins.
- Juraj Slafkovský battles with a Golden Knights players for the puck, the opponent goes down, and it’s a holding penalty on Slafkovský. That was just a battle for a loose puck that required no call.
- The last few minutes have just been the Canadiens trying to survive the pressure Las Vegas is putting on. There aren’t many shots, just a lot of possession time.
- There are sure to be some shots now with Barron off to the box for a high stick following a defensive-zone faceoff.
- Tanner Pearson gets a good short-handed chance with Monahan, but Hill makes the save and has the rebound go well out of Pearson’s reach.
- Barron is released, but the Canadiens are still having issues with zone exits.
- Pearson takes a punch in the face on a zone entry, but that’s perfectly fine in the eyes of the officials.
- Four more minutes to survive to get a point.
- The final three will be difficult with Brendan Gallagher in the box for a high-sticking double-minor.
- 5-4 Golden Knights. The final two minutes will also be played on the penalty kill.
- Shots are now 40-25 Vegas, which is just about the opposite of what they were in Las Vegas. Yet the Golden Knights are going to take four points from this season series to Montreal’s one. Hockey isn’t fair sometimes.
- One last big save on a three-on-one for Primeau.
- 6-4. Gallagher can only shake his head as he returns to the bench seeing another two goals against his team.
- Hold the flight to Boston for just a minute. Barron makes it 6-5 with 53 seconds to play.
- The Canadiens got one last chance to tie it in the dying seconds, but the final score is 6-5.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) This never would have been a game without those 20 minutes.
2) Whoops, the two officials couldn’t see that penalty in the middle of the ice.
1) You can’t say they didn’t deserve it. Montreal needs a better approach on Saturday.
