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Canadiens Instant Recap: Cole Caufield Leads NHL In Goals
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Canadiens Instant Recap: Cole Caufield Leads NHL In Goals

Originally posted on Montreal Hockey Now  |  By Marc Dumont  |  Last updated Oct 30, 2024 10:05 AM ET

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, marking the third game in four nights for Martin St-Louis’ team. Things started poorly and ended worse, as the Kraken emerged with an 8-2 win, powered by defenceman Brandon Montour’s hat trick performance.

The scoreline was a little unflattering to the Habs, as they were let down by their goaltending, but suffice it to say, the entire team will want to quickly forget about Tuesday’s outcome. Let’s dive into the highlights!

The Way She Goes

We won’t pretend the Canadiens had a solid first period. To their credit, they outshot the Kraken, and created more high-danger scoring chances at 5v5, but the mere fact that the Canadiens were trailing by four goals midway through the frame was a fairly good indication of the fragile state of the host team.

Samuel Montembeault could have done better, or rather, it would have been difficult to do worse, but the early-game meltdown was a symptom of a complete failure to launch from the Habs.

Beyond the lack of consistency from Montembeault on long-distance shots, there was a laundry-list of individual mistakes at play, not to mention endless blown coverage in the defensive zone. It was also quite clear Montembeault was having a difficult night, putting some of the onus on St-Louis to identify the glaring issue and rectify it before the game got out of hand.

On The Bright Side

The good news is that Cole Caufield does not seem to be ready to stop scoring, as evidenced by his ninth goal of the season. It was a late-period rebound chance that gave the Canadiens a little life, allowing them to enter the first intermission trailing by only three goals.

It also meant Caufield once again jumped to the top of the NHL’s goal-scoring race, tied with New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier, who has played two more games so far this season. None of this matters in the grand scheme of things, and Caufield would surely tell you he’d sacrifice his goal if it meant the team could play a little better in the defensive zone, but rebuilds are never fun, which means silver linings have their role to play.

Anticipation Station

Everything went wrong on Tuesday, and a heightened sense of anticipation from Canadiens forwards probably wouldn’t have made a different as to the eventual result, a frustrating loss, but there’s something to be said about the top-quality passes created by Lane Hutson in high-danger scoring areas going to waste.

Perhaps some of his teammates underrate his skill set, but the Habs simply cannot afford to throw away quality chances, especially when they’re being created by the player with the least professional hockey experience under his belt.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Thursday. They will face Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals in Washington. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm ET. All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

This article first appeared on Montreal Hockey Now and was syndicated with permission.

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