Demidov Helps Habs Rally For The Comeback Win

The Canadiens had arguably their worst period of the season (between that and the 2nd period against the Sabres) during the first period on Saturday, getting massively outplayed the entire frame. The Habs found themselves down 1-0 just 4:42 into the game, thanks to Elias Pettersson and the Canucks first line taking advantage of a line mismatch that led to Canucks star centre sniping the puck past Jakub Dobes. That goal led to the Canadiens struggling the rest of the period.

If it weren’t for goaltender Jakub Dobes, the game could have gotten out of hand early on, as he made a few key saves to keep the game within one during the opening frame. The Habs were outshot 11-4 in the period, but with how sloppy the period was for them, it looked even worse. 

In the 2nd period, the Canadiens came out much faster and ready to play, but they were unable to beat Canucks netminder Kevin Lankinen early in the frame. Joe Veleno took a bad penalty in the offensive zone, which led to a power-play goal by Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk, who tipped a Quinn Hughes point shot perfectly past Dobes. This gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead at 6:43 of the 2nd period.

It wasn’t until late in the 2nd period that things started to really change in the Habs’ favour. During Thursday’s game, the Canadiens decided to swap Zack Bolduc out of the top power play unit for Ivan Demidov. Unfortunately, they only received one power play and weren’t able to showcase what they could do with Demidov.

Luckily, on Saturday, we got to see how much of a difference Demidov makes on the top unit. By having Demidov on the top power play unit, they have another incredibly skilled playmaker with the patience to pass the puck at the perfect time. During the team’s first power play, the Canadiens got on the board thanks to Demidov feeding the puck over to Suzuki, giving him a wide-open cage to shoot the puck into the net, allowing the captain to extend his point streak to 9 games. If that wasn’t passed at the perfect time, there is no way that Suzuki would have such an easy shot to get the Habs on the board. Demidov now has an assist on both of Suzuki’s goals this season. The goal was scored with 4:57 left in the middle frame.

This goal really energized the Habs as they pushed hard to get the tying goal, but were unable to get on the board again before the end of the 2nd period. However, right at the end of the period, they drew a penalty to start the 3rd on the power play. 

With that ensuing power play, Demidov got the puck in the slot and slid it over to Juraj Slafkovsky, who shot the puck over Lankinen’s pad to tie the game 2-2 just 1:50 into the period. 

The Canadiens finished the night going 2/3 on the power play, showing just how dangerous they can be when they load their best assets on one unit. 

The Habs’ 3rd goal came about 40 seconds after the team’s final power play of the game ended, when defenseman Mike Matheson shot a perfectly placed wrister from the high slot into the top corner, giving the Canadiens their first lead of the game with 11:41 left in regulation. 

It only took 2:50 for the Canadiens to capitalize again when Alexandre Carrier fed the puck to Demidov in his wheelhouse to one-time the puck into the net from inside the right circle to complete his career-high 3-point night. With that goal, it was the first time that Demidov scored using his wicked wrister, as previously he scored by deking out the opposing goaltenders. 

The Canadiens seemed to have control after scoring four unanswered goals to that point. However, the Canucks got some hope when forward Conor Garland redirected an Elias Pettersson pass past Dobes with 3:47 left in the game to cut the lead to 4-3 Habs. 

After the Garland goal, it was Dobes’ turn to do his job and keep the Canucks within 1. He made a couple of scrambling saves to help secure the Habs ‘ 4-3 win. Dobes now improves to 5-0 on the season for the 2nd time in his young NHL career, after making 28 saves on 31 shots. Thanks to Dobes’ elite start to the season, the Habs are now 7-3-0 and lead the Atlantic division with 14 points after the first 10 games of the season. 

Saturday night’s game was very similar to the previous Saturday, with the only difference being that the Habs were the ones who came back from down 2-0 to go up 4-2 and eventually secure the 4-3 victory this time around. 

On the negative side of things, it should be noted that defenseman Arber Xhekaj only played 6:37 on the night, after being benched for taking 2 bad interference penalties. If Xhekaj wants to get more ice time, he will surely need to be more disciplined and also throw hits, which he has not done for the last 2 straight games. 

The Habs also proved that they were able to overcome the emotional loss that came against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. It wasn’t the prettiest game from the Habs, but they got the job done and can move their focus to Tuesday’s game in Seattle against the Kraken.

What were your thoughts on the Canadiens’ 4-3 victory on Saturday night?