Habs Fall Short in OT VS. Wild

Goaltender Jakub Dobes had one of his toughest games in a while as he started off struggling to stop the puck early, which had the Habs chasing the game after the first shot of the night again. This was the 6th time this season that a Habs goaltender allowed a goal on the first shot of the night. The Habs’ netminder would eventually settle down enough to ensure his team got a point, but if he had just stopped the puck early in the first period, the night could have finished differently. Since the Habs’ loss came in overtime, the Canadiens have now gotten at least one point in Dobes’ last 10 starts, going 8-0-2 in that time. Hopefully, unlike the last time Dobes lost to end his 6-game winning streak, he bounces back swiftly and can get back to the win column.

Overall, the Wild were likely the better team in terms of playing a full game, but the Habs continued to hold their own against the Wild and show resilience to come back after being down 2-0 during the first period. They even had a 3-2 lead at one point during the 3rd period, but unfortunately, they couldn’t keep their lead for long.

It’s never good when you allow the first goal on the first shot of the game, as it gave the Wild early momentum to build on. After all three of Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Marcus Johansson were out with injuries two weeks ago against the Habs, it was their line that made their presence felt right away. Boldy would start the play by poking the puck out of their defensive zone to Johansson, who would find Eriksson Ek in the neutral zone. Eriksson Ek would then go up ice and fire a wrister that fooled from the right faceoff circle to open the scoring just 38 seconds into the game.

Later in the period, the Wild would capitalize again thanks to Kirill Kaprizov. The goal actually occurred thanks to Quinn Hughes’ smooth skating around the Habs defence before he stopped in front of the net to feed Kaprizov in the slot, where the Russian superstar poked the puck past Dobes. It was not an easy period for Dobes, who allowed 2 goals on his first 5 shots, but luckily he settled down for the most part after this goal.

The Canadiens would make sure they got on the board in the final minute of the 1st period. Brendan Gallagher would turn back the clock for one play as he would power his way to the net before deking out Filip Gustavsson and beating him on his backhand for a beautiful goal. Gallagher has definitely slowed down this year, but there is no doubt he still has the skill in him to make beautiful plays for his team, and it was just what the Habs needed before heading back to the dressing room for the intermission.

While the Habs didn’t score right away, Gallagher’s goal clearly allowed the momentum to shift in the Habs’ favour as they came out stronger in the 2nd period. However, Gustavsson stopped everything that came his way, and he kept it a 2-1 game for almost the entire 2nd period. The same can be said for Dobes, who didn’t allow anything to get by him all period.

It wasn’t until 17 seconds left in the 2nd frame that the Canadiens would tie the game at 2. Lane Hutson would skate the puck into the zone before feeding Ivan Demidov with a beautiful cross-ice pass, where he would one-time the puck past Gustavsson to make it a 2-2 game. While the way the puck went in was different, both the Habs and Wild saw their superstar defenseman make a beautiful pass over to their Russian superstar for their team’s 2nd goal.

The late goal in the 2nd period gave the Habs the momentum to come into the 3rd period and pick up where they left off by getting their first lead of the game just 12 seconds into the frame. Noah Dobson would dump the puck into the zone, where Nick Suzuki would win a battle in the corner to feed a streaking Kirby Dach heading to the net. Dach would get enough of the puck and slip it by Gustavsson to make it 3-2 for the Canadiens. With 2 goals in 29 seconds of play, the Habs managed to flip the game around for a while.

Unfortunately, the Habs wouldn’t be able to keep the lead for very long, as the Wild would capitalize a little later in the period to tie things up. Hughes would feed Johansson up ice, who would end up splitting the Habs D before sending it over to Brock Faber for a partial breakaway, where he would snipe it past Dobes. It was a goal where the puck went through Dobes, and one that he surely wants back, but it wasn’t all his fault, as the Wild made a great play to split the defenders to get their goal.

In overtime, the Canadiens would get into trouble following a Phillip Danault hooking call that easily could have gone uncalled, especially considering earlier in the game a clear slash that broke Demidov’s stick went uncalled. It seems like more than ever this season the Habs have the refs against them, but they have been doing well as a whole in spite of that.

On the Wild’s ensuing power play, they would easily get the game winner thanks to Kaprizov’s 2nd goal that he blasted past Dobes from the top of the slot. Trying to kill a 4-on-3 power play in overtime is one of the hardest things to do, and when your opponent has Hughes and Kaprizov, it just feels like you are doomed to lose there. The worst part of that winner is that Suzuki was interfered with by Eriksson Ek which went uncalled giving Kaprizov more room to score. It was just another example of how the reffing failed the Habs on the night.

It is a tough loss to receive, especially with another blown lead in the 3rd period, but escaping Minnesota with a point is still a positive considering their historical struggles when playing there. The Canadiens are still a young team, and there will be nights like this in the foreseeable future where the chance for a win was there but they squandered it late. However, playing catch-up early on is not a sustainable way to have success, but they seem to be a very resilient team that will never quit, making for some fun hockey.

All in all, it wasn’t the Habs’ best game, but they still managed to make the game exciting for the most part with their comeback late in the 1st and 2nd periods. The Habs’ next game is the last before the Olympic break as they head to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Wednesday at 7:00 pm ET.

Will Dobes get his 5th straight start, or will Samuel Montembeault get a chance to show what he can do since working under Marco Marciano again?