Habs Have Disastrous Performance vs. The Maple Leafs

The issues arose pretty much when the game started, as defenseman Ryan O’Rourke failed to control the puck at the blueline, which allowed Leafs forward Scott Laughton to grab the puck and score on a breakaway, which was the first shot that goaltender Samuel Montembeault faced. It only continued to get worse defensively as Laughton broke in behind Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson a little while later and beat Montembeault five-hole. 

If Thursday’s game is a sign of what could come with a Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson pairing, it could be a very shaky duo. Luckily, this is just their 2nd preseason game as a pairing, but Thursday’s matchup was a much more disappointing performance at 5-on-5 for them. At least for Matheson, he redeemed himself from the 2nd Leafs goal by getting a goal himself on the power-play.

Overall, the power-play was the only part of the Habs game that worked out well on Thursday; both units were able to score nice goals, but that’s as far as the positives went. It should still be mentioned how beautiful Ivan Demidov’s cross-crease pass to Patrik Laine was on the Habs’ 2nd goal during the 2nd period. At the time, the goal put the Habs within reach of the Leafs, as it was 3-2 following the goal; however, Steven Lorentz of the Leafs scored two quick goals to put them up 5-2 before the 2nd intermission.

Unfortunately, nobody on the Habs was able to perform at 5 on 5 throughout the game. On the TSN broadcast at the end of the game, Mike Johnson stated that the Habs had an incredibly low 4 shots total at even-strength. A huge problem was that many of the Habs’ top players lacked urgency in the overall game. 

When Laine said we’d see a better version of him, I don’t think anyone was expecting he’d lack effort the way he has at times during his two preseason games so far. As a result, he is making it harder than it already is for a young rookie Ivan Demidov to be able to make plays at even strength. However, the defensive game of their line with Kirby Dach is the biggest concern. They can’t seem to defend well as a trio (surprisingly, Dach is not the issue), and trying a new combination for the team’s 2nd line could be in the cards on Saturday. If anything, this bad game for the Demidov-Dach-Laine is a good thing in the preseason, as it allows the team to experiment with things that could work.

Laine and Demidov clearly have chemistry when it comes to the power-play, but at even-strength, it’s very questionable. Maybe next game could be a chance to try Zachary Bolduc, who will play a more power forward style and will be willing to help Demidov by going into the corners more often than Laine does. 

Other bad news during the game was that both Noah Dobson and David Reinbacher left the game during the 3rd period with apparent injuries. Although Matheson did confirm after the game that neither defenseman was injured badly, and it was just for precautionary reasons, once the game was out of reach. It came out that both Kaiden Guhle (he was scratched last minute tonight) and Noah Dobson are day-to-day with groin injuries, and Reinbacher is still being evaluated. Hopefully, there is good news and all 3 players will be fine soon.

Thursday night was a nightmare, from the goaltending of Samuel Montembeault and Jacob Fowler to the inability to do anything offensively at 5-on-5. It’s clear cuts should be coming soon as the Habs’ preseason is now half over. Hopefully, we see some changes to some of the lines and pairings at Training Camp in the next few days.

What is the roster move you would like to see the Habs do for Saturday’s preseason game?