Habs Lose 6-5 In Shootout To The Ducks

When a team scores as much as the Canadiens have as of late, there should be no reason that they lose the games that they have. Sure, the Habs didn’t bring their A game against the Ducks and were outplayed most of the night, but they capitalized on their chances when they needed them most. Unfortunately, Montembeault couldn’t make the big saves when it mattered most. The whole night was tough for Montembeault, as he didn’t have a moment where he looked as if he were in control of the game. Point shots were Montembeault’s kryptonite on the night, as 3 of the 5 goals he allowed were scored from the point (only the last one was tipped), while the other two came from odd-man rushes.

In fact, Montembeault also allowed a 4th-point shot past him on the game’s first shot, but the Habs were able to challenge the play for offside, which allowed the goal to be overturned. Therefore, it was a chance for him to redeem himself, but he sadly allowed a goal on the first shot of the game for the 2nd time of the night. It was just another game where we saw the worst of Montembeault, which cost the Habs at the end of the night.

Overall, the loss is very frustrating for the 2nd game in a row as defensive breakdowns and goaltending struggles continue. This is something that needs to be tightened up if the Habs want to make the playoffs because with teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets getting hot, the 4-point lead on them is far from safe.

Ducks defenseman Jacob Troubs scored 20 seconds into the game with a fluky point shot that beat Montembeault to appear to open the scoring. However, the play was deemed offside thanks to a coach’s challenge. Unfortunately, Cutter Gauthier would score on the 1st shot of the game to officially give the Ducks a 1-0 lead off a 3-on-1 rush just 39 seconds into the game.

Luckily, Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, and Nick Suzuki would connect just 22 seconds later to tie the game at 1. The top line was reunited for the first time since December, and they had a great night as a result, starting with Suzuki’s 20th of the season to tie the game on the Habs’ 1st shot of the game.

The Canadiens would also score on their 2nd shot of the game during a power play. It was Lane Hutson who took a wrist shot through traffic that beat Dostal to give the Habs their first lead of the game. Just 3:33 into the game and the Canadiens were already up 2-1.

The next goal wouldn’t come as quickly as the previous three, but the Ducks would tie the game at 2 just past the midway mark of the 1st period thanks to a Radko Gudas point shot. The shot managed to cleanly beat Montembeault without a screen, which was one that the Habs netminder likely should have been able to stop if he had any consistency to his game. Despite the shakiness in Montembeault’s game, the Habs were actually outshot by the Ducks 12-4 in the opening frame, which was a sign that the Canadiens as a team were struggling to compete early on.

In the 2nd period, the Habs would get more opportunities to score, but they weren’t able to solve Dostal, who began to gain confidence in his game during the middle frame. On the other side of things, Jackson Lacombe would score a power play goal from a point shot that again beat Montembeault to give the Ducks a 3-2 lead that they were able to carry into the third period. The goal came midway through the 2nd period.

Early in the 3rd period, the Ducks would strike again after Caufield lost the puck at the offensive blueline in what was a good defensive play that led to an odd-man rush that allowed Leo Carlsson to beat Montembeault to make it a 4-2 game. It was a play that showed just how fast the Ducks are in transition and gave them a ton of momentum going forward.

After that goal, the Ducks were clogging their defensive zone and making it tremendously difficult for the Habs to make a comeback. Not to mention, since allowing the 2 goals on his first two shots, Ducks netminder Lukas Dostal had really started to find his game.

Eventually, the Canadiens would be able to get one back after Noah Dobson was able to get a cross-ice seam pass over to Caufield, who wired the puck past Dostal to make it a 4-3 game with 11:19 remaining in the 3rd period. This goal was what the Habs needed to not only find life but also get the momentum to complete the comeback.

A few minutes later the puck would bounce back to Alexandre Carrier in the slot, where he would take it and beat Dostal with a shot through traffic around the net to tie the game up with 8:13 remaining in the 3rd period and plenty of time to push for a lead. Despite being seen as more of a defensive defenseman, Carrier’s shot has continued to go underrated this season.

Just 1:17 after Carrier would tie the game, it would be Dobson and Caufield that would connect for the go-ahead goal. Dobson would shoot the puck towards the net with the intent of Caufield tipping the puck, which he did just that to beat Dostal for his 37th of the season, tying his career high from last year with 21 games left to go in the season. With yet another 2-goal night, Caufield is now on pace to hit 50 goals, which would be an incredible accomplishment. Given his nickname as Mr. Saturday, don’t be surprised if he gets another step closer against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.

As great as it was that the Canadiens made another big comeback in the 3rd period to get a lead, it sadly wouldn’t last. Trouba would shoot the puck from the point again, where this time Chris Kreider would tip it past Montembeault to tie things up and send it to overtime. For the first time, the point shot didn’t beat Montembeault cleanly, but the fact that these late goals keep happening on him is a severe issue that must be fixed going forward, or he may be unplayable in those situations. Sure, the defence could have blocked it, but we can’t expect the Canadiens to block every shot late in games to avoid the puck getting to Montembeault. One of the issues is Montembeault seems to play too small in his net.

In overtime, it was almost all controlled by the Canadiens, who had great chances to end it early, but Dostal made big stops on Demidov and Slafkovsky. However, they would get an even better opportunity on a 4-on-3 power play in the final 2 minutes of overtime. Unfortunately it sadly wouldn’t amount to anything as Dostal stayed hot and forced it to a shootout, where the Ducks are undefeated so far this season.

During the shootout, the first 3 shooters for each team would miss; however, Gauthier would put pressure on the Habs by scoring. Luckily, Demidov would respond and keep the Habs in the game with a goal of his own. Alex Killorn would beat Montembeault again with a wrist shot, and this time Oliver Kapanen couldn’t get one back as the Canadiens would fall 6-5 in a shootout.

When it came time for the shootout, it seemed like the game was against the Habs, but they had multiple chances to end it before, but solid goaltending was able to be the difference even if Dostal was also very hot and cold in the game. However, the fact he made big saves when needed most was what counted, and that was what gave the Ducks the win.

The Canadiens will be back in action to finish their California trip on Saturday at 7:00 pm ET when they take on the Kings, hoping to somehow end this rough trip on a positive note. In order for that to happen, the goaltending needs to be much better than what we saw from Jakub Dobes on Tuesday and Montembeault on Friday. The fact that the Habs are winless with 10 goals in their last 2 games is a big embarrassment for the goaltending, and the defence. Hopefully, Dobes can turn in a good game to give Habs a chance to win against the Kings.