Habs Lose in A Shootout, Despite 2nd Period Comeback

Despite allowing 3 goals on the first 5 shots of the game, Samuel Montembeault managed to finally have a good game for the most part after a slow start to the season. Following the first 3 goals he allowed, Montembeault stopped 36 of the remaining 37 shots he faced before the shootout. Martin St. Louis probably should have pulled him early, but elected to stay with him, and it may have been the right choice.

It will be interesting to see if Montembeault can continue to play solidly going forward. Still, with how good Dobes has played this season, the Habs are probably better off with him in the nets when they play the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

On to the game recap itself now, the Flyers got on the board just 1:56 into the game after Bobby Brink tipped a shot from the slot past Montembeault. It was a play that the Habs’ goaltender probably should have stopped with no screen in front of the net when the goal was scored. The goal proved that Montembeault truly has issues stopping tipped shots overall.

A little while later, after the Canadiens got into penalty trouble, as their two best defensemen (Mike Matheson & Noah Dobson) were in the box, Flyers defenseman Cam York ripped home a goal on a 5-on-3 power play. There was really nothing that Montembeault could do on the play with the players in front of him struggling to keep up with the Flyers.

Only 43 seconds later, Bobby Brink scored his 2nd of the night to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead just 7:50 into the game. This goal deflated the Habs for the entire rest of the period. However, Montembeault was able to settle down and start making stops. The Habs were outshot 12-2 in the period.

At the start of the 2nd period, the Habs started slow for the first couple of shifts, but eventually Kirby Dach scored on a rebound shot in which Dobson missed the net, and it bounced right on Dach’s stick, where he was able to put it into a wide-open net.

Dach’s goal led the Habs to push back into the game. On the very next shift, Cole Caufield drew a penalty, which allowed the Habs to go to work. On the ensuing power play, Ivan Demidov slid the puck over to Nick Suzuki for an easy goal on an open cage. Demidov now has an assist on all three of Suzuki’s goals, which were on the power play. With the goal, Suzuki extended his point streak to 12 games. Caufield also received an assist on the play, which was his only point in his 300th NHL game on Tuesday.

The Canadiens tied the game a little later in the period, when Lane Hutson skated behind the net with the puck and passed off the side of the net to Kirby Dach, who squeaked the puck past Flyers netminder Dan Vladar.

A few minutes later, the Canadiens got their first lead of the game when Demidov faked a pass across the ice and instead turned to fire the puck into the top corner, showing how much of a double threat he can be on the power play. With that goal, the Habs finished the night, 2-for-4 on the power play, improving to 7-for-12 in their last 4 games. Despite scoring 4 goals in a period for the first time of the season, the Canadiens were still outshot 17-9 in the period.

In the 3rd period, Arber Xhekaj and Nicolas Deslauriers squared off in a fight, where the Flyers forward got the best of Xhekaj, but it got the crowd going, and nobody really gained momentum from the fight itself. It was just a good fight between two heavyweight tough guys.

Midway through the 3rd period, after Montembeault lost his stick, and nobody was able to give him their stick, he got beaten by forward Nikita Grebenkin, who recorded his first NHL goal against the Habs netminder.

Once the game was tied again, the game went back and forth, but for the 3rd straight Habs game, it went to overtime. In the overtime period, neither team was able to end it, and so a shootout was needed. The Habs were outshot 42-20 throughout the 65 minutes of play.

Unfortunately for the Habs, Montembeault has historically struggled in the shootout. The Habs’ three shooters, Demidov, Caufield and Suzuki were unable to get the puck past Vladar. Meanwhile, Trevor Zegras was able to score the game-winner for the Flyers.

Despite the 4-goal 2nd period, the Habs were unable to close out the game late in the 3rd period once again. This is something a young team like the Canadiens needs to get figured out going forward, as winning in overtime every game is risky, as seen against the Flyers. Nonetheless, given how the game started, the Canadiens should be happy to have been able to steal a point on Tuesday.

How do you feel about the Habs coming away with a loser point on Tuesday?