The 2nd Line Leads Habs To 4th Straight Win

For the first time all week, the Canadiens came ready to play from the opening faceoff, as in their previous two outings, they struggled to get their legs going while Jakub Dobes had to bail them out early. Meanwhile, on Saturday, Fowler didn’t need to bail his team out, as it was the Habs that controlled the play in the early moments of the game.

Fowler only had to stop 3 shots in the first period, but he still got a decent amount of action, which included a play where forward Luke Evangelista deked out the Habs defenders before running into the Canadiens netminder. It was the 2nd game in a row where the Habs goaltender got run over by an opponent, and in both cases, it was shockingly Lane Hutson that came to the rescue of his netminder. The fact that the Habs aren’t backing down and showing that doing that won’t go unpunished just how much of a tight-knit group that they are.

As for the rest of the game, Fowler played very solidly, not allowing anything to get by him until his shutout was broken up with just 3:34 left in the 3rd period off an awkward bounce from a dump-in that went straight to the Predators, where they would score their only goal of the night. It was a tough way for his shutout on the night to end, but it wouldn’t change the fact that he played an amazing game, much like the rest of the guys in front of him.

The game started with the Habs getting chances to score early on, but they weren’t able to solve Predators goaltender Juuse Saros, who had a good 1st period to keep his team in it. However, the Canadiens would eventually capitalize on one of their chances a little past the halfway mark of the period thanks to Demidov. His goal came thanks to a bad breakout pass by the Predators that was intercepted by captain Nick Suzuki, who would feed it to Demidov, who would then skate in and shoot the puck off the rush, hitting the post and in to open the scoring. With an assist on the goal, Suzuki would get his 300th career assist.

There were no other goals in the opening frame; it was in the final minute period that Evangelista skated in and nearly broke through the defence to tie the game but instead ended up running over Fowler from having too much speed, which resulted in a goaltender interference penalty. Throughout the entire game, it seemed like Evangelista was around the net getting chances, but Fowler always got the best of him with multiple big saves on the Predators’ forward.

In the 2nd period, the Canadiens were able to solve Saros more, which created the separation needed to get the win in the end. The first goal of the period came just 3:12 into the frame with Kapanen’s 22nd of the season. It was Newhook that created the play by grabbing the puck on the rebound just behind the goal line, where he snuck the puck in front to Kapanen for an easy tap-in goal as everyone had their eyes on Newhook and forgot about Kapanen. With a secondary assist on the goal, Lane Hutson would record his 60th assist of the season to become the first-ever Canadiens defenseman to put up consecutive 60-assist seasons with the team.

The Habs would continue to push and came close to making 3-0 on a few occasions, including Cole Caufield getting a prime chance in the slot where he hit the post. Luckily for Caufield, he would get a goal a few minutes later on his next shift for his 45th of the year. With the Canadiens putting a ton of pressure on the Predators, Suzuki would pass the puck to Caufield along the boards, where the Habs sniper would skate into the slot and rip a wrister past Saros to extend the Habs’ lead to 3-0. Caufield, aka Mr. Saturday Night, for his Saturday clutchness, scored his 20th Saturday goal of the season. He now needs only 5 goals in the final 10 games to become the first 50-goal scorer on the Habs in 36 years. Meanwhile, Suzuki needs 12 points in the last 10 games to reach the 100-point milestone and become the first to do so since Mats Naslund in 1985-86. Will both top-line forwards reach their respective milestones?

It would take just 1:38 for the Habs to get their next goal, as it would be Newhook’s turn to get on the board. The Habs’ 2nd line would complete their line hat trick when Newhook, the 3rd and final player to get a goal from the line, would capitalize with a great shot from the slot off a beautiful pass by Demidov to make it 4-0. All three, Newhook, Kapanen, and Demidov, would finish the night with a goal and an assist each for what was likely their best night as a line.

In the 3rd period, the Canadiens worked on protecting their lead and not trying to force any plays to add offence with an already big 4-0 lead. Their main goal was to try to preserve the shutout for Fowler during that final frame. Unfortunately, they would allow a goal late in the 3rd period thanks to an awkward bounce off a dump-in. Predators defenceman Ryan Ufko would dump the puck in the zone that took a weird bounce right to Zachary L’Heureux right in front of the net that caught both Fowler and the Habs’ defence off guard to where the Predators had an easy goal handed to them from a strange play.

Fowler may have lost his shutout, but the important thing was that the Canadiens were able to extend their winning streak to 4 games as well as create some distance between the Habs and the teams chasing them in the playoff race. With the win, the Habs improved to 41-21-10 for 92 points, which surpasses their total from last season with 10 games to go. If the Canadiens could play around. 500 hockey the rest of the way should be good enough to clinch their spot in the playoffs.

Going forward, the Canadiens should look at the way they played on Saturday night as an example of what it takes to be successful as they put up a solid 60 minutes, where they controlled the play the entire night. The goaltending was solid, while the defence and offence also had great nights, proving that there can be games where everything clicks for the Habs.

The Canadiens will be right back in action on Sunday at 5:00 pm ET to take on the Carolina Hurricanes as they hope to beat the top team in the Eastern Conference for a 2nd time in a 5-day span. It will once again be a big game for the Habs, but given that they are officially in playoff mode, they should be ready to keep it rolling.

Do you think Saturday was one of the Habs’ best complete games of the season?