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Canadiens Postgame

Canadiens Gurianov, Ylönen Shine In 5-3 Loss To Lightning

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1 year ago

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Montreal Canadiens forward Gurianov (Habs news)

It was a hard-fought game by the Montreal Canadiens, but the Tampa Bay Lightning’s late-game push was simply too strong to overcome.

Despite the Lightning nearly doubling the Canadiens in shots, Montreal kept pace with the Lightning throughout most of the game.

At even strength, the two clubs traded offensive chances with the likes of Denis Gurianov and Brandon Hagel standing out with their work around the net and scoring ability.

Unfortunately, the Canadiens were sunk, once again, due to an untimely penalty early in the third period.

The Lightning not only scored the tying to bring the game to 3-3, but then quickly took the lead less than two minutes later and never looked back.

Despite allowing four shots, Samuel Montembeault played a great game for the Canadiens, facing 39 shots and pushing back 10 high-danger chances on a very busy night.

It was a competitive game from start to finish for the Canadiens, hopefully, a sign of things to come for the Canadiens’ next 12 games this season.

Your Canadiens post-game analysis below:

Shooting Range

After only being able to manage two goals in 43 games with the Dallas Stars this year, Denis Gurianov already has five goals in his last 11 games as a Montreal Canadiens.

After a slow start to his time in Montreal, the skilled winger potted yet another goal tonight against the Lightning; making it his fourth tally in his last five games.

The 25-year-old had been using his shot with more frequency over the last few games; setting himself up in the offensive zone as the triggerman.

Head coach Martin St-Louis has seemingly taken a liking to Gurianov’s rare combination of size, speed and shooting ability; playing him regularly on the power play and next to Nick Suzuki during offensive opportunities.

There have been quite a few positive signs coming from the soon-to-be restricted free agent; getting hot at just the right moment with the Canadiens littered with injuries to end the season.

If he can continue on his current pace, it’ll be a very easy decision to bring him back next season in a top-9 role; as he’s quickly meshed well within the Canadiens’ concepts.

Heating Up

Not to be outdone by the performances of youngsters like Gurianov and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylönen has also begun building his identity as a player in the NHL.

The speedy winger, who played a more conservative game in his first ten games in the NHL this season, has begun showing off the shooting ability that made him a 2nd-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

Owning a potent one-timer shot on the power play, Ylönen hasn’t been able to show it off at the NHL as much as he did with the Laval Rocket the last couple of seasons.

However, as of late, the winger has gotten a better feel for the timing and speed of the NHL and is unleashing his shots with greater speed and accuracy; resulting in three goals in his last four games.

Head coach Martin St-Louis has taken notice of Ylönen’s increase in quality of play; slotting him on the top line with Nick Suzuki at even strength and tasking him with being the main shooter on the second wave of the power play.

It’s helped Ylönen to better express himself on the ice down the stretch, as he looks to convince the Canadiens’ management team that his days in the AHL are behind him.

Take A Seat

Jonathan Drouin missed a team meeting on Friday, which prompted head coach Martin St-Louis to bar Drouin from practice and put his status for tonight’s game in limbo.

Fortunately for Drouin, an untimely injury to Kaiden Guhle forced the Canadiens to insert him into the lineup today, as Montreal only had 12 healthy forwards and six healthy defencemen; the minimum required to ice an NHL lineup.

However, when St-Louis said that Jonathan Drouin was going to be in the lineup for this game, he only used the word “dressed” to describe his veteran forward’s status for tonight’s game.

We now understand why.

Drouin spent the entirety of tonight’s game on the bench, only touching the ice during the pre-game warmups.

The message was heard our and clear from St-Louis, as Drouin had the best seat in the house.

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