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Canadiens Postgame

Habs Highlights: Blues Dominate A Lifeless Canadiens Team

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2 months ago

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montreal canadiens st louis blues

The Montreal Canadiens faced the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, in yet another match-up that has important playoff implications for both teams, as both Montreal and St. Louis currently occupy the final Wild Card spot in their respective conferences.

Seeing as the Habs have an advantage in strength of schedule down the final stretch of the season, we can safely state that they control their own destiny, which is something we haven’t said in quite a while around these parts.

But to ensure that destiny will involve playoff hockey, they cannot afford to give their opponents yet another early, multi-goal advantage.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened versus the Blues, which eventually led to a 6-1 loss.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

This Is A Rerun

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Canadiens had a terrible start to the game, leading to the Blues dominating both the shots and scoring chances at 5v5.

Samuel Montembeault made several key saves, but he finally bowed to the pressure when Jordan Kyrou scored via screened shot. In fact, it was multiple screens, which makes life that much more difficult on the goaltender.

Top Line Replay

Given the Blues flat-out dominated the Canadiens, it seemed like the game was quickly getting out of reach, but the usual suspects came to Montreal’s rescue.

Lane Hutson finally managed to get a shot off, while Nick Suzuki aptly tipped the puck behind Jordan Binnington. The goal was Suzuki’s 22nd of the season, while the assist was Hutson’s 49th. We all know he’ll hit 50 assists in the near future, and by the time this recap is done, we may end up discussing such an impressive feat by a rookie defenceman.

While it may seem normal, because we’ve come to expect great things from Hutson, it’s important to remember this is elite production from a player who is just starting his NHL career. The best is yet to come.

That Hurts

Let’s speak honestly about the goaltending situation for a moment. Montembeault has become the scapegoat for many of Montreal’s issues, and while there’s some truth to the idea that he allows some bad goals, we should guard against blaming him for every single goal against. He was weak on Tuesday, that much is true, but he’s had a hard time tracking pucks in the last few starts, indicating he needs a rest.

The second Blues goal came after the Habs once again failed in their defensive coverage. Christian Dvorak lost his man, while Mike Matheson did not manage to tie up Dylan Holloway’s stick. To make matters worse, the defensive collapse came with just a few seconds left in the first period.

The next Blues goal took place a little over three minutes into the second period, and believe it or not, it featured yet another double screen on Montembeault.

At this point, you want your goaltender to make a save, and there’s no doubt Montembeault will be disappointed, but the Canadiens defenders managed to pull off a double screen, at 4v4, without blocking the shot.

That’s the definition of terrible defending.

It also goes to show the Habs should probably do a better job when it comes to giving Montembeault a rest. He clearly looks tired out there.

I’m not quite sure why they’ve mothballed Jakub Dobes, but it doesn’t make much sense.

Dobes has not started since March 12, which means his next start, which will (hopefully) be either Thursday or Friday, will be his first in over two weeks.

Montreal Canadiens Panic

The Blues went on to score a fourth goal just a few minutes later. This time around, Montembeault made the initial save, but a scramble led to Alexandre Texier’s sixth goal of the year.

At that point, it was up to Martin St-Louis to get involved, either by pulling Montembeault, or calling a time-out. The Canadiens head coach opted for the status quo, and rejected both options that could have possibly changed the momentum, which was firmly in the Blues’ corner.

St-Louis has improved a lot of his weaknesses since jumping into the head coaching job without any experience, but his goaltender usage still leaves a lot to be desired.

The fifth goal scored by the Blues finally led to a goalie change, but it was much too little, much too late. It was also all the evidence we need to suggest Montembeault is dead tired, which means he’s having a hard time focusing.

We also have to note the Matheson – Carrier pairing was eaten alive on Tuesday, a common theme in recent games. Kaiden Guhe’s return to play can’t come fast enough.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Thursday. They will face the Flyers in Philadelphia, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET. All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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