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Canadiens Postgame

Habs Highlights: Another Embarrassing Start Hurts Playoff Odds

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2 months ago

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The Montreal Canadiens were in Philadelphia on Thursday night, facing a team that can’t seem to buy a win.

You wouldn’t know it by how they played, but the Habs are involved in a tight playoff race, while the Flyers are already thinking about the draft.

Simply put, the Habs could not afford to lose to a team like the Flyers, but that’s exactly what they did, as Philadelphia emerged with a 6-4 win.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

Not Again

It’s becoming difficult to describe the various ways the Canadiens have started games this season, but do you happen to remember the playground scene from Terminator 2? Well, picture that scene, but in hockey form, and you’re starting to get a good idea of how poorly the Habs have played in first periods.

Offering teams fighting for a playoff spot an easy lead is one thing, but the Habs failed to show up against a team that has produced some of the most underwhelming results this season, making it more embarrassing than usual.

It’s not a matter of pointing fingers at individual players, either. Sure, Jakub Dobes looked shaky, which is to be expected seeing as he hadn’t started a game in over two weeks. The defensive pairings, with the exception of Lane Hutson and Jayden Struble, once again failed to provide NHL calibre defending. And several of the forwards were nowhere to be seen in the first 20 minutes of the game.


But just as they win as a team, they lose as a team when they offer such a pathetic effort, and that also includes the head coach.

Martin St-Louis has access to a well-paid data-analysis department. They have surely informed him about some of the recent issues, including the team’s clear defensive woes, and which pairings are struggling the most. He also knows his fourth line hasn’t shown any semblance of chemistry since Heineman returned to play. It’s up to the coach to put that important information to good use.

To be perfectly fair, St-Louis’ options are limited, but this is crunch time, and the Canadiens need to give themselves as many advantages as possible if they hope to qualify for the playoffs.

It’s also worth pointing out the Flyers are one of the worst teams in the NHL at the moment, having won just one game in their last 12 before facing the Habs. They did fire their head coach today, but at this point in the season, with playoff hopes on the line, that’s not a valid excuse.

The Canadiens failed to show up when it mattered most. Plain and simple.

Hutson The Eternal Silver Lining

As per tradition, Hutson played a pivotal role for the Canadiens. He registered his 50th assist of the year on a very nice outlet pass by Savard, not to mention a great rush goal by Alex Newhook, which briefly tied the game at 1-1.

If Newhook starts to capitalize on his speed, the sky is the limit.

To be fair, that’s an exaggeration, but it’s still encouraging to see Newhook put his most potent offensive weapon to good use.

With the score 3-1, Hutson once again took matters into his own hands and drove the offence.

Literally.

The 20-year-old rookie quickly took advantage of an offensive-zone faceoff win, while Struble provided a great passing option, as he had read the play perfectly. I accidentally suggested it was his 33rd goal of the year in the tweet, but a quick pass by Struble led to Cole Caufield’s 34th goal of the year, not to mention Hutson’s 51st assist of the season.

The goal gave the Canadiens a little life with enough time left in the third period to mount a comeback, but that was as close as the Habs would get. The Flyers scored their fourth goal of the game at 5v5, and were gifted a powerplay opportunity when St-Louis’ challenge failed. They then scored their first powerplay goal of the month, putting a fine point on Montreal’s disappointing effort on Thursday night.

Christian Dvorak reduced the lead for a few seconds by scoring a very nice goal, but Flyers forward Matvei Michkov put the game out of reach when he scored his second goal of the game.

Patrik Laine did end up scoring his 18th goal of the year, another reminder Thursday’s matchup was unreasonably chaotic, but as the saying goes, it was much too little, much too late, especially after the Habs offered yet another terrible first period performance.

Okay, that’s not the exact saying, but you catch my drift.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Friday. They will face the Hurricanes in Carolina, 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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