Habs Weekly: Showing a Spark Against Division Rivals

The Habs had a chance to gain some ground against some struggling division rivals this past week and they did just that, taking all three games including two in blowout fashion.

The Week That Was

Dec. 17: Canadiens 6, Sabres 1 – Considering Buffalo had lost ten straight games and ownership had flown in to address the team, many expected them to come out with some jump.  Instead, the Habs scored on the opening shift and scored again before the Sabres even registered a shot.  Patrik Laine stole the show with three power play goals and it became a rout in a hurry, something I’m sure Montreal’s coaching staff didn’t mind.

Dec. 20: Canadiens 4, Red Wings 3 – Secondary scoring was crucial for the Habs in this one with Emil Heineman, Jake Evans (shorthanded), and Arber Xhekaj all scoring, the latter tally tying the game up in the third.  Then it was time for Laine to continue his hot streak with the man advantage as his one-timer broke Moritz Seider’s stick and still got past Cam Talbot with just under eight minutes left to give Montreal the win.

Dec. 21: Canadiens 5, Red Wings 1 – The rematch wasn’t as close.  It’s not that the Habs dominated in this game but Alex Lyon had a rough night in goal for Detroit which helped put it out of reach relatively quickly.  Evans and Heineman both scored again, as did Laine on yet another power play goal.  Brendan Gallagher, meanwhile, snapped a 13-game goalless drought with his tally late in the second period.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIMS	SOG	ATOI
8	Mike Matheson	3	0	1	E	2	9	23:29
11	Brendan Gallagher	3	1	1	+2	0	5	13:03
13	Cole Caufield	3	0	3	E	0	7	16:13
14	Nick Suzuki	3	0	4	E	0	1	16:11
15	Alex Newhook	3	0	0	-3	2	3	14:06
17	Josh Anderson	3	1	1	+2	0	5	15:15
20	Juraj Slafkovsky	3	2	1	E	2	7	16:15
21	Kaiden Guhle	3	0	0	+1	4	1	19:48
28	Christian Dvorak	3	0	2	+3	0	3	15:56
40	Joel Armia	3	1	2	+6	4	3	14:47
45	Alexandre Carrier	2	0	1	+2	0	3	18:44
48	Lane Hutson	3	0	5	E	2	2	20:09
51	Emil Heineman	3	2	2	+5	2	4	12:14
52	Justin Barron	1	0	0	+1	0	1	13:27
58	David Savard	3	0	2	+3	2	3	17:28
71	Jake Evans	3	2	2	+5	0	4	15:50
72	Arber Xhekaj	3	1	0	+3	0	5	16:41
77	Kirby Dach	3	0	0	-3	4	4	13:17
92	Patrik Laine	3	5	0	-3	2	14	14:17

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
35	Samuel Montembeault	3-0-0	1.67	.929	0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (17)
Assists: Lane Hutson (24)
Points: Nick Suzuki (34)
+/-: Alexandre Carrier (+2)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (43)
Shots: Cole Caufield (89)

News And Notes

– The biggest news of the week came on the trade front with Montreal moving Justin Barron to Nashville for Alexandre Carrier in a swap of right-shot defencemen.  We had plenty of thoughts on the move which can be found here.

– Jake Evans has already matched his goal total from last season with seven.  That’s the second-best total of his career.  His benchmark is 13 set back in the 2021-22 season, the final year of his previous contract before his current one.

– Going back to last season, Alex Newhook has gone 35 games without recording an assist.  In every year of his career thus far, he has had more assists than goals.

– The Habs tied the NHL record for most games without recording more than 30 shots at 31 (tied with the 2000-01 Minnesota Wild).  They snapped that streak in the first game against Detroit.

Last Game’s Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Laine – Dach – Newhook
Heineman – Evans – Armia
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher

Hutson – Matheson
Guhle – Carrier
Xhekaj – Savard

The Week Ahead

Monday at Columbus – Montreal kicks off a six-game road trip with this one against a Blue Jackets team that has lost six of their last seven games.  They’re a bit banged up at the moment with a pair of regulars out on the back end and three regulars out up front headlined by Boone Jenner and Yegor Chinakhov.  Kirill Marchenko is averaging a point per game through his first 34 outings while Sean Monahan has done well as their top centre.  The other former Hab is Jordan Harris who has been a frequent healthy scratch and has just one point in 22 games when he has played while barely logging 12 minutes a night.

Saturday at Florida – The defending champions have started strong again this year and are one of the top scoring teams in the NHL, led by Sam Reinhart who is once again scoring at what seems like an unsustainable clip.  On the flip side, both Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight have struggled as neither have a save percentage above .896.

Sunday at Tampa Bay – The Lightning have turned over a lot of their roster in recent years but this revamped group has gotten off to a solid start.  Their top four scorers are all averaging more than a point per game while a fifth (Anthony Cirelli) is one point away from that mark.  In goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy is back to his old self after a quieter year last season, making Tampa Bay one of the stingier defensive teams as well.  This is also the back half of a back-to-back for them.

Final Thought

Things haven’t gone well this season for Kirby Dach, to put it lightly.  Whatever line he’s on has struggled considerably so far while offensively, he has underwhelmed.  On top of that, 13 minor penalties isn’t helping his cause either.  Yes, there’s a ramp-up after missing basically an entire season but by now, it’s fair to think he should have been more impactful.

For the most part, he has been left alone on that second line with wingers that have often been struggling themselves and aren’t particularly good at playing more of a possession type of game.  I think it might be time for that to change.

Yes, the line of Josh Anderson, Christian Dvorak, and Brendan Gallagher has done relatively well (though they have cooled off as of late).  I’d like to see Dach anchoring those two for a bit.  In theory, the matchups should be a bit lighter while Anderson and Gallagher are a bit better on the possession side.  More time in the offensive zone means fewer opportunities for defensive struggles.  And, frankly, playing with Gallagher might drag up Dach’s compete level which could be a trigger that helps get him going.

Even though this has been an ugly showing so far, it’s far too early to give up on Dach who has shown he’s capable of being an important player for this team.  But the approach of basically leaving him alone and hoping he plays his way out of his funk isn’t working either.  I’m sure they don’t want to bench him or drop him to the fourth line so the ‘in-between’ change would be to give him a pair of veteran wingers in the hopes that they can coax more out of him.  At this point, it’s worth a shot as it can’t get too much worse.