It came as no surprise that the Montreal Canadiens were simply going through the motions as they lost 3-1 to the New York Islanders at the Barclay Center on Thursday night in the team’s last match before the NHL All-Star break. Goaltender Carey Price was the only Canadiens player who came to the rink ready to play. He held off the Islanders as long as possible to give his teammates an opportunity to wake up and get back into the game. However, not even a powerplay goal that tied the game at one apiece in the second period was enough to get the players going as they displayed little to no extra jump in the third. Instead, bad habits that the Canadiens had worked on came back to haunt them as the Islanders second and third goals were scored immediately after they had cleanly beat the Canadiens in the face-off circle.
Puck Props and Flops:
Props:
Carey Price - The All-Star goaltender’s struggles throughout much of December and January have been well documented. However, ever since the Canadiens 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins he has been much sharper in net. Price once again looks big and strong in net. His emotions seem to be back under control. Technically he is once again sound and making jaw dropping saves with regularity. Against the Islanders, Price was brilliant stopping 39 of 42 shots on net. He deserved a better fate, especially considering how his teammates had spoiled his shutout with just one second remaining in their 5-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
Artturi Lehkonen - The 21 year old rookie forward from Finland continues to impress in his first season of professional hockey in North America. He was one of the few Canadiens skaters whose mind was on the task at hand rather than the upcoming break. Lehkonen led the Canadiens with five shots on net, two hits a blocked shot and was not on the ice for any of the Islanders goals. His 17:18 of ice time was second in forwards only to Max Pacioretty and was a NHL career high. The coaching staff is gaining more and more confidence in Lehkonen as not only has he been rewarded with powerplay time, in the third period they promoted him to the first line in place of Alexander Radulov who was having a rough night. Lehkonen has firmly entrenched himself as the team’s second best left winger. It will be exciting to see what he will be able to accomplish once he plays with a more consistent and offensively minded centerman.
Flops:
Where do we start? Radulov with his three giveaways? Jacob De La Rose winning 33% of his faceoffs and losing the key one that allowed the Islanders second goal? Everyone else for being asleep at the wheel?
It is unfortunate that the Canadiens could not get up for their final match before the break as they had been playing well for a string of games. The Islanders have been re-inspired under interim head coach Doug Weight and it was expected that this would be a different team than the one they had faced earlier in the year. It is perhaps best to simply chalk this game off to daydreaming and expect the Canadiens to be focused and refreshed when they return to host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, January 31st.
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Prior to the game, it was announced that the Canadiens had traded AHL defenseman Jonathan Racine and a 2017 sixth round draft pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for left handed defenseman Nikita Nesterov, a 2011 fifth round draft pick. Last week Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin specifically told Chris Nilan on the Team 690 that he was looking for a left handed puck moving defenseman. It appears that Bergevin has now got his man.
Nesterov was having a career year with the Lightning recording 12 points in 32 games. However, it should be noted that his offensive zone starts for the season are at an incredibly high 66.8%. Nesterov had been placed in a position to succeed. On a struggling Lightning team Nesterov has bounced up and down the defensive pairings, stepping up with Victor Hedman was injured to being a healthy scratch. When the Lightning defense corp was healthy the team was carrying eight defenseman as they were afraid of losing someone to waivers.
Some believe that acquiring Nesterov gives Bergevin the flexibility to move Nathan Beaulieu in order to make a bigger trade. However, Nesterov does not replace Beaulieu in the lineup. If he were that highly regarded it would have taken a lot more to acquire him. Beaulieu has become an integral part of the Canadiens powerplay, collecting ten points with the man advantage. He is averaging 20:22 minutes a game and at times have led all defenseman in ice time or second only to Shea Weber. While consistency remains to be a his biggest drawback, Beaulieu’s upside is far greater. Considering Andrei Markov’s injury, the Canadiens need Beaulieu as insurance this season in case he re-injures his groin once he returns to the lineup (which Therrien hinted might be soon as he could be ready to practice with the team next week) or in case he loses a step at some point during the season.
If anything, a greater trade involving Beaulieu would likely happen after the season, before the NHL expansion draft if Bergevin would rather keep Emelin for another year with blue chip prospect Mikhail Sergachev in the system.
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