Who doesn't remember the Canadiens' spectacular comeback against the Rangers in 2008? The Canadiens were then down by 5 goals but somehow managed to come all the way back and win 6-5 in the shootout. Last night, the fans found out how the Rangers' fans felt in 2008. It all started very well, the newly formed second line of Lehkonen-Domi-Suzuki was firing on all cylinders, Domi getting two goals and Lehkonen one in the first frame with Suzuki picking up a couple of assists and Carey Price stopped the 12 shots he faced.
Then, the second period started with a goal for Shea Weber who literally put a shot through Georgiev to make it 4-0. At that stage, confidence was high in Habs land and even Gary Galley who has always displayed an anti-Habs bias said that the game was all but over...Except that it wasn't. Inexplicably, the Canadiens took their collective foot off the gas pedal and it all went downhill from there. I said after last game that this team lacked a killer instinct and was that obvious last night. The Rangers had a knee on the mat, a couple more blows would have ensured a KO but instead of delivering the final blows, the Canadiens decided to take it easy. If you do that in the NHL, you will get burnt and burnt they got. Within 3 minutes and 20 seconds, the Blue Shirts scored 3 goals, Chytil, Buchnevich and Brendan Lemieux all managed to beat Carey Price who did not look particularly good during those nightmarish minutes. The Habs still managed to leave the ice leading 4-3 after 40 minutes though but the confidence was just gone.
Shea Weber de la pointe...ça vous surprend? 🤷…♂ï¸
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 24, 2019
Shea Weber from the point... does that really surprise you?#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/t5Ger6dRBh
5 minutes into the third, Artturi Lehkonen scored his second of the game while Domi got himself an assist and that could have been a turning point IF the Habs didn't give up a goal right back 30 seconds later. That was a momentum killer. Carey Price has got to shut the door in key moments like these. In dying moments of a period or when the other team has just been scored on, it's important to keep them on the floor and not let them back up. With a 5-4 score, the Habs got a power play but it was the Rangers who scored shorthanded when Pepe Lemieux's son got his second of the game to tie things up. Jacob Trouba then won it for the Rags with his 3rd goal of the year and let's bet that his team will remember this game winning goal much more than the 3 penalties he took during the game.
C'est la soirée des doublés..............Shea? 🤔
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 24, 2019
We're doing things in twos....right, Shea?#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/VQEhcze6ZE
In their post game comments, the Habs were unanimous, surrendering a 4 goal lead and losing the game just cannot happen in this league. They are of course right but what will they do to ensure it doesn't happen? The upcoming week will not be a walk in the park for the Tricolore... Boston on Tuesday, the Devils on Thursday, Philly on Saturday and Boston again on Sunday, this could be a gruelling week. Hats off to the Rangers though, the better team won last night. They might be behind us in the standings but on the ice, they were better.
A few points worth notting:
-Carey Price has got to be better. Your star goalie and franchise player cannot give up 6 goals on 34 shots for a .824 save percentage that is just not the way to win. I know that no one is perfect but I'm not asking for perfection here I'm asking for a chance to win which Price failed to provide. No one said it was easy being the last line of defence but as the goaltender, when your teammates are collapsing all around you, it's your job to stop the bloodshed and Price just did not do it last night.
-Claude Julien takes some questionnable decisions... How does Mike Reilly go from being scratched for that many games in a row to being on the power play and on the ice in the dying minutes when you're trying to tie things up? I know Drouin isn't there but surely having the likes of Weal and Reilly on the power play won't make up for his absence. In his post game comments, Julien said that he spoke to his team between the second and the third period but clearly, the message was not heard loud and clear. Is Julien losing the room? Whether he is or not, I don't see him going anywhere for now, especially not with the big contract he was given to take over from Therrien.
-After Chris Kreider hit Tomas Tatar in the first, I would have loved to see someone go after him. This player has a history with the Habs and I do not want to see him take liberties. He needs to be put in his place, I would have loved to see Weber go all out on him like he once did against J.T. Miller.
-In what was an atrocious display, I still have to mention that the 2nd line did great work. Domi had 2 goals and an assist with a +3 rating, Lehkonen 2 goals, an assist and a +4 rating while Suzuki picked up 2 assists and was a +1. One thing is for sure, for now, Domi has got to stay at centre.
-Once again last night, it was Jesperi Kotkaniemi who had the least ice time with 11:00 minutes, 4:27 of which were on the power play. Call me crazy but I'd much rather see him out on the ice in the dying minutes than Weal... At least I'd feel like we're really trying to tie things up.
The Habs Twitter account says that they need to move on to the next game, I hope that they take the time to analyze this nightmare before they do so. We'll see on Tuesday if they can put a stop to this 4 game skid when they host the Bruins...