If you took time out of your new year's eve party to watch the Canadiens vs Hurricanes match-up, you probably feel like that's 3 hours of your life you'll never get back. While most everyone felt like partying, last night's game was anything but fun. It started in a telling way when Sebastian Aho gave the Canes the lead not even two minutes in on the power play...Thanks to Artturi Lehkonen for taking a tripping call a minute and 20 seconds in. The Habs didn't stay down for long though as Max Domi stripped Teuvo Teravainen of the puck in his own zone before beating Mrazek for his 6th goal in as many games. Both teams went back to the locker room with a 1-1 tie.
🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/XMfPG7GY5g
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 1, 2020
The second frame saw the Habs give the Hurricanes a lead and lose who is arguably their most important player, Brendan Gallagher. Teravainen made most everyone forget about his turnover in the 1st when he got his 2nd assist of the game on the Canes' second goal which came from a nice tic-tac-toe play against which Lindgren couldn't do anything. If you're blaming the back-up for that goal, you need to brush up on your hockey knowledge. The Tricolore wasn't able to make the most of a power play opportunity later in the second but the key moment of that period came at 16:55 when Jordan Staal collided with Brendan Gallagher who fell in the ice before being kneeled in the head by Ben Chiarot. It was of course completely unintentional but the result remains the same, the diminutive forward left the game and had to undertake the concussion protocol. Unsurprisingly, the Canadiens later announced that Gallagher would not be back. After 40 minutes, the Habs were down 2-1 and a third straight loss looked quite possible.
A goal down with 20 minutes to go, Montreal really could have used Gallagher who was a knack for waking up his team and scoring when they most need it... Thankfully though (sense the tone), Julien started the 3rd period with Jordan Weal playing alongside Danault and Tatar on the first line. Aren't you glad we can rely on this offensive mastermind? All jokes aside, for a the briefest of moments, it looked like the Canadiens had tied things up when Ryan Poehling got the puck behind Mrazek but after video review, the goal was waived off for goaltender interference. Try as they might, the Habs were unable to get that all important second goal and the Canes sealed the deal with an empty net marker.
Just like that, the Canadiens suffered a third loss in a row and reminded us that this wild ride of a season is far from over. They can take the fans to the highest of highs and then drop them to the lowest level with underwhelming performances. As per usual, there were some positives to take away from that game, firstly, it really looks like Max Domi's funk is over, he has scored in the last 6 games and doesn't look like slowing down. Secondly, Charlie Lindgren offered an inspired performance and made some very big saves:
CHARLIE 😱😱😱#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/g2rYohagVV
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 1, 2020
While Nick Suzuki was held off the scoresheet last night, he had gotten at least a point in his last 5 games before (8 points in 5 games to be exact) and he just keeps impressing. Even Claude Julien is starting to see the light has Suzuki was the most used forward with 20 minutes and 26 seconds of ice-time. The Canadiens will now be back in Montreal for the next 3 games taking on the Lightning (tomorrow), the Penguins (Saturday) and the Jets (Monday). The match-up with the Bolts truly is a do or die matter especially since Tampa Bay is increasingly looking like its former self and is now 3rd in the Atlantic after a shaky start.
Meanwhile at the World Junior Championships, Alexander Romanov added two assists to his account in Russia's 6-1 win over Germany and Mattias Norlinder was again used as a depth defenseman in Sweden's win over Slovakia. The quarter final match-ups are now set and tomorrow, Switzerland will face Russia, Canada will take on Slovakia, the USA will battle Finland and Sweden will play the Czech Republic. This should make for a rather good hockey day and should the Habs disappoint us again in the evening, we'll at least have had good entertainment hockey wise in the day time.