First things first, Alexander Romanov and Russia qualified for the semi finals by beating the Swiss 3-1. While Romanov was held off the scoresheet, he played a solid 20 minutes of hockey and showcased some great hockey sense. The man can hit and he is very reliable defensively. Cole Caufield and Jordan Harris were next to try to book their ticket for the final for and they unfortunately failed to do so. For the second year in a row, the USA was beaten by Finland by the slightest of margin with a final score of 1-0. For a team with so much firepower, it's almost unbelievable. On what was Cole Caufield's birthday, he was only called upon for just over 11 minutes of ice time and failed to make his mark on the game. As for Harris he played just short of 14 minutes in what was a unremarkable game for him. This tournament will not go down in history for the right reason for team USA. Finally, Mattias Norlinder and Sweden easily beat the host nation 5-0 to book its place in the semis against Russia. Being on the ice for a modest 7 minutes and 33 seconds, Norlinder didn't have much of an impact. As for Canada, it beat Slovakia 6-1 and will face Finland in the other semi final.
Later in the day, Marc Bergevin finally made some moves to help his team. Just over 6 months after signing Mike Reilly to a 2 year contract worth 1.5 M per year, the Habs' GM sent him packing and dealt him to Ottawa for forward Andrew Sturtz (who was playing with the Belleville Senators in the AHL this season after playing a few games in the ECHL) a 25 year old who has been injured more often than not in the last few years and a fifth round pick in 2021. While the Canadiens haven't been using Reilly much this season, this move didn't seem to make much sense until the Habs announced another one. Minutes later, they announced that they had acquired Marco Scandella from the Buffalo Sabres for a 4th round pick (received from the San Jose Sharks on June 22, 2019). The Montreal native is Sergio Momesso's nephew and should bring some much needed stability to the Canadiens' blue line. Why then did he only cost a 4th round pick? Well, before his contract will be over at season's end so he could just turn out to be a rental. The way I see it, Scandella is an improvement over both Reilly and Kulak and this could be seen as a good move but I'm afraid it came a little too late. With the Canadiens' recent struggles, it seems downright unlikely that they'll make the playoffs so they shouldn't be in the market for rental players but rather for future assets. The thing is though, how would that be received by the team's older players? I don't think they'd take kindly to the Habs throwing in the towel.
The Canadiens have acquired defenseman Marco Scandella from the Buffalo Sabres, in return for a fourth-round pick in 2020 (acquired from the San Jose Sharks on June 22, 2019).#GoHabsGo https://t.co/uJEKDoyayl
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 2, 2020
Minutes after both trades were announced, the puck dropped on the Habs vs Lightning game and if you were late tuning in, you probably missed the game's first goal when the puck was deflected twice to find its way behind Carey Price just 42 seconds in. 5 minutes later, Jeff Petry put the Habs on the board with a goal from the blue line just after a Canadiens' power play had expired thanks to some great passing between Kotkaniemi and Domi (who got a point in an 8th consecutive game). Not even 3 minutes later though, Carey Price gave the puck away to the Lightning when he tried to pass it to Victor Mete who wasn't expecting it and it ended up in the back of the net. While it was impossible to blame the star net minder for the Lightning's first goal, that one fell squarely on his shoulders and it would stand as the game winning goal since 2-1 was the final score.
Revoyez le sixième but de la saison de Jeff Petry.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 3, 2020
Take another look at Jeff Petry's sixth of the season.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Tb0WJ5MbCw
#Habs Price on the miscommunication with Mete that led to TBL’s GWG: “That’s all on me. I tried to do too much.…
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) January 3, 2020
A defeated Claude Julien stated after the game that his team deserved better and that they didn't play badly and even though that is true, you do not get points for effort in this league. Price's momentarily lapse in concentration was extremely costly last night and it made the difference in a game which the Habs did dominate. Montreal won 59% of the face-offs, took 39 shots on goals to the Lightning's meagre 23 and did have most of the puck possession but it just wasn't enough. On the bright side of things though, Nick Suzuki was the most used forward last night (20:43), Kotkaniemi and Poehling looked pretty good together and good old Dale Weise showed what he could bring to the table. Weise is by no means an offensive juggernaut but when Max Domi had words with Patrick Maroon and both were sent to the box for roughing, Weise took note and invited the Big Rig to dance a few minutes later. In his post game comments, Weise stated that while Domi is gritty and can certainly handle himself, he shouldn't have to fight and that is part of what Weise himself can bring to the table.
After this loss, the Canadiens are 7 points behind the last wild card spot and 6 points behind the 3rd place in the Atlantic division which is held by Tampa Bay who still has 2 games in hand on Montreal... Even the most optimistic of fans will have to face the facts: that 8 game losing streak in November really hurt the team and this current 4 game one might just be the final nail in the coffin. That and the fact that Julien does not expect Drouin, Byron, Armia or Gallagher to be back before the Canadiens' bye week (January 19th to 26th) make for a rather bleak outlook especially considering how much hockey they have to play until then. The Canadiens will take on Pittsburgh on Saturday and will then have 4 games a week for the next 2 weeks... In other words, get ready for a rather long month of January. The loss of Brendan Gallagher couldn't have come at a worst time... The Canadiens confirmed yesterday that he had been placed on the injured list because of a concussion and that they obviously had no clue when the little warrior would be back. Julien was clear that he wouldn't be rushed back though given the seriousness of the injury. Concussions are now taken very seriously given the fact that they can have some very lasting effects and they need to think about Gallagher's health first.