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Game 58: Canadiens vs Coyotes AKA Will he be Alright? We "Danault"

February 10, 2020, 10:14 PM ET [421 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It all started rather well for the Canadiens tonight, they really came out singing and were rewarded for it early on when Jake Evans scored his first career goal 51 seconds in. That wasn't enough for the Tricolore though, just over a minute later, Brendan Gallagher made is 2-0 with a typical Gally effort. He took a shot which was blocked but kept on pushing, shot again and snuck the puck in behind Raanta. It seemed like the Habs were firing on all cylinders but then, it all went to hell as they say. Stepan made it 2-1 on a Kessel assist and Taylor Hall tied things up in the second frame. From the moment Philip Danault received a puck to the face and went down, the Canadiens looked like they had lost all focus and they only managed to take 3 shots on the Coyotes' net minder in the 2nd frame while the 'Yotes shot 17 times on Price's net. It was 2-2 after 40 and it remained that way until Chychrun scored the game winning goal with a minute left in the 3rd.



To be fair though, the Canadiens have no one to blame but themselves...well, that might not be quite accurate... After all, everyone's favorite ref (Chris Lee) was officiating tonight and 24 minutes of penalties were dished out. The thing is though, they were evenly split between the two teams and the Habs failed to convert on huge chances. They did enjoy a full 2 minutes of 5 on 3 action and they drew a blank. That, to me, was the turning point...it was definitely a momentum killer when they failed to convert. Gallagher said it best in his post game comments when he said that the Habs got the result the deserved.

I think most Habs fans will have enjoyed seeing Ilya Kovalchuk stand up to Ekman-Larsson after he put his stick to the face of Nick Suzuki though. Kovy might not have been a team player when he left New Jersey in cap hell, but he sure appears to be one now. This loss will really hurt since the Habs have another 3 games to play this week with match-ups against Boston, Pittsburgh and Dallas but it might not hurt nearly as much as the loss of Philip Danault should he be out for any significant period of time. For a team who desperately trying to get back into the playoffs' picture, being without its first line centre and its number one d-man is just about the worst thing that could have happened.

Claude Julien wouldn't say much about what's going on with Danault, but he did confirm that he would need some dental work, that he did suffer a cut but that the complete picture would only be available tomorrow morning. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say after the morning skate...In other news, former Canadien Alex Galchenyuk was once again traded tonight. The Penguins wanted to acquire Zucker from Minnesota and they got their man for their 1st round pick, defensive prospect Calen Addison and more or less threw in Glachenyuk... With his contract expiring this season, it appears more and more likely that Chucky will be in the KHL sooner rather than later.
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