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It Wasn’t Perfect, but it Was Good Enough |
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The Canadiens knew the Oilers would come back stronger after being humiliated in a 5-1 loss on Saturday night and they did, at first at least. Edmonton dominated the first half of the first, but once the Canadiens scored the first goal (which was also Alexander Romanov’s first career goal), the Oilers seemed to lose their momentum somewhat. Things got even worst for them when they were unable to take advantage of 3 consecutive Habs penalties in the last 6 and a half minutes of the first frame. In the end, no matter how many penalties the Canadiens kept taking, the Oilers power play was unable to capitalize and the Habs’ confidence grew by leaps and bounds, final score 3-1 Montreal.
If practice makes perfect, the Canadiens penalty kill should be pretty near perfection by now, in 2 games, they gave Edmonton a whooping 10 power plays and they came out unharmed, even getting 2 shorthanded goals as a bonus. Jake Evens got one Saturday and last night, Arturri Lehkonen made the most of a 2 on 1 opportunity with Philip Danault to take a great shot and give the Canadiens their last goal of the game. 7 of the Habs forwards were called upon to kill penalties last night with the same result, this team is definitely deeper than its been in ages.
Jake Evans was particularly impressive with a man down last night, playing with poise and looking like a grizzled vet out there. He played just over 4 minutes on the penalty kill second only to Paul Byron in that department. While he only won 40% of his faceoffs, he was directly instrumental in Romanov’s first goal thanks to a faceoff win in the offensive zone. The more I watch Evans, the more I think he’s perfectly fitted for the 4th line centre duties.
Being the back-up to Carey Price is a tall order, many have tried and failed in sometimes disastrous fashion, but last night, Jake Allen showed that he could finally be the solution the Canadiens have been looking for. He was 2 minutes away from pitching a shutout in his debut as a Canadien but unfortunately, careless play by the Habs’ man advantage resulted in an Oilers breakaway shorthanded goal. Verdict: 25 saves on 26 shots. Last night was also a great test because we saw Allen weather an early storm and then have to keep his concentration while being largely unsolicited in the second frame. Still, he stayed sharp and was ready when called upon. Props as well to the Canadiens’ defense, when Allen made the first save but spilled the rebound, his defensemen were ready and able to clear the front of the net. Yes, one game is a small sample, but this is definitely the kind of performance Bergevin had in mind when he signed the goaltender to a 2-year extension. Should Allen keep performing like this, the Canadiens’ GM will have to think about speaking to Seattle to ensure that they don’t grab his back-up goaltender.
For the 3rd time in as many games, Alexander Romanov handled himself well out there and he even got his 1st career goal. It wasn’t a blistering slap shot from the blue line, it was a clever wrister that was on target and while Romanov probably shot only to get a rebound (he admitted himself he didn’t realize he had scored at first), the puck found its way through Koskinen. The blueliner is smart out there, he’s making the right decisions and he’s perfectly aware of everything that’s going on around him. If he’s under pressure, he remains calm and finds a way to get out of trouble. The only small blemish to his name, he received a penalty for a retaliatory cross-check, but he’ll learn soon enough that you can’t do that.
Last night’s game wasn’t perfect though, the Canadiens will definitely need to play a smarter and more disciplined game if they want to keep on winning. Killing those 10 penalties against a power play that is normally so efficient was a near miracle, and we all know it, miracles are rare. Another negative takeaway for me was Joel Armia’s play…he’s really not showing much out there, and he doesn’t look as involved as his teammates are. He should thread carefully, because the Canadiens have depth to replace passengers this year. That being said, right now, the Habs couldn’t afford to have 2 healthy scratch on the roster so if they want Armia to skip a turn, it could mean taking a big risk by putting a player (Armia or Mete) on waivers. It wasn’t Brendan Gallagher’s best game either, he took a silly penalty (which has become rare for him as he matured and learnt not to cross the line) and missed a couple of scoring chance.
Thankfully, this year, if Gallagher misses a couple of chances, someone else is ready to step up and score. Finally, Josh Anderson left the game for a while in the first period and we don’t know why yet… It took way too long to be an equipment issue and once he came back, he wasn’t as intense as he was in the first two games. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious, but given his well documented injury history, it could be cause for concern.
The Canadiens announced less an hour ago that the new ECHL franchise that will start its operation in October will be its new ECHL affiliate, this was perhaps one of the worst came secrets in the history of hockey. It’s great news though as it will make it that much easier to assign players to the lower league with the team being an hour and change away from the Rocket in Laval. The Habs have a well deserved day off today and will get back to work tomorrow as they’ll play the first of 3 games in Vancouver at 10:00 PM ET.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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