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In Hainsight: Not in the Same League |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
There’s no two ways about it, yesterday’s tilt between the Canadiens and the Kings was a hard one to watch for Montreal’s fans. Not only was their team unable to score a goal, but in the first period, they didn’t even manage to take a single real shot. The one puck that found its way to Phoenix Copley was a clearance while the Canadiens were killing a penalty. Over the 60 grueling minutes that lasted the game, Montreal only managed to take 18 shots on net and by the third frame, it looked like most players had given up.
The Kings were a well organized and well deployed team. They took the lead and never looked back, suffocating the Canadiens with a 1-3-1 system against which Martin St-Louis’ men were helpless. Somehow, after the game was over, the coach said that his men hadn’t played a bad game. Granted Los Angeles played well, but to say the Canadiens didn’t play badly when they almost failed to generate any real scoring opportunity seems a bit far-fetched.
For a second game in a row, the Canadiens weren’t the best team on the ice and if that’s not fatal against San Jose, it absolutely is against a team like the Kings. On the plus side, the Habs did dominate at the face-off circle, winning 60% of the draws. That is a victory in itself against a team that has such a strong center line. The problem was though, Los Angeles was just so quick to get the puck back that winning the faceoff didn’t do much good for Montreal.
After the Kings had taken a 3-0 lead early in the last period, it felt like most of the Canadiens gave up, most of them anyways. Jake Allen couldn’t give up as he was in the net and Juraj Slafkovsky didn’t seem to get the memo about the game being over, he kept trying to create offense even though the results didn’t come.
Watching the Kings deploy Kopitar, Danault and Dubois was a stark reminder that the Habs still need to find themselves another strong center. If Kent Hughes hoped Alex Newhook could turn out to be the Canadiens’ third center, so far, he looks like a much stronger winger than he is a center. Fans were quick to conclude that there was no room in Montreal for Christian Dvorak anymore when Hughes managed to sign Sean Monahan to an extension, but if the faceoff wizard and all-around Swiss army knife is traded at the deadline, Dvorak will be more than useful to the team.
The Canadiens will have a day-off in California today as the team decided not to fly out just yet, the rookie dinner is scheduled for tonight. The Habs will conclude their five-game road trip on Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Ohio team only has six wins to its name so far this season and has had a tough time getting Patrik Laine going. The Finn has only played 11 games so far this year, missing significant time after taking a high hit from Flames’ defenseman Rasmus Andersson. He returned to play on November 20th but was a healthy scratch last Sunday. Right now, he’s got four points in 11 games and that’s just not enough from a player with his pedigree.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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