MONTREAL – For this Halloween evening at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens’ game turned into a horror film. An 8-2 defeat which looked like a “remake” of the catastrophic scenario against the Rangers a week ago.
Here are our observations of this scary part.
Four goals in 8 shots!
Who would have thought that the Canadian (4-5-1) could have a worse first period than the one against the Rangers when he allowed four goals on nine shots in 11:05 of action.
Well, the Kraken took advantage of their opportunities to score four goals via eight shots in 10:33 of play.
Certainly, the visitors were lucky with their first success. But we can’t give this reason for the goals of Ryker Evans, Jayden Schwartz and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
“I’m going to watch the video before pointing fingers,” reacted coach Martin St-Louis who had, rightly, lost his talkative side.
Seeing that Kirby Dach tumbled through the trios throughout the match, we can assume that he was thinking of himself in particular. Dach notably missed a coverage on the first goal in addition to receiving an indiscipline penalty.
Worst performance in the NHL in the first period
Adding the four goals allowed in the first period, the Canadian has given up 17 times this season during the initial period. A total that sinks the CH to last place in the NHL, tied with the San Jose Sharks after 10 games. Add to this that Montreal has conceded at least six goals in four of its 10 games.
It should be noted that the Kraken’s fourth goal was obtained following a blunder by Arber Xhekaj whose pass was intercepted much too easily by Schwartz.
“We were slow from the start. We lost 4-0 after 10 minutes after having just played two good matches… I don’t really know what kind of match we had in the system,” sighed Nick Suzuki.
“I know the match ended 8-2, but I didn’t have the same impression as against Rangers when we were absolutely dominated. A few actions by a few players led to their chances,” argued St-Louis.
Difficult return to earth for the Habs and Montembeault
During the weekend, the Canadian found a way to calm the discontent that was building among some of his supporters.
A few headlines had talked about a perfect weekend, but the return to reality was painful. Of course, the Canadian created some offensive threats, but that didn’t make up for the numerous errors that triggered boos.
“Yes, I understand them, I am disappointed like them,” admitted St-Louis.
“You don’t want to go through games like this and feel bad for the fans who traveled,” noted Jake Evans.
Unfortunately for Samuel Montembeault, he did not put on his superhero costume for this duel. The Quebec goalkeeper was not up to standard in front of his cage and he was replaced after the fifth goal of the Seattle sea monster. This goal sawed off the legs of his partners.
“You can’t expect your goalkeepers to steal 10 goals per game, we have to play better in front of them,” commented Michael Matheson.
Somewhat surprisingly, five Kraken goals were scored by defenders, including three by Brandon Montour who enjoyed his first career hat trick. And for those who were wondering, Shane Wright was shut out in his first game at the Bell Center.
Slafkosvky’s return changes nothing
Absent for three matches, Juraj Slafkovsky was able to put on his jersey again. But he, too, was unable to limit the damage.
The Slovak started the game on the second line, but CH’s poor play and Dach’s errors prompted St-Louis to bring him back to the first unit even before the intermission.
Besides Caufield’s goal, there are few sweets to eat
The positive was difficult to identify in this match for the spectators. First of all, we can think of Cole Caufield’s ninth goal, his ninth in 10 games. In 2023-2024, he needed 35 games to score his ninth goal.
Add the intensity displayed by Evans and the irresistible sequence of Lane Hutson from the back of his net. He beat all his opponents, but his shot stopped on the post.
But we remember more the poster of a young supporter who said he overcame cancer.
Starting Thursday, the Canadian will begin a portion of seven games including only one at home.
