Tighten the defense, avoid risky plays and limit turnovers. The Canadian players have learned the lesson learned against the Vegas Golden Knights. Except that they forgot one thing: attack the opposing net.
It’s difficult to hope to win when you only have 13 shots on goal. The team’s lowest total in 15 years. It’s already good that the Montrealers managed to score twice and collect a point. But it wasn’t enough to defeat Utah HC, who returned to Salt Lake City with a 3-2 win in overtime.
No, Karel Vejmelka didn’t have to work hard to collect his third win of the season. From the middle of the first period to the eighth minute of the second period, the Utah goalkeeper did not receive a single shot. A rest of 17 mins 51 s.
Martin St-Louis put this offensively timid evening down to a lack of execution and imprecise passing.
It must be said that during this period of time, the Habs were short of a man for eight minutes. It’s not easy to generate attack in such circumstances.
Another additional difficulty: the Canadian announced just before the match that Mike Matheson would have to be absent due to a lower body injury. Jayden Struble took his place in the lineup. The American scored his second goal of the match. At that time, he was the one who had scored the Canadian’s two most recent goals. That says it all.
Matheson’s absence allowed Lane Hutson to fill the quarterback position on both rushing units. It’s fun, but the Canadian didn’t get a single shot on goal in six minutes of play with a man advantage.
That doesn’t help either.
A good evening that ends badly
St-Louis had modified its trios quite a bit in the hope of shaking off the bad luck of some of its attackers. He had a lucky hand with Alex Newhook, who moved the strings for the first time in seven games.
However, we were especially curious to see how Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach, relegated to the fourth unit alongside Joel Armia, would react. Despite distributing five hits, the Slovak was rather discreet. Moreover, he was the least used player in the Canadian camp.
Dach, for his part, gave signs of life. He had two good scoring chances. In the second, his combativeness forced Maveric Lamoureux to take a penalty.
Unfortunately, number 77’s great evening of work ended at the same time as the meeting. Unable to contain Nick Schmaltz, he was in the front row to see him allow Mikhail Sergachev to give the visitors victory.
Back at the bench, he smashed his stick. Before quietly returning to the locker room.
Montembeault solide
Samuel Montembeault, who was left to his own devices against Vegas, once again had to stand out in the first period. It was he who allowed the locals to close this engagement with an immaculate score.
His lateral movement, which allowed him to steal a goal from Bjugstad, possibly caught the attention of the decision-makers of the Canadian team, whose formation will be revealed on December 4.
