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In Hainsight: Edmonton Got Bloody Lucky |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
The Habs had a herculean task at hand last night, containing the Oilers high octane attack and beating one of the hottest teams in the NHL these days. Much like they did in Calgary on Saturday, the Canadiens tried hard and had nothing to be ashamed of, but in the end, an errant stick and a lethal power play bested them.
Connor McDavid opened the scoring midway through the first period on a fantastic display of skills and speed, skating around the Canadiens’ defense before beating Samuel Montemeault. Even though Montreal had the lead shot-wise and was dominant in the faceoff circle, the first frame ended 1-0 for the locals.
It was late in the second when Adam Henrique, a trade deadline acquisition for Edmonton, scored his first goal in his new uniform. At that stage, it was 2-0 Edmonton even though the Canadiens had played rather well.
At that stage, Montreal could have just mailed it in, but the Canadiens didn’t. Instead, they came out roaring to start the third period. It took only 32 seconds for Nick Suzuki to score thanks to Juraj Slafkovsky’s astute play. It wasn’t the captain’s prettiest goal, but it was his 27th, a new career best. Just over four minutes later, Edmonton native Kaiden Ghule, beat Calvin Pickard with a well-placed shot just below his glove to bring everyone back to square one.
The Canadiens had a little scare when Brendan Gallagher got a shot right in the hand and left for the locker room but he was back shortly after. As the Oilers were trying to get the lead back, David Savard took a hooking penalty to rob Evander Kane of a scoring opportunity just after the 17-minute mark. Somehow, the Canadiens managed to kill the penalty and they lived to fight another minute. Unfortunately for them, in a collision at center ice, Joel Armia’s stick cough Adam Henrique in the face and after video review, he was given a four-minute double minor for high sticking.
The Habs ended the third on the penalty kill, and they started the overtime that way again. The Montreal penalty killers fought bravely and there was just a minute or so left on Armia’s penalty when Leon Draisaitl scored the game-winning goal. It was hardly surprising since the Edmonton power play his fourth in the league with a 26.4% success rate.
In the end, the Habs won nearly 60% of their faceoff and led in shots as well before the Oilers got six minutes of power play in the last stages of the game. It’s a shame that it was Joel Armia’s stick that struck Henrique as the big Finn was having a great game. He led the team in shots with six, landed two hits, and even blocked a shot. He is a far cry away from the player who looked like a ghost too often in the last few seasons.
Kaiden Ghule also looked good on the night, spending 23 minutes on the ice blocking four shots and adding a goal on his only shot. Overall, it was a very good collective performance from Trevor Letowski’s (temporary) team. They rallied together to get back in the game in the third showing a lot of character, and it wasn’t a selfish penalty that cost them the game, it was an unlucky play. There’s no doubt the penalty was deserved, but it’s a shame when the result is decided by luck.
The Canadiens will now head to Vancouver to take on the Canucks on Thursday at 10:00 PM and will have a rare Sunday night tilt against the Kraken on Sunday night.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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