NHL: Montreal Canadiens at Utah Mammoth
Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens faced the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday night, looking to build a little momentum after a difficult stretch in November.

It was yet another exciting game, featuring a few lead changes, but in the end the Habs barely managed to eke out a 4-3 win.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

Out Of The Gate

The Canadiens got off to a great start, powered by Zachary Bolduc’s fifth goal of the season. You’ll note they actually focused on taking a shot on the powerplay, a novel concept!

Jokes aside, it was good to see Bolduc and Co. produce a little offence, because their play at 5v5 had been far from encouraging prior to puck drop on Wednesday night.

The second goal of the game was almost a disaster, following a questionable pass by Bolduc in his own zone. Fortunately, the Mammoth fumbled the play, allowing Nick Suzuki to register his 400th career point.

It was yet another solid play on the rush, which is rare for the Canadiens. In the first 30 minutes of the game, I’d argue the Habs had their best game of the season in transition, but the good times did not last.

Losing Focus, Again

The Canadiens took their foot off the gas once they established their 2-0 lead, which, predictably, opened the door for three goals in under five minutes for the Mammoth.

It’s too easy to pinpoint one player as the catalyst in scoring plays, but Alexandre Carrier and Joe Veleno had a very hard time maintaining their coverage in the defensive zone.

Jakub Dobes, for his part, struggled with positioning in the second period, not to mention tracking the puck once it went below the goal line. He’s a rookie playing behind a confused defensive setup, so we’ll have to cut him some slack, but it was far from his best period of the season.

Hopes Dashed, And Renewed

It seemed that Juraj Slafkovsky had scored a powerplay goal to tie the game in the third period, but the worst rule in hockey allowed the Mammoth to challenge the play.

It turns out Slafkovsky was roughly one pixel offside, therefore the goal was called back.

That’s when Suzuki, the player you can always count on to provide an honest effort, decided to once again take matters into his own hands, scoring his sixth goal of the year to officially tie the game.

Okay, it took more than just Suzuki to score, but he was clearly driving the charge on Wednesday night.

Rewarding Greed

It’s perfectly normal to see rookies force a pass rather than taking a shot, and that’s often the case for Ivan Demidov, but when he does trust his shot, good things tend to happen.

Demidov’s fifth goal of the season provided the Habs with a very important lead in the third period, not to mention a heavy dose of momentum.

Ideally, he’d show a lot more greed going forward, but that’ll take some time to work out.

Stealing The Win

The Canadiens won, and that’s all that really matters in a vacuum, but looking at the long-term projection, it’s worrying that they only generated three high-danger chances at 5v5, while Utah had 12.

You don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially since November has not been kind to the Habs, but it’s a concerning trend to say the least.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Friday, facing the Golden Knights in Vegas, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET.

All Montreal Canadiens Statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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By Marc Dumont
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont

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