MONTREAL – To say the Canadiens missed their chances against the San Jose Sharks would be an understatement. By finishing the evening 0 in 6 on the power play, it was difficult to avoid a setback.
The Sharks took advantage of this context to leave the Bell Center with a 4-0 win. Here are our observations of this particular clash.
Ruin a crucial moment
Trailing 1-0 after 40 minutes of action, the Canadian had the chance to start the final third at five against three for 55 seconds. Presumably the second intermission served as a lab to identify strategies to break through the penalty-killed Sharks’ wall.
Nothing to do, the CH did not solve the enigma so well that it was cleared at the final score. It was only the second time in the campaign that Montreal failed to score.
“We had a plan, but we didn’t really execute it, we seemed disorganized,” admitted driver Martin St-Louis.
“The power play let us down… You have to be able to score when you get six chances, one of which is five against three. We will have to go back to the drawing board and see what happened, ”reacted Nick Suzuki.
“We had a small meeting (at the second intermission), we discussed the plan. We tried to force a shot when we ran out of time. We should have executed our attempt sooner. We talked about other specific points, but we got away from them for reasons that I don’t know. We will have to talk about it with the guys,” said Suzuki.
Worse still, the Sharks rode on that momentum by sinking two more goals into the goal cage. Jake Allen within 75 seconds (Thomas Hertl et Logan Couture).
Instead of leveling the score, the Habs found themselves in a 3-0 deficit after four minutes of play in the third period and the spectators no longer believed in the comeback.
A strange evening for Allen
Allen hoped this part would help pull him out of his hole. His goal took a hit from the 93e second as the Sharks threaded the needle without delay.
Matt Nieto pushed the puck behind Allen on the return of a well-executed spin by Alexander Barabanov. Allen would need the help of Joel Edmundson who failed to watch Nieto adequately.
“It’s never easy for a team, but it wasn’t their fault. He’s a pro, he knows how he can play,” Matheson said.
Allen was able to recover from the threats of the Sharks on the power play, which took a 7-0 lead on shots in the first period.
Amazingly, the Sharks disappeared from the map afterwards. The Canadian fired eight shots in a row while San Jose did not test Allen for an interminable 19 minutes and 19 seconds.
Statistics now show that Allen has allowed at least three goals in eight of his last nine starts.
Hertl completed the scoring in an empty net.
0 in 11!
The challenge was interesting for the Canadian’s power play, which ranked 29e rank in the NHL, rubbing shoulders with the best shorthanded team.
Except that despite six deployments in numerical superiority, the Montreal troop was not able to hit the target once.
The unequivocal verdict of this clash explained the final result. The aggressiveness of the Sharks in this facet of the game has complicated the life of Montreal resources. Even the talent of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield has been muzzled by San Jose.
Unsurprisingly, Marc-Édouard Vlasic was among the pillars of this impressive performance.
Fortunately for the Canadian, he also shut out the Sharks on the power play. Thus, the two teams finished the evening with 0 in 11 on the special teams.
This attention to special teams has cast a shadow over the efficient work of the CH in equal numbers.
“We got the better of them, we didn’t give them a lot of space. Even when they were in our zone, we defended ourselves well. It is really encouraging. Our defensive game continues to improve over the past three games. It’s not perfect, it never is, but it’s getting better and more consistent,” noted St-Louis.
Less convincing exit from the Suzuki trio
Needless to explain the impact of Nick Suzuki’s trio since the start of the season. This time, the unit of Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach did not show as much aplomb even ending the game at -2. Moreover, it was his line that was on the ice when the Sharks surprised the Habs early in the game. During the last three games at the Bell Centre, the CH conceded a goal in the first minute.
“It was against my line the last three times, I don’t know how to explain it. We can’t afford that, we have to correct this issue, ”admitted the captain.
In addition to a very strong presence of the trio in the offensive zone, the opportunities were not very numerous. On the power play, Suzuki managed a few skillful passes without the finish being there. As for Caufield, he missed a golden chance on a power-play pass from Sean Monahan.
Return of Harris and Kovacevic
Left out in the last two games, Jordan Harris was back in the lineup as was Johnathan Kovacevic. The two young defenders did not have a bad performance.
The Canadian only came home for one game. He will begin a four-game trip on Thursday against the Flames. He will face the Oilers on Saturday, the Canucks on Monday and the Kraken on Tuesday.