More than 11 minutes on the power play and only four shots: no goal. Fifty-seven seconds at 5 against 3: no shot. It’s fine to be offered chances. Still need to take advantage of it.
Despite six penalties from the San Jose Sharks, the Canadian lost 4-0 at home on Tuesday night.
It must be said that the CH was not in a good position to win a battle of the special units. Before the meeting, he was ranked 29e NHL rank in power play. The Sharks were good first on the penalty kill.
Nick Suzuki probably summed it up best after the game: “The power play let us down tonight,” said the captain.
Again and again, the Canadian moved into opposing territory, circulating the puck on the periphery, without finding a way to attack Kaapo Kähkönen’s goal. Was it a lack of creativity? Too good defensive work from the Sharks? Probably a bit of both.
“You need balance. You can’t just wait for the perfect shot, said Martin St-Louis. You have to have a shooting mentality. If you pass the puck six, seven or eight times before shooting, I don’t think you’ll be effective. »
Trailing 1-0, the Habs were given 57 seconds at 5-3 to start the third period, but never came close to tying the game.
“We had a plan, we just didn’t execute it,” explained the head coach.
Suzuki, who often scores from the top of the left circle, more often than not fumbled with the puck.
“After a few missed chances, you try to force things a bit instead of being patient,” he said.
“I kept looking on the iPad trying to figure things out during the game. I don’t know how many chances we had on the power play, but enough to score, that’s for sure. »
Beyond the plan that did not work, there is an opponent who defended himself well. The Canadian hit the net 28 times during the game. The Sharks blocked 28 more pucks on defense.
“It’s hard to create momentum and real chances when they block shots like that,” said Mike Matheson.
Lack of finish
When things don’t go as desired on the power play, you have to find a way to score five against five.
Things got off to a bad start in this area, as the CH allowed a goal in the first two minutes of the match. It’s a bit of a repeating scenario: recently, he did the same thing against the Buffalo Sabers (three goals in the first three minutes, including two in the first minute) and the Philadelphia Flyers (two goals in the first three minutes).
“It’s been my line the last three times,” Suzuki said. I don’t know what is it [le problème]. […] You don’t want to give away a goal in the first two minutes in every game. We will have to stop this. »
The Canadian had reversed the trend abroad. “Our starts in the last two games were excellent, even noted St-Louis. At home, we may have a little… nervousness. I don’t know, maybe that’s it. We will try to be less stressed before the start of a game. »
The CH then dominated five against five for a good part of the meeting, without ever materializing. And what had to happen, happened: within minutes early in the third period, the Sharks took advantage of defensive errors to widen their lead.
St-Louis nevertheless spoke of a “very encouraging” five-on-five game. “We didn’t give them a lot of space. In our zone, we defended ourselves well. […] Our 5v5 game isn’t perfect, but it’s getting better, more consistent. »
The head coach said his team will learn from this game. It’s a remark he usually makes after his team’s defeats; he had notably formulated it after a setback against the New Jersey Devils two weeks ago. With the difference that, this time, it was against one of the best teams on the circuit. And not against one of the worst…
Up: David Savard
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
David Savard
He wasn’t on the ice for any Sharks goals and led three pucks to the net.
Down: Mike Matheson
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Mike Matheson
He fumbled several times with the puck, which notably led to the Sharks’ second goal.
The number of the match: 141 min 14 s
Number of consecutive minutes without a goal for the Canadiens against the Sharks at the Bell Centre.
In details
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Tomas Hertl scored twice in the Sharks win.
“Winning” hockey
A few hours before the game, Sharks head coach David Quinn noted that his team was playing “good hockey”, but not “winning hockey”. The pilot therefore had something to smile about after the meeting, when his team, far from playing a perfect match, had completely muzzled the CH attack. “We could have tightened our game more to 3-0, but overall it was a good performance,” said Quinn, all smiles. “It wasn’t the smoothest game,” defender Matt Benning said. We’ve had a lot of slumps recently, and it could have happened tonight with all those penalties. But we kept our confidence. By spending most of the evening protecting their lead, however, the Sharks did not make the Bell Center spectators dream, going through a streak of 19 min 19 s without a shot on goal.
The Kähkönen “wall”
Matt Benning called Kaapo Kähkönen a “wall” for his team. The sentence must have warmed the heart of the Finnish goalkeeper, because he had nothing, but absolutely nothing of a wall before facing the Canadian. Only two wins in nine starts, and some of the worst individual statistics on the circuit. However, he looked very, very well on Tuesday evening. The goal denied to the Habs, at the start of the second half, even seemed to fill them with confidence. “His best game of the year,” summed up his coach. The Bell Center is definitely a blessed place for Sharks goaltenders, because a little over a year ago, in October 2021, Adin Hill also came to beat the Canadiens on his own rink, 5-0. The clairvoyant journalist Richard Labbé then wrote that Hill, “a former member of the Rapid City Rush”, was nevertheless “the perfect tonic to revive counters that do not count”. Last year like Tuesday night, the result was the same.
Opposite the wall
200 feet from the Kähkönen “wall”, Jake Allen experienced another evening from which no footage will be extracted for his retirement video. There was nothing about the deflection of Tomas Hertl who made it 2-0, but the first and third goals for the Sharks are certainly in the category of those he “would like to see again”. It becomes redundant, but there is definitely something wrong with the veteran CH doorman. In his last three starts, he gave up six times in the first three minutes of the game. His five-to-five save percentage now ranks him last among NHL goaltenders with at least 10 starts. Martin St-Louis advocates meritocracy in the use of his young defenders; will this policy rub off on the goalkeepers? File to follow.
They said
It was close… I tried to help our departures. We had a good angle, I knew it was not 100%. In life, sometimes you have to take chances. You won’t know if you don’t take it.
Martin St-Louis, on his challenge to the Sharks’ first goal
They were in our firing lines all night and they blocked a lot of shots. It was up to us to get around them.
Sean Monahan
It wasn’t his fault. He’s a professional and he knows how he can play. He is solid for us.
Mike Matheson on Jake Allen
Our veterans block shots, the youngsters follow them, that’s the culture we want to create here. It’s amazing, it shows how much these guys want our success. I love that. It creates a lot of energy on the bench. We feed on that.
Jordan Harris
The middle of the ice was open, he saw the opening. I trusted my instincts and he ended it on a high.
Matt Benning on his spectacular pass to Logan Couture in the third period