Even against a team as battered as him, the Canadian was no match on Saturday night at the Enterprise Center.
Pavel Buchnevich opened the scoring after just 1:03 of play, in addition to amassing an assist, and the St. Louis Blues streaked to a 4-1 victory over the Montreal team.
If the Canadian is affected by a traffic jam in the infirmary with 11 players on the sidelines, the situation is not much better for the Blues, who had to manage despite nine absent.
The Canadiens’ offensive had another quiet night. She has generated just eight goals in the last six games, six losses (0-5-1).
“I find that we had no energy or only little moments, admitted the head coach of the Canadian, Dominique Ducharme. With the situation we find ourselves in, we need to be on top. We definitely didn’t play as well as we would have liked. “
Charlie Lindgren therefore offered a victory against his former team, in a duel against Jake Allen, a former Blues.
Lindgren repelled 22 shots, as the trio of Buchnevich, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev caused headaches on the Habs’ defense.
Barbashev, Dakota Joshua and Torey Krug also hit the mark for the Blues (15-8-4), who won a seventh straight home game. Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly and Logan Brown each had two assists.
Alexander Romanov scored the Canadian’s only goal (6-20-3). Allen stopped 33 shots.
“We were behind the game, we could not kill the game, we played slowly, our execution was average and we had to run after the game, enumerated Ducharme by analyzing the meeting. And when we had a chance […] we haven’t finished those games. “
Forward Jake Evans missed the game due to an injury, the nature of which has not been disclosed. His state of health will be reassessed daily. Joel Armia was however back in the lineup of the Canadian.
The Blues lost the services of forward Jordan Kyrou during the meeting. He suffered a severe check from Nick Suzuki in the first half.
The Habs will play their next game on Tuesday, when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The affair of one team
The Blues quickly took control of the meeting, opening the scoring after 63 seconds of play. Buchnevich did it twice to outsmart Allen, while the Canadian seemed already stunned by the Blues.
The Canadian came close to a quick reply, but Cole Caufield reached the post.
The Habs also threatened late in the first period, but Joel Armia completely missed his shot after a nice pass from Jonathan Drouin during a redundant attack.
The Blues completely controlled the game after the intermission. They took the first nine shots on goal of the throw-off and hit the seventh at 8:52.
Joshua scored his first goal of the season thanks to a fine maneuver after a Brown surrender in a two-on-one attack.
The Canadian finally landed his first shot on goal of the second period after 12:27 of play – a Suzuki throw from a tight angle that Lindgren easily caught with his mitt.
The Blues made it 3-0 in their favor with 4:40 left in the second period, on a power play. Barbashev completed a superb four-way rally, moving the strings with a receiving throw from the enclave.
Romanov revived the Canadian by beating Lindgren with a perfect shot after 1:57 of play in the third period.
Allen then frustrated Tarasenko on a breakaway, keeping the Canadian in the game.
Drouin screwed up a golden opportunity to close the lead to just one goal on a power play. However, he missed the target on a deflection towards a gaping cage.
The Blues finally delivered the knockout after 10:16 of play in the final period, on another power play. Krug beat Allen with a powerful slap shot.
Cloakroom echoes
Jake Allen said the Canadiens will eventually have to turn things around.
“It’s frustrating for the whole group right now. It’s tough when you don’t play good hockey. The slope is steep in front of us, but we have to start going up it before Christmas. “
Allen admitted he was emotional upon his return to St. Louis, where he played from 2013-2020.
“It was mostly yesterday (Friday) when I arrived in town, to be back. Even during the warm-up there were a lot of signs with messages. It was beautiful to see. I didn’t know how I was going to deal with it and had a few butterflies in my stomach at first. “
Joel Armia said the Canadian screwed up his chances of getting back into the game.
“We came out strong in the third period. We gave ourselves a chance to get back into the game. We scored a first goal, then we had chances for another, but the puck didn’t come in. “