NASHVILLE | In recent weeks, we have heard Habs players talk about bad leaps, certain bad luck. Tuesday in Nashville, they benefited from the return of the pendulum.
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Brendan Gallagher had just scored the Canadian when David Savard, six seconds later, took advantage of a strange bounce from the ramp to tie the game. The Canadian, who had gone nowhere until then in the second period, then came back to life.
Martin St-Louis’ squad took advantage of this momentum to win 4-3 in overtime, thus ending the Predators’ eight-game winning streak.
The third time will have been the good one. After two shootout losses to begin this trip, the Canadian finally managed to win a tiebreaker match.
Jake Allen must have breathed a sigh of relief when Nick Suzuki scored the winning goal, with a quick and precise shot into the top corner. The poor New Brunswicker had not enjoyed victory since January 15. His last win on an opposing rink dates back to December 18 in Winnipeg.
As the Creole Company sang, it’s good for morale.
Armia is placed in the window
Auditions continue for those who could find themselves in other locations by Friday. In any case, Joel Armia plays like a forward who wouldn’t mind joining a Stanley Cup contending team over the next few hours.
Photo Getty Images via AFP
Against the Predators, the Finn stood out defensively. On a few occasions, his positioning and that of his stick ended a threat or prevented cross-field passes.
In the morning, Martin St-Louis rightly reminded us that a very large portion of a game is played without the puck.
“In a game, you have the puck 5% of the time. Joel does good things when he has the puck. But 95% of the time, you don’t have the puck. It can also be in the offensive zone. What are you doing during this time? Where are you going?” he asked.
On the ice at Bridgestone Arena, Armia seemed to have the right answer. He showed that he could read the game well offensively. In the first period, a sustained forecheck all the way behind the net from Juuse Saros allowed the Habs to keep an attack alive. A few seconds later, Alex Newhook hit the post.
Then, in the second, he was able to position himself adequately in open space to accept a pass and threaten the opposing goalkeeper. Saros had to make one of the best glove saves of the evening to prevent him from scoring.
Yes, the big number 40 was put in the window. Besides, who is the only Canadian forward, besides the three members of the first trio, to have reached the 10-goal plateau this season? Good Joel.
A stunning trio
Obviously, you don’t give up three goals without something going wrong. On Tuesday, the Canadian’s defenders noted that there is something much more dizzying in the capital of country than the choreography of Achy breaky heart or Boot scootin boogie.
Jordan Harris and Jayden Struble, at first, as well as Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson got dizzy trying to contain Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist, the fast and agile members of the Predators’ first line.
Although they often faced Nick Suzuki’s unit, the members of this trio took turns scoring.