Could the wind be turning at the Montreal Canadiens? A few hours after Kent Hughes was named general manager of the Canadiens, head coach Dominique Ducharme’s men signed their first victory in 2022, 5-3 on Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars.
Updated at 0:37
In addition to the many posts that played in favor of the Canadian, two video replays were favorable to him. An extremely rare occurrence, according to Ducharme.
“I’m going to go buy myself a ticket. [loterie] Powerball – I think it’s 160 million US. Two favorable decisions. We’ll keep track, if it keeps changing sides. But yes, it was good. We took advantage of our opportunities. Especially shorthanded; samuel [Montembeault] made some big stops. I liked the involvement of our players too, with blocked shots among other things. It gave us a victory, and that’s appreciated, that’s for sure,” said the CH driver.
Christian Dvorak, twice, Michael Pezzetta, Tyler Toffoli – who was playing his first game since December 4 – and Josh Anderson hit the target for the Canadian (8-25-5), who thus signed a first victory since that of 3-2 won in a shootout against the Philadelphia Flyers on December 16. Nick Suzuki also stood out with two assists.
“The return of ‘Toff’ has brought a lot to our team, on the ice but also in terms of leadership in the locker room, noted Ducharme. They [Toffoli et Suzuki] did well, they scored a big goal and I think they played a solid game. »
Jacob Peterson, Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski blackened the scoresheet for the Stars (18-16-2), who suffered a third loss in a row.
Samuel Montembeault was sparkling in net for the Habs and finished his night’s work with 48 saves. Montembeault thus signed his second victory this season, and his first since November 20 against the Nashville Predators.
His vis-à-vis, Jake Oettinger, gave up five times on 18 shots before giving up his place in the third period to Braden Holtby, who completed the game in front of the Stars net.
The two teams exchanged a few good chances to score in the first period, but they returned empty-handed to the locker room in the first intermission – thanks in particular to the brilliance of Montembeault. Dvorak finally broke the power play deadlock at 7:35 of the middle period, after firing a one-timer from the slot that beat Oettinger in speed under his mitt. Pezzetta doubled the Bleu-blanc-rouge lead 22 seconds later.
However, the Stars should not be counted as beaten. Far from there.
Peterson first closed the gap with 3:36 remaining in the period, hitting the puck on the fly from the slot behind Montembeault. The Quebecer then had to intervene to repair a blunder by his defenders, standing in front of Michael Raffl on the breakaway – a video replay was also necessary to confirm that there was no goal. The famous “0-in-12” of Ducharme, it will be for next time.
Then, on the return from the second intermission, the Canadian kept the pedal to the floor and sunk three additional goals. Toffoli hit the target 63 seconds into the game, and Dvorak made it 4-1. Seguin fought back 25 seconds later, but Anderson restored the Habs to a three-goal cushion at 4:17 – following another video replay in favor of the Montrealers.
The Stars showed signs of frustration late in the game, including causing a few skirmishes. Jamie Benn, of the Stars, as well as Anderson and Jonathan Drouin, of the Canadiens, were notably expelled from the match after receiving game misconduct. It is unknown at this time if further sanctions will be imposed by the league.
“We’ll see,” Ducharme said simply of the penalties that could be imposed on his players.
Pavelski completed the scoring for the Stars with 1:19 remaining on the clock.
In addition to Toffoli, the Canadian was able to count on the return to play of defender Kale Clague in Dallas. Pezzetta was also back in the starting lineup, having given way to Laurent Dauphin the day before against the Coyotes.
These decisions were made after the CH had included the names of forwards Cole Caufield and Joel Armia on the list of players subject to the protocol of the COVID-19 earlier in the day. Armia is on a third stint on this list since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The Canadiens will continue their seven-game journey by visiting the Golden Knights in Las Vegas on Thursday night. This will be the second game between the two teams this season, after CH’s 5-2 loss at the Bell Center on November 6th.
Meanwhile, Hughes is due to meet the Montreal media at a press conference Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Locker Room Echoes
Tyler Toffoli seemed pleased with his performance, in his first game in over a month.
“I was out of the game for a long time, and it took me half the game before I could finally find my legs. I then realized that I had a little more time to make a play when I had possession of the puck, and I was more comfortable. Jack [Evans] and Susan [Suzuki] did a great job supporting me. Monty [Montembeault] did very well to keep us in the game, we were lucky a few times – especially with the posts, at the start of the game – but we got the win. »
Nick Suzuki knew he had to give more, after his poor performance the day before against the Arizona Coyotes. And he responded with two assists.
“I knew I had to be better. At times yesterday I had no impact on the outcome of the game. Dom [Ducharme] challenged me to be better today, and I did everything I could to help the team win. »
Nick Suzuki highlighted the performance of goaltender Samuel Montembeault, who was riddled with fifty shots by the Stars.
“Monty [Montembeault] played amazing. He made some big saves, and he probably got us the win. If it hadn’t been for his big saves – several of them downright acrobatic – maybe we wouldn’t have won this match. He was obviously our first star tonight. »
In details
Dvorak in style
It’s no small feat: for the first time this season, in its 38th game, the Habs have scored a power play goal in three consecutive games. Unaccustomed to celebrations this season, Christian Dvorak made this feat possible, and in a very good way. The perky character, first placed in front of the net, took advantage of the fact that Tyler Toffoli drew the cover towards him deep in the territory to let himself slide towards the middle of the slot. Now at the post of pivot (“bumper”, in English), he became an obvious passing option for Toffoli after a nice exchange with Nick Suzuki. Tic-tac-toe, as they said in 1996. A flawless execution, perhaps the most successful of the season for the Habs at five against four.
Almost controversy
At the end of the second period, the puck slipped slowly, slowly past Samuel Montembeault. The goalkeeper, however, lay down on the disc in time, and on the video replay, it was not possible to determine that the object had completely crossed the red line: no goal. Then, in the third, Josh Anderson scored as the net moved. Verdict: the goal is good. On television, analyst Marc Denis had fun evoking the “0 in 12” that Dominique Ducharme might have denounced if things had gone otherwise. He was thus referring to the obscure calculation of the head coach, who complained in recent days that his team was losing disputed decisions. After the defeat the day before in Arizona, he had indeed advanced to be “0 in 11”, because he had lost the dispute of the Coyotes’ fourth goal. In reality, the CH have only been involved in five disputes with a coach this season, and have been favored once. For your files, therefore: one in five.
Drouin in Troubled Waters
Jonathan Drouin had never received a major penalty before or a game misconduct. He can now sew those two crests on his jacket following a curious streak in the third period. Opposed to Tyler Seguin at the face-off, he saw the Stars player cross-check him on the head as soon as the puck left the referee’s hand. Furious, the Quebecer responded, also with his stick, except that Seguin was on the ground and Drouin hit him directly in the throat. The meeting then ended for the number 92 of the Canadian, and it should not be surprising if the NHL imposes an additional sentence on him. Usually very supportive of his players, Ducharme did not defend his attacker with much vigor after the game, only emphasizing that, “clearly, Seguin is not trying to win the face-off”. “We’ll see what the league decides,” he added.
Rising
Christian Dvorak
PHOTOJEROME MIRON, USA TODAY SPORTS
Mike Hoffman and Christian Dvorak
His best game of the season. Two goals (two good ones!), domination in the face-off circle and a penalty caused at a key moment in the third period.
Falling
Jonathan Drouin
His major penalty in the third period was completely unnecessary and could have weakened his team’s lead. A suspension would be just as inappropriate, as Drouin and Josh Anderson appeared to be on the ice again.
The number of the match
51
The Canadiens had gone 51 days, or 14 games, without giving themselves a two-goal lead. The last time ? November 27 in Pittsburgh, the day before the dismissal of Marc Bergevin. So it never happened in the with-no-DG era.