(Saint Paul) The Canadian’s offensive came up against one of its pet peeves for the second time in eight days.
Updated yesterday at 11:23 p.m.
Kirill Kaprizov scored two goals, Marc-André Fleury made 34 saves and the Minnesota Wild defeated Montreal 4-1 on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center.
The Habs exploded with seven goals on Saturday in a spectacular win over the St. Louis Blues.
This time, the Canadian’s attack was neutralized by Fleury and the Wild’s defense for most of the evening.
Fleury now has a career record of 26-13-6 against the Canadiens. Fleury and the Wild beat the Canadiens 3-1 a week ago at the Bell Centre.
Nick Suzuki scored the Canadian’s only goal (5-5-0), which saw his winning streak cut to two. Jake Allen stopped 27 shots.
Once again, head coach Martin St-Louis was encouraged by his squad’s performance despite the final result.
“The second half hurt us. We took penalties and we lost our rhythm, admitted St-Louis. But in general, if we play like that, we won’t have too many problems to get the results.
“We can’t just be happy after a win and unhappy after a loss. It’s a very reductive mentality, he added. If we only focus on the result, we will never be able to focus on our progress. »
The Canadian suffered a ninth straight loss in Minnesota. His last State of Hockey win was on March 20, 2011.
Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist, while Mason Shaw also scored for the Wild (5-4-1). Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists.
Forwards Jonathan Drouin and Rem Pitlick were back in the Canadiens lineup. Mike Hoffman and Michael Pezzetta stepped down.
Juraj Slafkovsky was shaken late in the game when he gave heavily against the rail after a check from Marco Rossi. Jake Evans came to the defense of his teammate, but Shaw landed the better shots in the fight.
“We have a pack mentality and I like that,” said St-Louis. The guys are there for each other and it’s nice to see, although I don’t want to make a fuss about the incident. »
The Canadiens will complete their four-game trip by visiting the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
The Kaprizov and Fleury affair
Jacob Middleton got the first chance of the game, when he rounded David Savard before challenging Allen, but the Canadian goalkeeper made the save.
The Habs fired some good shots at Fleury in the first period. The Quebec goalkeeper stood out with saves against Brendan Gallagher and Cole Caufield.
The Wild took control of the game with three goals in the second period.
Shaw got the ball rolling after 69 seconds, taking advantage of a generous comeback conceded by Allen.
Kaprizov then widened the gap to 3:29 on the power play. He deflected a throw-in from Boldy perfectly.
The Wild threatened on another power play a few minutes later. This time Allen closed the door with tough saves against Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin.
It was only a postponement for the Wild. Kaprizov came back with 5:05 to go after a two-on-one attack. St. Louis wrongly contested the goal, as replays confirmed that Wild forward Marco Rossi hadn’t touched the puck higher than the allowed height when he knocked the puck down to Kaprizov.
The Canadian came very close to entering the score early in the third period. A long shot from Chris Wideman grazed Gallagher’s leg before deflecting against the post.
For his part, Kaprizov came within inches of completing his hat-trick when he hit the post head-on.
Suzuki finally gave the Canadian a final boost by scoring on the power play with 6:30 left on the clock. Boldy, however, cut it short by scoring in an empty net with 3:08 to go.
Locker Room Echoes
Nick Suzuki pointed out that the Canadian could have deserved a better fate.
“They scored early in the second period, then on the power play. We had chances to score earlier in the first half and even the score in the second. We played a good game and we must continue to play this way. »
Jake Allen said he was impressed with the group’s mentality.
“We understand that even if we lose, we have to lose the right way. Again tonight we fought. We worked hard without deviating from the game plan. We were able to come back in the last game against St. Louis. Again tonight, a jump here or there could have made the difference. This is a good sign for our group. We have set a good standard. But there is still a long way to go. »
David Savard did not appreciate Marco Rossi’s check against Juraj Slafkovsky late in the game.
“I think it’s not the time to do that at 4-1. It’s a shame to do that when a player is in a vulnerable position and the victory is already in his pocket. He didn’t need to do this. »