(Montreal) The losses continue to pile up for the Canadiens, even as he manages to play one of his best times of the season.
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Alex Pietrangelo and Chandler Stephenson each scored one goal and one assist, Robin Lehner turned back 36 shots and the Vegas Golden Knights closed a two-goal deficit before beating the Montreal team 5-2.
The Canadian dominated the Golden Knights 20-1 in shots in the first period, securing a 2-0 lead in scoring. Everything collapsed afterwards.
The Golden Knights scored their first two power-play goals of the campaign and avenged their elimination at the hands of the Habs in the Stanley Cup semifinals last summer.
“At 23-7 the odds of scoring tonight, I would take that every night,” said Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme. I think nine times out of 10 the victory will come from our side.
“Basically, they took advantage of their chances and I think we deserved better,” said Ducharme.
Nick Suzuki collected a goal and an assist, while Tyler Toffoli also moved the strings for the Canadian (3-10-0). Jake Allen stopped 13 shots.
Jonathan Marchessault, Dylan Coghlan and Brayden McNabb, in an empty net, were the other scorers for the Golden Knights (6-5-0).
The Golden Knights were however deprived including star strikers Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone and William Karlsson. Not to mention Jack Eichel, obtained from the Buffalo Sabers earlier this week and who will have neck surgery.
This did not prevent visitors from climbing up the hill and winning.
“We move on to the next game,” Ducharme insisted. Seeing our start today (Saturday) shows that we were focused on today, not what happened in the past month or what is to come in the next five months. What we control is the present moment.
“We are going to practice on Monday and prepare for the game on Tuesday. We’re going to make sure we have such a good start and an even better game. ”
Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin missed a second game in a row after being hit by a puck in the face on Tuesday in a 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
The Canadiens will play their next game on Tuesday, when they host the Los Angeles Kings at the Bell Center.
From heaven to hell
Already well in control, the Canadian found himself with the wind in his sails following an inspired presence of the trio of Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia and Artturi Lehkonen in the offensive zone.
Dvorak got another good chance to score a few minutes later in a redundant attack, but he missed the mark.
The Golden Knights finally took their first, and only, shot on goal of the first period after 10:58 of play. The Canadian closed the opening with a 20-1 advantage in that regard.
The Habs transformed this advantage into a 2-0 lead in scoring. Suzuki eventually beat Lehner on the power play with 2:42 left in the first frame. Suzuki enjoyed a comeback after two attempts by Mike Hoffman.
Toffoli then widened the lead with 1: 11 to go in the first period. The maverick hit the mark on a breakaway, thanks to a nice feint before shooting from the backhand.
The Canadian was unable to capitalize on another power play early in the second period, and then the Golden Knights turned the tide by beating Allen on their fourth, sixth and seventh shots of the game.
Pietrangelo got the ball rolling on the power play at 5:16 of the second frame, when his receiving shot grazed defenseman Jeff Petry before moving the ropes.
Marchessault then tied at 10:24, following a long presence of his trio in the Canadiens’ territory.
Then, Coghlan gave the Golden Knights the lead by scoring in turn on the power play at 12:00 of the period.
The Canadian was unable to take advantage of a power play to regain momentum early in the third period. He never even managed to apply pressure on Lehner’s net consistently.
Stephenson and McNabb closed the books by scoring in an empty net with 2: 51 and 34.9 seconds respectively to go on the clock.
Cloakroom echoes
Brendan Gallagher refused to say that the Canadian was mentally fragile to explain the rout in the second period.
“They took advantage of a favorable leap, it doesn’t matter, you have to go look for the next goal. We worked harder on the ice than all of their players except their goalie. It’s part of the game. When you get chances in the net, you have to be successful in beating the keeper. ”
Jake Allen admitted that it is difficult to keep morale up as the losses pile up.
“It’s hard to say you have to hold your head up high, but we have to do it. In the last three games we’ve played the right way most of the time. Now we have to find a way to win. ”
Nick Suzuki recalled that the system deployed by Dominique Ducharme was dedicated to helping the team to be successful.
“We got in trouble last season at the start when ‘Dom’ took over, but it paid off in the end! We know we can play well and I trust each of the guys in the locker room. We dominated [les Golden Knights], but their goalie made some good saves. The result could have been different. ”