Didn’t miss much for the Canadian to overthrow the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon. We could even think in the third period that Martin St-Louis’ troops would succeed. But, all things considered, the good team won. A victory for the Habs would have been a theft.
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This defeat at the hands of the Stars once again highlighted the lack of resources among the Canadian. The best people did what was expected of them.
The top line of Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield buzzed throughout the game. With his two points, including his 16e goal of the season, Suzuki has produced 10 points (3-7) in the last four games.
Caufield collected a point in an 11e consecutive game, streak during which he amassed 13 points.
Slafkovsky scored his 10e goal with a sharp shot.
From that side, everything works like clockwork.
Samuel Montembeault, for his part, kept his team in the match, even if he was the victim of two goals in 44 seconds in the first minutes of the second period.
Rhythm broken by penalties
But, once again, the Canadian received too many penalties in this period. Which had the effect of breaking the rhythm.
Fortunately, the team held on during those minutes. David Savard, Kaiden Guhle, Mike Matheson, Joel Armia, Brandon Gignac were the most used on the penalty kill and they did things well.
This Gignac is quite the skater!
He is constantly on the puck and can be cumbersome for any opponent carrying the puck.
Time is running out for the Stars
But hey, the Canadian lost to a seasoned team, which is perhaps in its last miles in the race for the Stanley Cup. The Stars have been one of the best teams in the NHL for many years.
But they are getting older.
Nine players on their roster are in their thirties. Joe Pavelski and Ryan Suter are the oldest, at 39 years old. Jamie Benn, Evgenii Dadonov and Craig Smith are 34 years old.
Matt Duchene follows at 33. Tyler Seguin, author of the Stars’ first two goals, is 32 years old.
Scott Wedgewood and Jani Hakanpää bring up the rear at 31.
Finally, competition is strong in the West. The Colorado Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets, Vancouver Canucks, Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers all have Cup aspirations, too.
In closing, we must sympathize with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who suffered a leg or knee injury during a collision with Armia in the second period. He’s already missed 24 games due to injuries this season, and from the way he was taken to the infirmary, it still seems serious.
Getty Images via AFP
He has no luck, this Rafael!