Habs News: NHL, Montreal Canadiens, Martin St. Louis, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Laval Rocket, Trois-Rivieres Lions
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — For their first game back since a four-game road trip, the Montreal Canadiens hosted the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. The Kings had a commanding 3-0 lead midway through the third period when Mike Hoffman put the Canadiens on the board. Hoffman is in a stretch of seven games with seven points.
#Habs Mike Hoffman with wrist shot goal vs #Kings
Assists: Guhle, Dadonov@AllHabs @RocketSports #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/vnkDLRgJmU
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) December 11, 2022
Cole Caufield cut the lead to one goal with 2:28 remaining with a shot from a bad angle. “If I was him, I’d shoot from anywhere. He can probably score from the mezzanine. He’s a shooter, he shoots,” Chris Wideman spoke about Caufield.
#Habs Cole Caufield with bad angle goal vs #Kings
Assists: Harris, Dvorak@AllHabs @RocketSports #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/H58k8hliQb
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) December 11, 2022
The Kings added an empty net goal to make it 4-2 and crush the Canadiens’ hopes of tying the game.
“We didn’t have our legs, we didn’t have energy. It’s normal. The first game returning from the west is tough. We continued to push. It was frustrating. It was on us a bit for not bringing energy and speed on the 1-3-1 that we faced. They really defended their blue line,” coach Martin St. Louis said after the game. The coach added that he needed to do a better job to help the team find a solution to the Kings’ system.
Dach Returns to Centre
With Sean Monahan not available for the game, St. Louis decided to split Kirby Dach from Nick Suzuki and Caufield and return him to play at centre. In his pre-game press conference, St. Louis said that he did not want Dach to change the way he has been playing. Juraj Slafkovsky and Hoffman were his wingers, while Josh Anderson moved up to the top line.
The biggest knock on Dach’s performance down the middle is his lack of success at the faceoff dot. When he was acquired by Montreal, Dach’s best season in terms of faceoff percentage was in 2020-21 with 40.3 percent success rate.
On Saturday, Dach won 80 percent of the faceoffs through 40 minutes. At the time, the Canadiens were down 2-0 and had taken 15 shots on goal. Looking to find solutions for the win, St. Louis slotted Dach back on the top line with Suzuki and Caufield.
“[Martin St. Louis] has a pretty good feel for the games. He knows when to shake things up or try different things or units out there,” Dach commented on the in-game adjustment.
“We rolled three lines for most of the third period and that’s how the lines ended up. It’s hard when you’re chasing the game, so I didn’t want to experiment with trios and go back to things that we have seen before to help the guys get a spark,” St. Louis justified his decision.
The coach said not to read too much into the third period combinations. With the Canadiens facing the Calgary Flames and Monahan likely not available, St. Louis will probably start the duel with Dach at centre.
Rocket Successful Weekend
The Laval Rocket hosted the Belleville Senators in a weekend series. Friday’s match was a defensive game with each team scoring once and a shootout needed to determine a winner. All three Laval shooters missed their attempts as Belleville went on to 2-1 victory.
“I thought we were tenacious, I thought we were on the puck. We had a lot of good chances. I wish our power play would have gotten us one at the end. We hit two crossbars in overtime and I liked that we only gave up one goal,” coach Jean-Francois Houle evaluated the night.
A scary incident took place during the game when forward Xavier Simoneau was hit near the nose by Joel Teasdale‘s stick. Simoneau collapsed on the ice as he made his way to the bench. He was stretchered off and taken to hospital.
This is the sequence that led to Xavier Simoneau laying on the ice and taken off the ice on a stretcher. #GoRocket #AHL pic.twitter.com/ZjDWpNP1ib
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) December 10, 2022
The offensive floodgates were opened on Saturday as Anthony Richard triggered the teddy bear toss 58 seconds into the contest. The 9,005 fans in attendance threw 8,845 stuffed animals on the ice to set a new Place Bell record. Laval scored four more goals in the first period and ended up with 7-4 win.
Anthony Richard’s goal triggers the teddy bear toss at Place Bell!
@TheAHLReport pic.twitter.com/KP5zFuJl7h
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) December 10, 2022
“We’ve had a lot of games like this, this year where we didn’t score. We had a ton of chances and we didn’t start the game scoring. Tonight was a little different and I was happy because for the players mental, it was nice for them to get some early goals and we’re not chasing the game,” Houle said.
In the win, goalie Joe Vrbetic recorded the win in his first AHL start, making 27 saves in the process. “It was awesome. Obviously it was great to get [the win] out of the way after the first game for the win.”
Lions Split in Maine
The Trois-Rivieres Lions were in Maine for a weekend series against the Mariners. On Friday, the Lions broke a 1-1 tie in the second period and never looked back as they headed to 3-2 win.
“When your goalie makes the big saves, it gives the team confidence. It fixes a lot of mistakes and bad situations on the ice. [Philippe Desrosiers] really got us this victory,” general manager and interim head coach Marc-Andre Bergeron said about the goalie’s 26-save performance.
Brett Stapley, Canadiens seventh round pick in 2018, netted his first goal as a professional in the victory. “I’m really happy for Brett. He’s a great hockey player. He controls the game and he brings a lot offensively. He’s a lot smarter than people think, especially defensively. He deserved this,” Bergeron said.
On Saturday, the Mariners had a two-goal lead through 40 minutes that the Lions were not able to overcome as Maine won 4-2.
“With our injuries and the recalls, we have to manage with a reduced roster at the moment. Under the circumstances, it was not a bad game. The effort was there,” Bergeron said. Over the last week, the Lions lost Olivier Galipeau and John Parker-Jones to the Rocket, while Alex Breton signed a professional tryout with the Belleville Senators.
The Lions return to Trois-Rivieres for a five-game homestand beginning with the Reading Royals visit to the Colisee Videotron on Friday.
(Quotes courtesy of Le Nouvelliste)
Listen to the Canadiens Connection podcast
Change My Mind: we debate Kirby Dach at centre, Arber Xhekaj as a fan favorite, Kaiden Guhle in the shootout and more!
Here’s a brand new episode of the Canadiens Connection podcast!
Listen in the player below, share and subscribe!
By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2022 Rocket Sports
===