Canadiens Lineup

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Sean Monahan

Evgenii Dadonov – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher

Jonathan Drouin – Kirby Dach – Josh Anderson

Juraj Slafkovsky – Jake Evans – Mike Hoffman

Kaiden Guhle – David Savard

Arber Xhekaj – Chris Wideman

Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic

Sam Montembeault – Cayden Primeau

Rem Pitlick, Michael Pezzetta, Jake Allen (parental leave)

Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip), Joel Edmundson (back), Logan Mailloux (shoulder), Emil Heineman (finger), Mike Matheson (abdominal strain), Joel Armia (upper-body)

Game Report

Maybe the answer is to leave it to the kids! We have written about the Canadiens’ difficulty so far this season to create offence. And they were headed down that barren path again after two periods against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Just two high-danger scoring chances were registered in the first 40 minutes of tonight’s hockey game by the Montreal Canadiens. That’s a statistic which is not going to win many hockey games.

But when they came out in the third period, the Habs didn’t look deflated. Nick Suzuki scored his second goal of the season, oddly it was once again on the wraparound. Casey DeSmith had been shaky throughout the contest and finally a Canadiens was able to take advantage.

One benefit of low expectations for the Canadiens this season is that they will be seeing the opposition’s backup goalie on many nights. This MTL vs. PIT goaltending matchup wasn’t exactly Carey Price against Marc-Andre Fleury. Sam Montembeault had his adventures too on this night, particularly with respect to rebounds.

The Penguins seemed a little stunned by the Suzuki goal one minute into the third period. And they didn’t respond well.

Much of their weak third period had to do with the pairing of Kaiden Guhle and David Savard. The 20-year-old Guhle led the Canadiens in ice-time just 17 seconds shy of 25 minutes. Guhle was the best Canadien by far enroute to his first two points in the NHL while limiting the scoreless Sidney Crosby to just one shot on goal.

That set the stage for the comeback to be complete with Cole Caufield scoring the tying goal and Kirby Dach potting the game-winner in overtime. Again, the kids came to the rescue. Dach’s goal was the Canadiens’ first power-play goal of the season.

Up Next

As a final note, it was Sean Monahan who setup Dach for the game-winning goal. The two newcomers to the Canadiens have shown considerable chemistry so far. Perhaps the head coach has recognized his mistake, splitting the pair up to start the game.  

The Canadiens will continue their four-game homestand on Thursday night as they host the Arizona Coyotes.

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