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First for Xhekaj | RECAP: DAL @ MTL

Rick Stephens

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens vs Dallas Stars: Habs, Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game, Interviews, NHL, Three-Stars

FINAL | Game 6, Home Game 4 | Saturday October 22, 2022
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC

CANADIENS

Montreal

2-5

STARS

Dallas
Arber Xhekaj, Montreal Canadiens. (Photo by Getty Images via Canadiens.com)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Sean Monahan

Evgenii Dadonov – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher

Jonathan Drouin – Kirby Dach – Josh Anderson

Rem Pitlick – Jake Evans – Mike Hoffman

Defence pairings

Kaiden Guhle – David Savard

Arber Xhekaj – Chris Wideman

Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic

Goaltenders

Jake Allen – Sam Montembeault

Scratches

Michael Pezzetta, Corey Schueneman

Injuries

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

Game Report

On Thursday night, Habs fans were flying high, having witnessed Juraj Slafkovsky’s first goal, a TKO by Arber Xhekaj and a Datsyukian goal by the captain all leading to a dominating win. Tonight, they were brought back to reality.

The Dallas Stars are a very good team, who move the puck quickly with precision and who have a superb young goaltender who remains unbeaten in four starts this season. 

And the Stars also have a 38-year-old veteran who loves playing against the Canadiens. His hat-trick was the margin of victory for the visitors this evening.

Dallas forced the Canadiens to make mistakes. Young Canadiens were caught out of position and made uncharacteristic turnovers. Veteran Habs, not committed to a two-way game, were exploited. For good measure Stars forwards played a physical game executing a heavy forecheck.

And Dallas dominated special teams going perfect on the penalty-kill and two-for-three on the power-play. It was a complete victory for the visitors reminding Habs fans just how much work is ahead to be considered a contender.

On the positive side Mike Hoffman calmed the criticism scoring his first goal of the season. Arber Xhekaj, proved that he could do more than drop the gloves scoring the first goal of his brief NHL career.

Up Next

The Canadiens will host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre in the final game of a four-game homestand. 

Plus

▲  Mike Hoffman, Jake Evans, Arber Xhekaj, Johnathan Kovacevic, Sean Monahan

Minus

▼  Jonathan Drouin, Josh Anderson, David Savard, Kirby Dach, Chris Wideman

Game Preview

Check out the game preview here: Jake vs Jake | PREVIEW: DAL @ MTL

The Numbers

Game Statistics
CANADIENS   STARS
34 Shots 30
47 Face-off % 53
0-for-4 Power Play 2-for-3
6 Penalty Minutes 8
26 Hits 16
48 Corsi For 45
Scoring Summary
FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
Canadiens (3-3-0) 0 0 2 – – 2
Stars (4-0-1) 3 2 1 – – 5
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Hoffman (1), Xhekaj (1)
  • DAL: Pavelski (2)-PPG, Pavelski (3), Robertson (2)-PPG, Lindell (1), Pavelski (4)
  • MTL: Allen (L) (2-2-0)
  • DAL: Oettinger (W) (4-0-0)

Stars of the Game

Official NHL Three Stars
  1. Joe Pavelski  DAL
  2. Arber Xhekaj  MTL
  3. Jason Robertson  DAL

Watch

Video Highlights

What Did They Say?

Post-game Quotes

Marty St. Louis

  • “The special teams made a big difference in the game. It’s a team that plays fairly simple hockey, a team of veterans who are heavy, who are fast. You have to take the experience of experiencing that pressure. This is something we are going to have to learn.”

Arber Xhekaj

  • “[Scoring my first goal] was good, but they scored quickly afterwards and that deflated me a bit. I’m the type of guy for whom team success is more important than just a goal.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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