Habs News: NHL, Montreal Canadiens, Kent Hughes, Laval Rocket, Trois-Rivieres Lions
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Montreal Canadiens were in Chicago on Friday to face the Blackhawks. Montreal had a one goal lead with four minutes remaining in regulation before Chicago tied the score to force overtime. The Canadiens failed to take advantage of a power-play during the overtime and shootout was needed to determine a winner.
After Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki scored in the shootout, Martin St. Louis gave the opportunity to Kirby Dach to seal the victory. The former Blackhawk succeeded his mission and saluted the booing crowd in his celebration.
#Habs Kirby Dach seals the victory with shootout goal vs #Blackhawks @AllHabs @RocketSports #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/dLAyFeg3HK
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) November 25, 2022
“I was excited. Anytime you get to come back to the place you used to play and put on a show like that, it’s pretty good,” Dach said about the goal. “I’ve seen it a few times. I did it back in junior when I got booed so I thought it was fitting,” added the forward about his celebrations.
“I liked our offensive game. In the neutral zone, we were making nice passes and found the open guy. It helped us with zone entries and manage time in the offensive zone. I would have liked if we were able to increase the lead in the second. We had a couple of breakaways, and posts and Suzuki had a breakaway in the third. We kept them in the game, they tied the score on a power play, but we stayed focused on the task,” St. Louis evaluated the game.
After the game, the players had the annual rookie dinner in Chicago. They returned to Montreal on Saturday and had the weekend off. Monday’s practice is scheduled to begin at 10:30 am Eastern time.
Hughes is Shopping
On Saturday, TVA Sports aired a one-on-one interview with general Kent Hughes that took place on November 18th at the Agganis Arena in Boston. That night, Hughes had an opportunity to watch organizational prospects Lane Hutson, Luke Tuch and Jayden Strubble as the Boston University Terriers hosted Northeastern University. The sons of Kent Hughes, Jack and Riley, were also in action.
The general manager provided his impressions of his team’s performance. “When I met the media at the start of the season, I had mentioned that the story was not written yet. I’m always optimistic. We knew we had good players, and young players on defence with the injuries to [Mike Matheson] and [Joel Edmundson]. We’re happy with where we are. I can’t say that we predicted this, but we still have a lot of hockey to play.”
With the season having reached the quarter mark, Hughes said that he’s discussed with teams about potential transactions. Ideally, he would like to add a third pick for the first round in the upcoming draft.
The Canadiens are currently on the bubble outside of a playoff spot. Hughes’ roster decisions won’t be influenced by the team’s standings this season. “We want to be patient and not make any hasty decisions to try to accelerate things and hurt the future.”
Since being hired in January 2022, Hughes is the most proud of the hiring of St. Louis. “It’s not only about what he brings as coach behind the bench, it’s also the leadership that he brings to the team and what he does to establish a winning culture for the future.”
Rocket Split Weekend
The Laval Rocket were in Belleville this weekend for a pair of games against the Senators. On Friday, Laval had a 5-2 lead midway through the second period before Belleville answered back with three consecutive goals to tie the match. Nicolas Beaudin, scratched for the previous two games, scored the eventual game-winning goal with 5:22 remaining in Laval’s 7-5 win.
“We have to play better defensively especially when we have the lead, but we’re going to take the win,” Jean-Francois Houle said.
“Our confidence is fragile. With a two-goal lead in the third, we could have predicted that we would play on our heels, but coming out with a win and big goal at the end of the game and succeeding in closing the game that we’ve had a lot of trouble this year is good for our confidence,” Anthony Richard added.
On Saturday, Lucas Condotta opened the scoring in the first period before Laval allowed two power-play goals and a short-handed goal as Belleville headed to 4-1 win.
“It’s about six games this year that we dominate the other team and don’t win. It’s hard to take, but special teams are part of the game and that’s what cost us tonight,” Houle said.
Frustration is growing amongst players as the team has yet to win two consecutive games this season. “We all got to be a little bit better, because we haven’t won two in a row all year and I think everybody needs to look at themselves in the mirror. That starts with myself and every other guy in the room,” Condotta said.
The Rocket continue their road trip on Wednesday in Utica before heading to Abbotsford next weekend for a pair of games.
(Quotes courtesy of BPM Sports)
Lions Win Streak Snapped
The Trois-Rivieres Lions were in Utah to face the Grizzlies three times over the weekend. It was the first games with general manager Marc-Andre Bergeron behind the bench replacing Eric Belanger on an interim basis. Belanger resigned from the Lions on Tuesday to accept the head coach job for the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the QMJHL.
On Friday, Trois-Rivieres had a three goal lead with two minutes remaining when Utah scored twice to close the gap to one goal. An empty net goal with 17 seconds remaining sealed the Lions 6-4 victory.
“Ideally, we wouldn’t have let it get so close late in the game, but ultimately we got the victory. We showed a lot of character by blocking several shots and by being engaged on the back checks. I liked what I saw,” Bergeron said.
On Saturday, the score was tied 4-4 with 6:26 remaining in regulation when the Grizzlies netted their third power play goal of the night and snapped the Lions five game winning streak with a 5-4 win.
The Trois-Rivieres #Lions3R's winning streak came to an end last night as they lost 5-4 to the Utah #Grizzlies.
Here are their four goals scored. pic.twitter.com/7jeClOTE2N
— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) November 27, 2022
The Grizzlies chased Joe Vrbetic from Sunday’s game as the Canadiens 2021 seventh round pick allowed four goals on 23 shots. Trois-Rivieres’ offence was blanked in their 4-0 loss.
“For most of the game, we were the best team on the ice. Yes, they scored a power play goal, but it took us off our pace. It took away our chances. After the first, we were behind by two goals, but we could have taken the lead. It’s the kind of game that is frustrating, because we deserved a better fate,” Bergeron said.
Trois-Rivieres returns home for a three game homestand starting on Friday against the Iowa Heartlanders.
(Quotes courtesy of Le Nouvelliste)
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