Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, Habs, Week In Review, Overtime, Trade Deadline, Dominique Ducharme

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Canadiens started the week with a pair of games in Winnipeg against the Jets. Tyler Toffoli was named the first star of the game with two goals, one assist, and six shots on goal to help his team win 4-2.

“We wanted to keep things simple, especially after our last two games in Calgary. We didn’t want to complicate things and create turnovers. We put pucks on net. I think we played a good game tonight against a team with good offence. We had to limit our turnovers, and I think we did a good job in that aspect of the game,” Jonathan Drouin said.

On Wednesday night, the Canadiens closed a two-goal deficit in the third period to send the game to overtime. Nikolaj Ehlers scored the game winning goal during the first minute of the extra time to give the Jets 4-3 win at the Bell MTS Place.

“I think we were just turning too many pucks over at the start of the game in our own zone. That’s the type of game they like to play. They like to force turnovers and they capitalized. But as the game went on, we kind of found our game and we pressured them all over the ice. We’re happy with the one point, but it would’ve been nice to have two,” Joel Edmundson said.

Split with Canucks

The Canadiens flew home on Thursday from Manitoba in anticipation of a six-game homestand that began on Friday against the Canucks. Nick Suzuki tied the score with 57 seconds remaining in the third to force the teams to play three-on-three hockey. J.T. Miller won the game with a goal 2:01 into the overtime to give the Canucks 3-2 win.

“We had highs and lows during the game, especially in the second period. We didn’t have our best first period, we turned over pucks in the second period and we missed coverages. We fought back in the third period, we had a lot of chances, we managed to score late in the game to force overtime,” Dominique Ducharme said.

On Saturday, Brendan Gallagher tied the game with 5:29 remaining in the third period to send the game into overtime. Five minutes wasn’t enough to determine a winner, which led to Tomas Tatar netting the difference maker in shootout to give Habs 5-4 win.

“Overall, I feel as a group we played a good game, but our mistakes were costly. We didn’t give them a lot, we got a lot of scoring chances, but every time we made an error, we paid for it in cash,” Ducharme said.

Edmonton visits the Bell Centre for three games this week starting on Monday, and then Ottawa visits on Sunday.

Overtime

Saturday’s win against Vancouver was Montreal’s first win in overtime or shootout this season in 10 opportunities. The Habs have left nine points on the table. This season, every point is important considering that every match is against a division rival.

The first overtime game in Ducharme’s tenure was on February 27th, when it took the Jets 36 seconds to win. Philip Danault, Joel Armia, and Jeff Petry started the frame against Winnipeg’s three forwards.

The coach’s objective was clear. He wanted his team to take possession from the draw, and then counter with fresh forwards. Since the face off was lost, the opportunity never came.

The Habs have played five more overtimes since. Danault took the face off in three of those games, and lost two of them. Jesperi Kotkaniemi took the draw in the other two matches, winning one.

I don’t have an objection with Ducharme’s strategy. I’m surprised that I don’t see more desperation from the coach to tweak a strategy that has failed over and over. Ducharme’s contract expires at the end of this season. If his team doesn’t clinch a playoff spot, his future with the organization is in jeopardy.

On Saturday, the coach assigned Kotkaniemi, Drouin, and Petry to start the fourth period. Ducharme decided to begin with more offensive forwards compared to Danault, Armia and Paul Byron. Starting the frame with possession dropped in Ducharme’s priority level, as Danault’s performance at the face off circle was significantly higher than Kotkaniemi through three periods. The Habs didn’t score during the 3-on-3, but they didn’t allow a goal. Progress?

If the Canadiens would have won half of their overtime games, they would have more breathing room than they do in the standings. Right now, they need to keep a close eye on the teams behind them.

Trade Deadline Looming

Ben Chiarot‘s absence has created a (bigger) hole on defence for the Canadiens. The third defense pairing has had its ups and downs since the start of the year whether it was Brett Kulak, Victor Mete, or Xavier Ouellet playing with Alexander Romanov.

There was also a small scare earlier this month, when Danault got hurt during a game against the Flames. His absence would be hard to replace internally. In fact, the team would face the same situation if Suzuki or Kotkaniemi had to miss time due to injury.

Normally, this means that Marc Bergevin would go shopping to fill these gaps prior to the April 12th trade deadline to help his club in its hunt for a playoff spot and potential run in the post season.

“If the opportunity presents itself to go out and get something that I’m convinced will help the team, I’m going to look at it,” said Bergevin when asked about the deadline.

The general manager states on an annual basis that making trades is hard. He added that the current conditions make it more favourable for a ‘hockey trade’ to be completed. The trade between the Blue Jackets and the Jets involving Patrick Laine and Pierre-Luc Dubois from earlier this year is a good example.

This is the first time that I will agree with him. It’s unlikely that two teams in the North Division complete a transaction during the season. To complicate things further, if a Canadian-based team acquires a player from a club based in the United States, he would need to quarantine for 14 days before being able to join his new organization.

The current roster with possible minor adjustments will have the task to meet the expectations that the organization set at the beginning of the season.

Canadiens Connection podcast

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By Chris G., Senior Writer
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