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RECAP | Predators – Canadiens: Habs Dominated by Preds Start to Finish

Rick Stephens
FINAL | Game 42, Home Game 21 | Saturday January 5, 2019
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC.

CANADIENS

Montreal

1-4

PREDATORS

Nashville

 

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines  

Paul Byron – Max Domi – Jonathan Drouin

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi –  Joel Armia 

Kenny Agostino – Michael Chaput – Nicolas Deslauriers

Defense pairings

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Mike Reilly – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Jordie Benn

Goaltenders

Carey Price – Antti Niemi

Scratches

Charles Hudon, Karl Alzner, Matthew Peca 

Injuries

Andrew Shaw, David Schlemko

Game Report

If you get caught with your head in the clouds, even briefly in this league, there is someone there to quickly bring you crashing down to earth. Nashville, the fifth ranked team in the league, taught the Canadiens a lesson on this night.

To a person, Habs players said that they weren’t prepared from the start of this game.

The Canadiens coach said that they were second to every puck, lost battles all night and played without a purpose.

In short, Montreal was outplayed from start to finish. In their own building. To a team that played into overtime the night before in Detroit.

It was a disappointing performance by the Canadiens who allowed their opponent to dictate the style of the game.

Claude Julien didn’t seem to have the adjustments necessary to change the flow of the game. For three periods the Canadiens did the same thing. And for three periods that meant getting slowed down by Nashville and turning the puck over.

The Canadiens top offensive line had no offense. And they were a disaster in their own zone. Jonathan Drouin and Max Domi each finished the game at minus-3.

Mike Reilly has struggled for a few games now with his second-pairing assignment. In this one, Reilly was clearly over matched. Same for Brett Kulak.

Shea Weber played at heroic 25 minutes of hockey, scoring the Canadiens only goal, delivering a crushing hit on Rocco Grimaldi and shutting down the opposition in his own end.

But there weren’t enough Shea Webers and Carey Prices in this game to match the execution by Nashville. And for the first time in a long time, the Canadiens are on the outside looking up at Eastern conference playoff teams. The Sabres and Islanders now occupy the two wildcard spots.

Plus / Minus

▲  Shea Weber, Carey Price 

▼  Jonathan Drouin, Brett Kulak, Max Domi, Mike Reilly

The Numbers

 Game Statistics 
CANADIENS   PREDATORS
28 Shots 32
47 Face-off % 53
0-for-1 Power Play 0-for-2
4 Penalty Minutes 2
32 Hits 26
64 Corsi For 53
 Scoring Summary
 FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
 Canadiens (22-15-5) 0 1 0 – – 1
 Predators (25-15-3) 2 1 1 – – 4
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Weber (6)
  • NSH: Smith (13), Ekholm (4), Smith (14), Avidsson (12)-EN
  • MTL: Price (L) 16-10-4
  • NSH: Saros (W) 9-5-1

Stars of the Game

 NHL Official Three Stars
  1. Mattias Ekholm  NSH
  2. Craig Smith  NSH
  3. Shea Weber  MTL

Watch

 Video Highlights 
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What Did They Say?

 Post-game Quotes
Claude Julien  
  • “I thought we were soft, losing battles, second to the puck everywhere. From start to finish I don’t remember much of a time, except when we scored that goal, that we got any kind of momentum or life. Then they came back and scored right away and that killed it. We just couldn’t get anything going.”
  • “You can’t just come in and think you can play. You’ve got to play with a purpose and you’ve got to play with an edge. You’ve got to want to be better than the other team, and that wasn’t the case tonight.”
Brendan Gallagher
  • “We have to understand what went wrong tonight, so that when we see a situation like this next time, we can handle it better.”
  • “They were able to slow us down. The lesson we have to learn from this game is that we have to be able to make little adjustments on the fly. We were either turning it over or being slowed down.”

Shea Weber

  • “We weren’t ready. They lost a game in overtime last night and they weren’t happy about it and they came in here and took it to us in the first period. They’re a tough team to come back against. I think they’ve lost only two games this season when they’re leading after the first period.”

Predators head coach Peter Laviolette

  • “We were strong from start to finish. We were competitive on pucks and detailed to our game. A lot of credit really goes to the players, just for making sure we’re ready to play.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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