The Montreal Canadiens have had a tough week trying to shut down the noise surrounding their rocky start to the season, but performances like tonight's will go a long way toward achieving that.
The Montreal Canadiens finally got another one in the win column. After losing four consecutive games, the Habs bested the St. Louis Blues tonight at the Bell Centre to bank two big points.
After spending much of the week working on their defensive play, the Canadiens looked like a bunch that was finally starting to understand what was expected of it. As Martin St-Louis wanted, more plays were killed at the blue line, there was more pressure on the opponents as they entered the zone and, lo and behold, it produced some result.
Montreal opened the score less then ten minutes in when David Savard dispossessed the Blues deep in his own zone, moved the puck to Joel Armia who passed it to Jake Evans who riffled a perfect shot.
The Canadiens doubled their lead just over a minute into the second frame when Kirby Dach buried his first of the season, it wasn't pretty, he was just in the right place at the right time to put the puck in, but it counted both on the scoreboard and in the confidence department.
The Blues came right back with two goals within 2 minutes 30 seconds of each other, including one on which Samuel Montembeault stopped the first two shots but could do nothing for the third shot. Thankfully, the Canadiens shook it off and got the lead back on a great power play goal on which everyone touched the puck before Newhook put it in.
Caufield then scored his 7th of the season with a hard shot in the third frame before Armia opened his own account on the year with an empty netter. A 5-2 win in which Montembeault made 29 saves and had a .935 save percentage while Jordan Binnington, who's also hoping to backstop Canada at the Four Nation Face-Off, faced 25 shots and gave up four goals for a .840 SP. Advantage: Montembeault.
Kirby Dach who registered a goal and an assist received the first star of the night while Jake Evans who had the same offensive production was named the third. The second star was given to Savard who blocked six shots on the night.
Meanwhile, Arber Xhekaj who was back in the lineup after sitting out for two games stepped up to his coach's challenge. St-Louis wanted to see the better version of the rugged blueliner, the one who isn't a rookie anymore and who's not making rookie mistakes was served. The 6-foot-4 tough guy spent over 20 minutes on the ice and did very well.
If you feel Xhekaj was hard done by by St-Louis and he was called out when some vets get a pass, I believe this just goes to show the coach knows what he can bring to the table but he wants him to do it to the best of his ability. There's no point for the coach to criticize vets who aren't part of the long-term plan, he doesn't care if they become the best player they can be, a bit like Roman Rotenberg who doesn't care how good Ivan Demidov can be since he won't be with SKA St. Petersburgh when he's done developing. St-Louis speaking to the media postgame said he though The Sheriff was excellent throughout.
Mission accomplished for the Canadiens tonight, now, the team will take off for Philadelphia where a pumped up Flyers teams waits for them after winning 7-5 over the Minnesota Wild. Cayden Primeau will be in net tomorrow and will hope to follow up Montembeault's great performance with a great one of his own.
