(MTL @ VGK) The Daily Habit: Success in Sin City

The Habs guarantee a winning road trip.

The Montreal Canadiens were in dire trouble coming off of an 8-4 loss to the Washington Capitals at the Bell Center just over a week ago. They had lost five in a row, and seven of their eight last games. Their goaltending had been atrocious, the defense gave up too many chances, and the offense had dried up. Throw in the injuries piling up, and there was concern in the city.

They managed to get it together and beat the feeble Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 at home, before going on a three-game road trip which would really test them. They passed the first test, beating the Utah Mammoth 4-3 on Wednesday night.

However, the ensuing back-to-back would really challenge them, starting in Sin City against the Golden Knights and travelling to Denver the next day to face the Avalanche.

They started the first half of the back-to-back strong, beating the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 on Friday afternoon.

1st Period:

The Habs were terrible in the first half of the period. They came out flat and were completely overwhelmed by the Golden Knights. They took a penalty and spent essentially the whole penalty kill in their zone, collapsing into their usual diamond formation.

Luckily, Samuel Montembeault was on his game, which is something he has not been on for most of the season. He was the main reason the game was tied for the first 10 minutes. The shots on goal were 10-1 Vegas at one point.

After the Canadiens weathered the storm, they drew a penalty when Nick Suzuki was tripped. They entered the offensive zone, and Caufield dropped the puck off to Juraj Slavkovsky on the left side boards. There, he made a perfect pass through four Golden Knights to Zachary Bolduc at the left side of the net, and he beat Schmidt to make it 1-0 Habs—just a beautiful pass.

After that goal, Montreal found their legs and got most of the scoring chances from then on. They couldn't capitalize, but entered the locker room up 1-0.

2nd Period:

The Habs are not good in the second period this season, so I'm sure many fans were nervous with only a one-goal lead.

It started well, though. Roughly two minutes in, the first line entered the offensive zone, but had the puck knocked away. Carrier did a great job to keep the puck in, knocking it to Bolduc. He passed it to Caufield, who somehow sniped it over Schmidt with essentially no room. A classic Caufield goal. 2-0 Habs.

From there, the pace of play was relatively even between both sides. Montreal did have about a hundred breakaways to add on to the lead, but to no avail. Caufield could have had 5 goals in the period alone. Montembeault held down the fort, and the team took a 2-0 lead to the dressing rooms.

Much better second period than of previous games.

3rd Period:

After a useless power play from Montreal, they did a good job of preventing Vegas from sustaining any pressure. Despite the discrepancy of the shots on goal, the Habs had the majority of the better chances, using their speed on occasion to burn the Knights' defense.

That speed was evident when Marner turned the puck over in the Canadiens' end. Matheson passed it to Texier up the ice, who sprung Evans on his third breakaway of the game. This time, he capitalized, beating Schmidt glove side to put the Habs up 3-0.

From that point on, Montreal played almost a perfect third period, giving the Knights almost nothing the rest of the way. Well..... perfect until a complete breakdown defensively which left Mark Stone alone in front of the net, who deked Montembeault and put Vegas on the board with five minutes left.

Luckily, the team built a sizable lead so it forced the Kinghts to pull their goalie. Pretty quickly, Montreal scored. Suzuki missed the net, but Slavkovsky got the rebound and put it in off of Marner to make it 4-1.

The game ended shortly thereafter. Habs win 4-1.

Thoughts:

Pretty good game overall. Not perfect, but the Habs had the majority of the better scoring chances, despite losing the shot battle. They used their speed to get behind the Vegas defencemen, and the top line was dynamic today.

They survived the first ten minutes, thanks in a large part to Montembeault, and found their legs after that. A huge win, considering the game that lies tomorrow...

Hab of the Day: Sam Montembeault

A great game, which he needed. 30 saves on 31 shots. He was steady throughout the entire game and kept the game tied when the Habs were flat early on. He allowed them to build on their lead, and the one goal against was not his fault.

A much-needed game by him. He's been pretty bad so far this season, but hopefully this builds his confidence. We need him to be better, so this was a good first step

Honoruable mentions to the entire first line - Caufield, Suzuki, and Bolduc.

Next Up: @ Colorado

Yeah, good luck. The Avalanche are the best team in the league by far. If there ever was a scheduled loss, this would be it.

That being said, the Habs have guaranteed a winning road trip, so a loss would be forgivable. They're going to have to buckle down defensively, need Dobes to be strong, and be very opportunistic. Who knows... the Avalanche are due for a regulation loss.

Article by Jacksen MacLean.