The Daily Habit: Grading the Road Trip

The Habs grabbed 4 out of a possible 6 points on their tough road trip.

Image from the TheScore.com

Coming off of a win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, albeit on the heels of a 5-game losing streak, the Montreal Canadiens embarked on a three-game road trip throughout the mid-southern USA. It would be no easy stretch, playing three of the hardest teams in the Western Conference; those being the Utah Mammoth, Vegas Golden Knights, and Colorado Mammoth. They also had to play those three teams in just four knights.

Given how close all the Eastern Conference teams are, the Canadiens couldn't afford to drop too many points. They had to maintain close to the playoffs, and had to pick up some points.

Game 1: @ Mammoth

The first period went great. Bolduc scored on a power play, and Suzuki added a goal to double the lead going into the second period. They also did a good job of limiting the Mammoth to little shots.

The second period was just awful. They had a good start, but allowed a power play goal against, completely collapsing after said goal. They gave up about 20 more shots against, as well as two more goals. They went into the second intermission trailing 3-2.

They managed to strike twice in the third period with goals from Suzuki and Demidov. From there, they were again peppered with shots, but Dobes held the fort and the Habs won the game 4-3, despite being outshot 34-17.

Game 2: @ Golden Knights:

Montreal was caved in during the first ten minutes, but Montembeault was able to keep it a tied game. Eventually, they got their feet moving, and Bolduc scored on a delayed penalty. After the first period, they were up 1-0.

The second period was much better for the Habs. They got the majority of high-danger chances, including like 5 breakaways. They were only to capitalise on one chance though, when Caufield sniped a shot from an impossible angle. Montembeault held strong, and the Habs doubled their lead going into the dressing room after two.

Jake Evans scored early in the third on a breakaway to essentially ice the game. Despite a Vegas goal late, Slavkovsky scored an empty net to seal the game, a 4-1 Canadiens win. Monty was great, saving 30 of 31 shots.

Game 3: @ Avalanche:

Not much to say here. They did get zero bounces, but after the first 10 minutes, they were outplayed by a better Colorado team. Perhaps if they scored early on, then the game would've turned out differently.

Demidov and Hutson scored, which was nice to see. 7-2 loss though.

Grade: B+

A successful road trip. They were able to climb back into a playoff spot, and no one would complain about grabbing 4 out of 6 points. They beat two good teams in the Mammoth and Golden Knights.

I'm not going to punish them too much for losing to the Avalanche. Colorado is stupidly good this year, plus they were coming in on a back-to-back, although the Avalanche were as well. 7-2 probably doesn't reflect how the game should've ended up

That being said, they're two wins were not dominant. They probably deserved to beat Vegas, but they were vastly outplayed by Utah for stretches of the game. They were very opportunistic against the Mammoth and relied on Dobes for most of the third period. They were also outshot by a sizeable margin in each game, which is not a good recipe for victory.

Still, a good road trip overall. They get to come home now, playing most of their games at the Bell Centre until their usual Christmas road swing.

Article by Jacksen MacLean.