We dedicate this edition of the Hidden Game to Cody Fajardo, Davis Alexander, Austin Mack, Marc-Antoine Dequoy and Geoffrey Cantin-Arku.
Although they’re preparing for their biggest game this season — Saturday’s East Division final against the Toronto Argonauts at Molson Stadium — the Alouettes players were at the Bell Centre for Tuesday night’s game between the Canadiens and Calgary Flames.
Your correspondent can report the players, at least most of them, ate heartily in the press room before the opening faceoff and again during the first intermission. We won’t report on what they consumed because some of it, shall we diplomatically suggest, might not have been on a dietitian’s recommended list of healthy foods.
But then again, we’re not a dietitian, so what do we know?
While their bellies were full, all of the players seemed to depart at the end of the second period. Early to bed and early to rise. And, after all, how much film and playbook study can a guy absorb before his brain shuts down?
Best move of the night: In the second period, Canadiens mascot Youppi! poured some popcorn on the head of a spectator wearing a Flames jersey. The guy laughed. Plus, he got some free popcorn. We call this a win-win scenario.
Homecoming: The Flames have two Quebec-born players — Jonathan Huberdeau from St-Jérôme and Longueuil’s Anthony Mantha. Although Huberdeau leads Calgary with five goals this season, he failed to beat Samuel Montembeault. As for Mantha, he endured a relatively short night, not returning for the second period with a lower-body injury. Huberdeau, incidentally, remains two assists shy of 500 in his career.
They don’t make them sticks like they used to: In the game’s fifth minute, and while the Canadiens were on the power play, Juraj Slafkovsky — stuck on one goal this season — was in a perfect position to score his second on a rebound. But his stick broke after it was hit by a Kirby Dach shot.
How the mighty have fallen: Only a week ago Emil Heineman was on the Canadiens’ top line, teamed with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. Now, against Calgary, he was relegated to the fourth triumvirate, with Oliver Kapanen and Joel Armia.
Our Lane Hutson moment of the night: In the first period, the rookie defenceman wowed the crowd with another one of his patented fakes, then quickly recovered on the backcheck against Nazem Kadri. Hutson quickly is becoming a player worth the price of admission, despite the overpriced tickets. And when was the last time we could state that about a Canadiens player?
News you need (Part I): Alex Newhook was credited with four of the Canadiens’ 15 first-period shots. Workhorse defenceman Mike Matheson played nearly half the period, coming in at 9:08.
News you need (Part II): The Canadiens have yet to win this season when allowing the opening goal.
Dumb penalty (Part I): In the opening period, Daniil Miromanov was called for tripping on Christian Dvorak, who has one goal and four points this season.
With friend like this, who needs enemies: The puck hit a falling Heineman and went directly to Connor Zary, who opened the scoring at 4:20 of the second period.
News you need (Part III): The Canadiens had two shots through 15 minutes of the second period.
Shots are overrated (Part I):Brendan Gallagher tied the score with his fifth goal this season late in the second period — on Montreal’s fourth shot of the period.
Pass of the night (Part I): Armia to Gallagher on the goal.
Dumb penalty (Part II): Justin Kirkland was called for holding on Dvorak, hardly an offensive threat, in the second period.
Unlucky: In the fifth minute of the third period, Slafkovsky made a nice move and was alone in the slot — but couldn’t beat the post.
News you need (Part IV): The Canadiens failed to register a shot through the opening five minutes of that period.
Shots are overrated (Part II): Armia gave Montreal a 2-1 lead just shy of six minutes into the period with a short-handed goal. It was the Canadiens’ first shot.
Pass of the night (Part II): Jake Evans to Armia on that goal, capping a two-on-one break.
How does this make sense: After sending 15 first-period shots at Dustin Wolf, the Canadiens tested the goalie only eight times over the final 40 minutes.
News you need (Part V): The Canadiens were assessed only one minor penalty. Might we suggest the hooking call on Hutson in the third period was borderline at best.
Sometimes the hockey gods aren’t on your side: Caufield almost scored an insurance goal in the third period, splitting the defence only to be stopped in alone. Gallagher almost scored an insurance goal later, but the Flames challenged the play and it was correctly determined Josh Anderson was offside. And in overtime, Dvorak won the faceoff against Mikael Backlund, but Suzuki lost his stick and Matt Coronato scored the winner only seven seconds in.
Quick stats: Suzuki was minus-2. Matheson blocked four shots and was on the ice for a team-high 26:23. Montembeault faced 36 shots for a save percentage of .917.
They said it: “Right now we’re fighting. We’re searching for results,” Gallagher said. “We’re working hard but it’s not easy. This is a tough league. Once we figure it out we’ll be better off but we can’t let too much time go by. There’s a slim margin between winning and losing in this league. When you have a lead in the third, at home, it should be a situation where you’re able to lock it down.”
“We kind of limited their scoring chances,” Anderson said. “It’s tough when they score in the last five minutes. I thought we had a great start.”
“Who knows? If a couple go in it’s a whole different game,” Evans said. “You don’t want it to come down to overtime or a play at the end. I thought we played pretty well.”