Tuesday night’s celebration of the 1970s Montreal Canadiens quickly turned into a reminder of how the mighty have fallen as the current-day Habs lost 7-2 to the New York Rangers at the Bell Centre.
Captain Nick Suzuki was the lone bright spot on offence. He ended his season-long goal-scoring drought with two goals.
Goalie Sam Montembeault was chased from the net after allowing four goals on nine shots in the opening frame. Cayden Primeau came in relief and stopped 32 of 35 shots.
The score could’ve been even worse, as the Rangers hit at least six posts on the night.
Juraj Slafkovsky missed the game with an upper-body injury and will be out at least a week. Justin Barron left in the third period after taking a thunderous hit from Jacob Trouba.
The Rangers sucked the celebratory air out of the room with three goals in the first 6:40. Mika Zibanejad kicked things off with a quick one-timer, followed by Jonny Brodzinski on a potential icing gone awry and Reilly Smith off a Lane Hutson turnover. Things could not have started off worse for the home team.
Just past the midway point of the period, Filip Chytil scored his first of two to end Montembeault’s night and give the Blueshirts a commanding 4-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Suzuki put the Habs on the board, down 4-1.
In the second, Suzuki scored a highlight reel goal on the power play to give the Habs a glimmer of hope.
It didn’t last. Before the halfway point of the contest, Braden Schneider beat Primeau for the first time on the night to reinstate New York’s three-goal advantage.
In the third period, the Rangers captain nailed Barron with a hit that left the Canadiens defenceman down on the ice. Mike Matheson jumped in to defend his teammate, forcing Trouba to drop the gloves. Barron clearly got his bell rung. His night was over.
After that, things unraveled further for the Habs. Chytil scored again, followed by a soft one by Kaapo Kakko to end the game at 7-2.
The liveblog commenters were justifiably rancorous after last night’s loss. Not only did the club look hopelessly outmatched against the 5-0-1 Rangers, but they failed to come out swinging with the living legends of the 1970s dynasty in attendance. It was a great opening ceremony, but everything that came after was the stuff of nightmares.
It was only their second game as a pairing, and between them, they’ve only played 12 NHL games total, but it was a rough night for the Lane Hutson-Logan Mailloux duo.
Arber Xhekaj sat for a second consecutive game, and during the Trouba situation, the liveblog commenters felt his presence was missed. Why is he sitting, anyway?
Coach Martin St. Louis will have plenty of time to reflect on his lineup choices, since the Habs don’t play again until Saturday.
The mantra entering the season was “in the mix,” but in October, this current iteration of the Habs looks to be as far away from being the playoff mix as last season. Of course, it’s still early, and there’s plenty of time to improve, but fans want to see tangible progress.
3. “I don’t mind getting outshot … but I am tired of being outshot by wide, wide margins. So far this season, counting tonight, we have been outshot 245-177. That is a rate of 138 against for every 100 for. We have been outshot every game this season.” — Michael Way
2. “I’m OK with rotating some of our D-men and having them each sit out once in awhile. I’m NOT OK with sitting out Arber for multiple consecutive games. There is ZERO chance we’re trading Arber, so why the nonsense? I just don’t get it.” — Carin Latzel
1. “Grew up in Montreal, was spoiled with great teams in the ’60s, ’70s even into the ’80s. Habs have won 17 cups in my lifetime so far, and I really want them to win another before I retire to the big locker room in the sky. So I am not a hater, but let’s be honest, they are still 3-4 years away from being really competitive with the young guys we have. However, we are still: too slow, too soft, too small overall, too ineffective with the current defensive system, too inconsistent with our goaltending, too slow to react to other teams’ offensive systems. Hugo still has a lot of work to do. I’m trying to be patient but it can be very frustrating watching our current team and coaches. Go Habs Go.” — Bob Taylor