The Montreal Canadiens haven’t won in Minnesota since 2011, and that dry spell continued with a 3-0 loss against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.
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Twin titans Matthew Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov each hit double-digits in goals on the season to lead the Wild on offence.
The Canadiens failed to light the lamp against Filip Gustavsson, who made 19 saves for the shutout.
Montreal’s forwards failed to even record a shot on goal in the first period.
In the second, Lane Hutson tried his hardest to break the ice, but he’s still looking for his first career goal.
Past the midway point of the second period, Boldy scored his 10th of the season. He completed a crisp tic-tac-toe passing sequence with linemates Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson. 1-0 Wild.
Fast-forward to the third period, Jayden Struble committed the cardinal sin of drawing blood from Jared Spurgeon on a high stick. With only seven seconds remaining in the four-minute penalty, Marco Rossi scored his fifth to give the Wild a 2-0 lead.
Montreal’s poorly timed parade to the box continued late in the third period when Hutson was sent to the sin bin for retaliating against Ryan Hartman. With time winding down, Kaprizov potted an empty netter to seal a 3-0 win on home ice for the Wild.
Kaiden Guhle had the only shot for the bulk of the first period and one of the few quality chances in the second, so not surprisingly he’s atop last night’s stat card.
More telling was just how dominant Boldy and Kaprizov were: their 10 shots were just one less than all the Habs forwards combined. It should also be noted that the Wild were down two forwards after Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello left with injuries in the first.
The liveblog commenters saw the scoreless first as a minor improvement but otherwise felt the Habs handed the Wild an easy win.
Montreal had three power plays of their own and came up empty. Is it time for more serious line juggling with the man advantage? Why is Joel Armia still out there on the second unit?
3. “When you are down by one with 10 minutes to go, I don’t know if taking six minutes worth of penalties is a great strategy to equalize.” — Justin Miller
2. “Sometimes I came across today about when should the Habs get experience NHLers to give support to the under 23 (11) playing now. The example they point out was a young Modano in dire need of support in the middle second line and teammates all young and in 1995 they traded for Nieuwendyk, brought in Balfour, Keane and Carbonneau to win it all in 1998-99 …” — Hunter Muskoka
1. “The league leading goal scorer was rewarded with Jake Evans as his centre. Congratulations Cole.” — Johnny Roberts