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Canadiens Highlights: Demidov Plays The Hero Role
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- Canadiens Highlights: Demidov Plays The Hero Role
Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
The Montreal Canadiens were in Calgary on Wednesday night, facing the Flames in the first of three Western Canadian games.
Seeing as the Canadiens recently engaged in a rebuild, it must have been a frustrating reminder for Flames fans, who have only enjoyed a single win this season, and currently find their team in the basement of the NHL standings.
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The game necessitated overtime, where Mike Matheson and Ivan Demidov played the hero role for the Habs, who emerged with a 2-1 win.
Let's dive into the highlights!
Calgary Needs A New Arena
The game was delayed, as the broadcast lights in the ancient Calgary Saddledome failed to respond . They were eventually activated, though it took roughly 20 minutes for the lights to provide enough lighting for fans to identify the puck.
It reminded me of heading to the local pond at about 11 pm, and playing a few hours of shinny, but Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis was not amused by the technical difficulties.
Bold Duke
Admittedly, the Flames are a team without an identity, beyond hoping their goaltender will save the day. On that note, it was still encouraging to see Montreal's man advantage move the puck with quick, hard passes, including the perfect assist via Nick Suzuki to set up Zachary Bolduc 's fourth goal of the game.
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Dustin Wolf had played quite well to keep the score tied up until that point, but there's only so much a netminder can do when the opposing team is dominating the puck possession.
The Other Shoe Drops
The Canadiens played with the intensity and focus of a frozen bag of carrots to close out the game, which led to a mid-period goal by Flames forward Adam Klapka to tie the game at 1-1. It was the epitome of a brutal turnover by Noah Dobson , but to be fair, it was probably his only bad game this season, and his positive impact outweighs the odd giveaway by a wide margin.
Regardless, it was one error too much considering the Canadiens were struggling to maintain possession of the puck beyond the first period.
Demidov Impact
As per usual, it was one of the youngest players in the lineup who secured the win for the Canadiens. Full marks to Mike Matheson for the goal, but most of the credit has to go to Demidov, who drew the attention from all the Flames players on the ice before delivering a perfect pass onto Matheson's blade to secure the win for the Habs.
Additional Montreal Canadiens Notes And Statistics
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There's a clear trend in how the Canadiens have approached the first and second periods. They tend to do a great job in the first period, but they often take their foot off the gas in the second. Montreal held a 3-1 advantage in high-danger shots in the first 20 minutes, but were outchanced 0-3 in the following 20.
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The Habs did not score when Lane Hutson set up Cole Caufield with a nice outlet pass in the second period, but it was quite similar to the highlight-reel assist that saved the day last week versus the Nashville Predators . Unfortunately, Caufield was feeling a little too generous this time around. Ideally, the best sniper on the team would not hesitate to take that shot, as he did when he tied the game against the Predators.
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Dobes has been Montreal's best goaltender, and by a wide margin, however, there are always a few plays per game that lead to juicy rebounds, or erratic movements that result in scrambles near the crease. On that note, I'd argue he's doing a much better job tracking pucks this season, and criticizing the plays in which the puck does not end up in the net is akin to looking a gift horse in the mouth.
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The powerplay managed to score a goal, but it was the penalty kill that stood out among the special teams. Full marks to Jake Evans , who continues to be a puck hound whenever he's shorthanded.
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Will all due respect to the Flames, the Canadiens were lucky to face them on Wednesday. It was far from Montreal's best game of the year, and most teams would have blown them out of the water given their effort.
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It was arguably the top line's worst game of the season, but Juraj Slafkovsky did a good job retrieving pucks, and winning battles by using his size advantage to create time and space.
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Speaking of which, it was probably the worst game of the season for most of the lineup, Dobes and Demidov excluded.
The Montreal Canadiens will be back in action on Thursday, facing the Oilers in Edmonton . The puck drop is scheduled for 9:00 pm ET.
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All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick .
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