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Habs' Winning Streak Continues in Solid Victory
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- Habs' Winning Streak Continues in Solid Victory
Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
The Montreal Canadiens faced the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday afternoon, looking to push their winning streak to three consecutive games.
It was one of the best games of the year from Juraj Slafkovsky , not to mention Samuel Montembeault , leading to a 4-1 win for the Canadiens.
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For the view from the other side of the rink, don't forget to visit our sister site, Vegas Hockey Now .
Let's dive into the highlights!
It Starts In The Crease
Vegas was the dominant team to start the game, which led to an early powerplay for the hosts, but Habs netminder Samuel Montembeault arguably enjoyed his best period of the season.
He stopped all 11 shots sent his way, including a flurry of shots during the aforementioned Golden Knights man advantage.
He would go on to make 29 saves to secure the win.
Slafkovsky Driving The Charge
We'll see how long the new lines last, but one notable change has been the play of Slafkovsky, particularly in transition. He's creating a lot more controlled entries, and that's nothing but good news for the team.
He's also playing with a lot more confidence than he has in the last stretch, as evidenced by his perfect pass to set up Zachary Bolduc while the Canadiens played with an extra attacker.
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It was Bolduc's sixth goal of the game, and his third in two games. None of them took place at 5v5, and that's an issue that will have to be rectified eventually, but you don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially on the road.
Not Olympic Worthy!
Team USA is not expected to bring star sniper Cole Caufield to the 2026 Olympics, because, well, they're stuck in the past, which is ironic, since Team USA hasn't earned a medal in men's hockey at the last three Olympics.
If they keep their best goalscorers off the roster, they won't medal this time around either.
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Alas, Bill Guerin wants players who can land a lot of hits, despite the USA losing to Canada at the 4 Nations tournament because they couldn't score.
Unfortunately, Caufield doesn't do much hitting, he's busy scoring more goals than most hockey players in the league, which, arguably, holds value.
Unless you're in charge of assembling Team USA.
Worth Every Penny
The Montreal Canadiens announced a five-year contract extension for Mike Matheson prior to puck drop, which carries a very reasonable $6 million annual average value.
Matheson celebrated by putting together a great game, including his defensive play that was the catalyst to Montreal's third goal, to make it 3-0.
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An active stick and good positioning from Matheson gave Alexandre Texier his first point as a member of the organization, as Evans finally broke the breakaway curse, scoring the insurance goal in the process.
Quantity Vs. Quality
You may have read my article discussing the early results from the new top six , which concluded by saying the underlying numbers are far from encouraging.
But, it takes time to build chemistry, and though every line was outshot on Friday, the Habs actually held an edge in high-danger scoring chances (11-8) at 5v5.
Ideally, you would have a lead in both, and balance is important, but I'll always endorse leading the quality scoring chances rather than just the shot attempts.
The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Saturday, facing the Avalanche in Colorado . The puck drop is scheduled for 4 pm ET.
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All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick .
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