At least Juraj Slafkovsky found a way to score (again)

Last night, the Canadiens were in Vancouver to take on the Canucks. Trevor Letowski’s men lost 4-1. Who listened to the game right to the end?

Not surprisingly, the Habs lost another game. It’s no surprise, given that the team is rebuilding, that the regular coach isn’t here and that Vancouver has a big team, but still: the Habs have just one point from a possible six since the start of the trip.

My buddy Tankathon is very happy.

What’s special is that even though it finished 4-1, you can’t say that the Habs have been washed clean. The team still managed to hold its own against a big team.

But they didn’t come close to winning.

Even if the Habs were committed at the start of the game, there’s a reason why they lost: the first line was relatively invisible last night. Juraj Slafkovsky, in particular, didn’t have a big one in him.

Given that he’s been playing well for several games, it’s not the end of the world. That said, yesterday was difficult.

But as a good player is a good player, he still found a way to find the back of the net. Cole Caufield helped him and Slaf scored his 15th goal of the campaign.

It’s his seventh point in his last six games and his 23rd point (including 11 goals) in his last 27 games, which is no mean feat. So he’s found another way to score.

It’s good to see that even though he didn’t have a big one in the system, he still found a way to get on the scoresheet. After a slow period between February 21 and March 7, he’s had at least one point in every game since the trade deadline.

The Habs have been losing ever since… but that’s a detail.

But that’s not all there is to yesterday’s game, the third of a five-game trip out West. Seattle and Denver are on the menu next.

So, what’s on my mind?

1. I don’t know to what extent Martin St-Louis’ absence is being felt during the games, since the Habs are losing… but they were losing before too. The Habs have one point out of a possible six since his absence.

Obviously, his absence is felt in general, I’m well aware of that. My question has more to do with ranking points.

2. During the game, in the first period, one of the Canucks’ goals was not shown live on RDS because it was scored while the commercial break was still in progress.

But to compensate, fans were able to celebrate Slaf’s goal a little because the horn guy in Vancouver was sleeping on the switch and we heard, for a moment, the siren following the Habs player’s goal.

Slaf has 7 points in his last 6 games

Just tippppp it in #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/6EzQ442AjS

– Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) March 22, 2024

3. Tanner Pearson was back at his old home. He received a very… sober welcome from his former organization. The legendary Casey DeSmith, meanwhile, faced his former team.

So much for that.

4. Kaiden Guhle was back on his strong side, on the left… but he didn’t have the best game of his career, let’s say. He was penalized (although one wonders why), but above all he was hit more often than not.

That’s never a good sign.

5. Samuel Montembeault didn’t make a difference during the match , and he’s had just one win for too long. He was up against a good team, but he still gave away four goals on just 25 shots. At least he didn’t concede when down a man.

That’s a good start… even if the goalie is the first to admit that the penalties hurt the team.

6. On the power play, we saw Mike Matheson continue not to pass the puck to Juraj Slafkovsky… but I like this unit better than the second one. Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson and Tanner Pearson are…

Let me find an antonym for “dangerous” and I’ll get back to you.

7. Michael Pezzetta has realized over the last two games that he needs to make himself as indispensable as possible and play his role as effectively as possible to keep playing.

And his coach has noticed.

Overtime

– The Canadiens will train today in Seattle… but not on the ice. It will be an off-ice training session and there will be no media availability on Friday.

– I’d like to take this opportunity to pass on the following message: if you ever feel like writing for the site, don’t hesitate to contact us. Here’s the e-mail address: info@danslescoulisses.com

– Attention ball lovers.

Episode #4 of the @passion_mlb podcast with @SebasBerrouard. What’s on the menu?

Santiago Espinal transaction
Games in Korea
Shohei Ohtani situation
Blake Snell in San Francisco
National predictionshttps://t.co/4SvCjw4Gwo

– Charles-Alexis Brisebois (@Charles__Alexis) March 22, 2024