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Christian Dvorak in overtime: Phillip Danault’s ghost is back

 Sarah Jones
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Christian Dvorak in overtime: Phillip Danault’s ghost is back
Credit: Getty Images
Last night, the Canadiens lost. I could also have said that the Habs played on a Tuesday and it would have had the same effect.

Joking aside, after two straight games of getting destroyed on Tuesdays, the Canadiens offered a much more dignified outing last night. Martin St-Louis’ men even took the game into overtime against the Flames.

But in the space of seven seconds, the club conceded its third goal of the game and that was it.

Say what you will about what happened at the faceoff on Nick Suzuki or Christian Dvorak, but the fact remains that the Flames scored in part because Dvorak didn’t win his faceoff cleanly.

That’s why he was there.

Because, yes, Mike Matheson and Nick Suzuki started overtime with Dvorak. Even if he didn’t have an ugly game (by his 2024 standards, at least), he didn’t deserve to be there.

Imagine losing at three-on-three without Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson touching the ice…

Dvorak was there to win his face-off. And although he was good yesterday (73.7% efficiency in the face-off circle), he wasn’t able to win the one that mattered most.

Remember that this week, Marc Bureau came to Brossard to help the centers.

It reminds us of when Claude Julien and Dominique Ducharme sent Phillip Danault to start the 2021 extension. He, too, was there to win the face-off.

And that enraged everyone.

A good overtime team plays to win and sends its best players out on the ice from the opening face-off. They trust them, instead of sending in a “specialist” for a few seconds.

The Canadiens, on the other hand, played and still play, a few years later, not to lose. And yesterday, they lost.

Right-handed as he may be, Nick Suzuki still won more than 60% of his face-offs yesterday. He’s no deuce of spades in this respect, and would have had a chance of winning the face-off, too.

Yesterday, the Habs paid for their blunder in cash , leaving a point on the table. It lost in seven seconds, one second away from making history, since the fastest overtime in history lasted six seconds.

So, for the fourth time in a row, the Canadiens lost.

This is the ninth time the Habs have lost this season. The club isn’t #InTheMix , since winning only four times in thirteen games isn’t exactly enough.

(Credit: NHL.com)

But at least the players’ effort was there (the Habs didn’t throw up on themselves) and the guys didn’t get washed up on a Tuesday night. If there were a column for moral victories, that would be a nice little two points.

So what else am I holding back?

1. Lane Hutson was everywhere on the ice. You could see him flying across the ice, and he was very creative… even if he wasn’t always placed in winning conditions to score.

Joel Armia, Oliver Kapanen, Alex Newhook and Josh Anderson on the second wave with him? At least it wasn’t Mr. Five-on-Three and Mr. Prolongation, i.e. Christian Dvorak.

2. We were talking about Marc Bureau earlier. But what was his impact on yesterday’s game? How much better or worse did the guys do in the face-off circle against the Flames?

Here’s how it looked.

  • Christian Dvorak: 73.7
  • Nick Suzuki: 62.5
  • Jake Evans: 55.6
  • Oliver Kapanen: 20
3. Yesterday, Juraj Slafkovsky took two shots on goal, but he seemed to be in a better position to do so. My colleague Marc-Olivier Cook wanted to see him take a few more shots on goal.

By the way, speaking of colleague Cook, he’s lying here: he doesn’t find it “harmless” at all.

4. We couldn’t wait to see how Samuel Montembeault would react following a couple of difficult outings. And while he wasn’t perfect, it’s clear he was much better last night.

Good for the Habs.

5. The Habs didn’t play badly, but they only took eight shots on goal in the last 40:07 minutes of play. 23 shots against 36, after leading 15-10 after 20 minutes, is not enough.

Something to work on.

6. Brendan Gallagher scored on the powerplay yesterday, and had it not been for an offside he would have scored a second time during the game. That might have helped avoid overtime.

He’s doing well, Gally. He and Jake Evans have been surprises for the past month.


Overtime

The Canadiens will practice at 11 a.m. this morning in Brossard. Then it’s off to New Jersey to convince Johnathan Kovacevic to return.

Tomorrow, the Devils are on the menu. And Saturday night, the Maple Leafs host the Canadiens.

Next week, the club will be in Buffalo on Monday (at 12:30 p.m.) before a game in Minnesota on Thursday evening, at 8 p.m. It’s sure to be a busy week on the road for Martin St-Louis’ men.

Next Saturday? Columbus will be in town. But that’s a long way off.

This content was created with the help of AI.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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