The habs beat their nemesis

Vincent Larue
The habs beat their nemesis
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

The Canadiens took on the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre. The Wild had won the previous nine meetings between the two teams.

For the Montreal club, Kirby Dach returned to the line-up and was placed on the first line. It was also the return to the line-up of Jayden Struble, who had taken Arber Xhekaj's place. Alexandre Texier was left out, as he is being evaluated day by day.

Here's the Habs line-up with Jakub Dobes in net:

Here's the Wild lineup:

From the opening moments of the game, the Canadiens had multiple chances to score, but it was the Wild who opened the scoring.

Vladimir Tarasenko unleashed a powerful shot on a Matt Zuccarello pass. All on the powerplay.

Five minutes later, Phillip Danault made amends for his mistake on the Wild goal.

The Québécois pounced on the rebound from Kaiden Guhle's shot and brought both teams back to square one.

Alexandre Carrier has developed a taste for scoring goals. He deflected a shot from Mike Matheson's blue line and the puck found its way behind the Wild goalie.

Carrier's Bobblehead night came to life.

The Habs took a 2-1 lead.

The Habs outshot the Wild in the first period, 15 to 2.

Midway through the second period, Brock Faber tied the game and left the Bell Centre in silence.

He unleashed a shot from the blue line that Jakub Dobes would surely love to see again.

Two minutes later, Ivan Demidov remained patient and passed to Lane Hutson. The latter unleashed a cannonball that found its way into the back of the net.

Yes, Lane Hutson!

At the end of the period, Marcus Foligno tripped all alone on the line and… the Canadiens took a penalty. Martin St-Louis was beside himself, and it was Huston who ended up in the penalty box.

Midway through the third period, Kaiden Guhle blocked an initial shot, but Vladimir Tarasenko pounced on the return to bring both teams back to square one.

With 15 seconds left in the game, Cole Caufield unleashed a powerful shot into the top corner that beat the Wild goalie.

Final score: 4-3 in favor of the Canadiens.

The Canadiens take on the Buffalo Sabres this Thursday at the Bell Centre.


overtime

– Kirby Dach played a decent game. Not surprising, given that he hadn't played since November 15. Dach didn't have much of a chance to score, but he got in front of the opposing net and disrupted it.

– Phillip Danault scored his first goal of the season. A goal that made him feel better. But more importantly, his first goal in a Canadiens uniform since May 3, 2021.

– Jakub Dobes won another game without being very good. Indeed, the goalie allowed 3 goals on just 19 shots. Even though he's used to not being the best technically, his moves were very questionable.

– It's also worth mentioning that the Wild arrived in Montreal at 2:00 a.m. on the day of the game. It showed in the shootout, but they were able to stay in the game until the end.

– The refereeing was horrible throughout. Other than the penalty given to Hutson, a number of gestures went unpunished.

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