Kirby Dach played so poorly that he closed his Instagram account

Maxime Truman
Kirby Dach played so poorly that he closed his Instagram account
Credit: Instagram

The Lightning played a near-perfect game last night, and it paid off: the Floridians managed to snag Game 2 to even the series against the Canadiens. Both games played in Tampa Bay went into overtime (five-on-five) before a winner could be declared.

Even though, officially, the Habs players had more hits than the Lightning (43-34), we all have to admit one thing: the aggressors last night were the guys in blue, not the ones in white.

The Montrealers spent two and a half periods getting beaten up. By the end of the third period and into overtime, they were tired, they lacked energy… and they were giving the puck away instead of keeping it. When you don't have much playoff experience, you lack stamina, and the pressure builds quickly, you sometimes have the reflex to avoid wanting the puck too much—which will never do you any good on the ice.

Playoff hockey is a whole different beast.

We haven't seen enough of the Habs' top line at five-on-five since the start of the series. Yes, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky each had three points in the first two games, but those were power-play points. However, they all have a -3 plus/minus rating since the start of the series… and Juraj Slafkovsky gave the puck away on Nikita Kucherov's tying goal midway through the third.

(Credit: NHL.com)

Cole Caufield has a mere three shots on goal in 134 minutes. That's not enough for a guy who would have won the Maurice Richard Trophy if empty-net goals weren't included in the tally.

Nick Suzuki said before yesterday's game that his line needed to be better at five-on-five; they weren't. Will we bounce back on Friday at the Bell Centre, Nick?

There's also Ivan Demidov, who's going to have to find a way to make himself useful despite the fact that playoff hockey
has replaced regular-season hockey.

Tabar-Dach, Kirby!
I may have written about the first line and Ivan Demidov, but the fact remains that the worst player on the Habs yesterday was probably Kirby Dach. Dach was the second-least-used forward (10:53) behind Oliver Kapanen, and only two players (Texier and Newhook) finished the game with worse advanced stats.

Except that the real kicker with Dach is that he's directly responsible for the game-winning goal scored by J.J. Moser in overtime.

He played sloppily, allowing the Lightning to settle in the Canadiens' zone, he turned the puck over (after the team had regained possession) and gave it back to the Lightning, he cleared the puck before crossing the blue line (for fear of getting hit), and he made a weak and late check on J.J. Moser, who delivered the victory for the Bolts and their fans.

If he had made one less mistake in that sequence of four (errors), overtime would have continued. And even though the Canadiens players didn't seem to be on the same level as the Lightning, you never know what might have happened…

Dach finished the game with zeros across the board again; Martin St-Louis will have to seriously consider replacing him with Joe Veleno or Brendan Gallagher. Gallagher would never have made those four mistakes in overtime! He would have taken the hit and could have cleared the puck properly from the deep zone.

Kapanen and Dach aren't contributing much (in a positive way) to the team right now; we need to consider replacing them for Game #3. I wrote this a week ago and I'm writing it again today: Gallagher over Dach, please!

We'll know a little more tomorrow, when the team practices in Brossard in the morning.

Reminder: Kirby Dach's contract expires on June 30. To retain his rights, Kent Hughes will have to submit a qualifying offer of around $4 million or reach another agreement before July 1. Personally, I hope the Dach experiment doesn't continue.

Dach doesn't seem to realize what kind of player he really is. He's like a raccoon who thinks he's a lion. Kirby, you're a raccoon. Stop acting like you're the king of the jungle. Be realistic. Be humble.

This season, Dach has been more valuable to the team on the injured list than on the ice.

Instagram account closed

Hockey was a religion in Quebec; there will always be overly passionate fans. Kirby Dach's Instagram account
is currently closed.

(Credit: Instagram)

One might think he decided to do this because of the many negative comments he was receiving.

If there were hateful comments, I think he did the right thing by deactivating his account. There are limits. Too many people don't know the difference between criticism and insults…

Looking Ahead

If I had told you five days ago that the Canadiens would return to Montreal with the series tied 1-1, you'd all have been happy, right
?

The Habs find themselves in an interesting situation again today: they have to win another best-of-five series, with three games to be played at the Bell Centre (home-ice advantage).

The problem is that we're still seeing a team with the same issue as last year against the Capitals; the talent is there, but the team gets pushed around too much by the opponent. Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton will have to do what they failed to do last summer and at the last trade deadline: add muscle and size to their roster. And not the kind of muscle Kirby Dach brings—he plays small…

The bottom six is sorely lacking in grit right now. Danault, Evans, Kapanen, and Dach don't stand out physically. Bolduc? A little. Only Josh Anderson has the perfect profile to play on one of the last two lines in the playoffs.

No need to panic: if the Habs had scored on the power play late in the third, we'd be in an excellent position this morning… but we can't always count on the power play and the referees to boost our chances of winning.

I'll say it again: playoff hockey is a whole different ballgame.

Hopefully Josh Anderson (hit in the back) and Juraj Slafkovsky (knocked out in a fight) will be able to face the Lightning. If they were to have headaches today…

We'd be in deep s*it.

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