Habs Lose Game One - Lots to Takeaway Going into Wednesday

Magic was in the air on Monday night as the Montreal Canadiens played their first playoff game since their magical run to the Stanley Cup Finals in the summer of 2021. However, this time, a brand new team, full of young life experienced their first real taste of what playoff hockey is all about.

The Canadiens fell 3-2 in overtime against the first-place Washington Capitals yesterday night, but like they have been doing all season, they continue to show resilience and fight back in the dying moments of the game. After being down 2-0 in the first 50 minutes of the game, Cole Caufield and Captain Nick Suzuki took charge and broke even versus Washington. While comebacks are awesome, especially for those who were at the Montreal Casino last night, the Habs need to play a full 60-minute game if they want any chance of taking this series. 

Positives and Negatives of Game One

Montreal held their own for the youngest playoff team in the history of the NHL in most players' first playoff game, and there is a lot to takeaway from the game. 

Positives

While the first period showed a nervous young team as expected, we saw guys like Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson feel intimidated, often getting dominated physically and having many mishaps with the puck. As the game went on, you could feel them begin to get more comfortable and start to take charge of the game. Lane Hutson ended the night with two assists. 

Montreal's first line of Slafkovsky-Suzuki-Caufield found success in the game, dominating the Capitals on 5v5. The shot attempts on the line were 11-3 in favour of Montreal. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield each got one goal while Juraj Slafkovsky continued to be a threat on the forecheck and behind the net. This line will be a key part of any success the Canadiens will have in the post-season.

Sam Montembeault did not disappoint in his first career playoff game last night. In the first period, with Washington on full pressure in the offensive zone, Monty stood tall and was the reason the game wasn't at 3-0 ten minutes in. He finished the game with 29 saves on 32 shots, but I wouldn't even blame him for a single goal that was let in...

Negatives

Oh boy.... I am not one to particularly blame the refs after a loss, but it would be extremely difficult not to, especially with the inconsistency that has already been shown after just three days of playoff hockey. For starters, Alexander Alexeyev gave Brendan Gallagher flashbacks to 2020 Matt Niskanen with a crosscheck to the chin, which surprisingly went uncalled. Especially given the night prior, when Ridly Greig did the same thing on John Tavares and a penalty was called. Then, Ivan Demidov did a full 360 in the air because of an interference hit by Ryan Leonard despite not even having the puck. The final blow was a missed cross-check from Matt Roy on Patrik Laine when the Habs tried doing a routine dump-in. Because it went uncalled, the play was called an "icing" and then led to Alex Ovechkin's first playoff goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Laine-Newhook-Demidov did not find much success last night, going -2 collectively as a line and failing to create a single scoring chance. The line was outchanced 11-1 on 5v5. Perhaps a tweak or two might need to be done on the forward group if they fail to generate some offence once again on Wednesday night. 

Shades of Rotenburg? Ivan Demidov played 11:57 minutes last night, which was the second lowest of any forward on the roster, ahead of Emil Heineman. It's understandable to try and get a 19-year-old's feet wet in only his third career game, but he can't generate much with the icetime of a fourth liner, deja vu from his KHL days, eh?

All in all, there was a lot to take away from Game 1, but it's refreshing to see this young Habs team not feel out of place versus the 1st place Washington Capitals. A win on Wednesday can generate lots of momentum going back to Montreal for games 3 and 4.