The Montreal Canadiens were back in action Sunday evening following the holiday break, kicking off a five-game road trip in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. The result was a 5-4 shootout loss for the Habs.
The young Habs have something to learn about smelling blood in the water.
The Lightning were depleted and tired, and took penalties in the first period. The Canadiens had three power plays, and got caught dipsy-doodling instead of capitalizing. I love how skilled our kids are, but they have something to learn about making the simple play sometimes. Zero goals to show when they should have smelled blood and went for the kill.
Instead, the Lightning found a second wind during the intermission and were able to take advantage of Habs misfortunes in the second period.
The Habs recovered to make it a game, but it should have been a different outcome.
I wouldn’t be sad if Marty tried someone else on the top line.
I think HuGo did well to get Zachary Bolduc in exchange for Logan Mailloux. I think Bolduc can be useful to the Canadiens. Watching him on that top line is getting on my nerves. I was hoping to see Dach there by the end of this road trip, but that seems to be off the table. We got a quick look at Texier there in the third, and hopefully it’s a better fit.
In the meanwhile, the Slafkovsky-Demidov duo looks fantastic and it’s easy to imagine what they might become. Suzuki and Caufield are missing Slaf.
Is it time to try Slafkovsky at centre?
He’s driving that second line. He’s a gifted playmaker… that no-look to Demidov was brilliant. He’s growing in confidence and it was obvious on that game-tying goal. I thought he might get the hatty in the overtime. Slaf looks very comfortable down the middle. Look at this screenshot on his first goal.
I’m not one to try and force players into a role they’ve not been developed in, but I genuinely wonder if this could work.
Phil Danault just looks right in a Habs jersey.
I’ve never been his biggest fan. I appreciate what he brings to the table, and those years of Tatar-Danault-Gallagher were impressive. But I’m not running his fan club. For me, he’s a complementary player, and if he becomes too important on a team, the team is probably not good enough.
That said, the timing of his return is perfect, and he just slid right back into that number 24 Habs jersey without a hiccup. His next assignment should be teaching Slaf how to take a draw.
Hab At Her 