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Dans les coulisses

Canadian dominated all the way against the Blues

Tonight, the Canadiens were in St. Louis to complete their three-game road trip, taking on the Blues before heading home.

For the occasion, Martin St-Louis stirred the pot with the absence of Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and the return of Christian Dvorak to the line-up. That said, what really caught the eye was the fact that Juraj Slafkovský was given the opportunity to play alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield on the first line.

For the Blues, here’s the lineup sent into the fray by Craig Berube.

Note that it was auxiliary goaltender Joel Hofer in front of the home net.

Early in the game, the Blues made sure to set the tone. Just 94 seconds into the game, Jordan Kyrou put the Blues ahead.

He made himself somewhat forgotten in the CH zone.

That said, it didn’t take long for the Tricolore to hit back. With the club on the power play, Slafkovský took advantage of Alex Newhook’s assist to put his team on the scoreboard.

It was the first goal of the season for Slaf, who hadn’t scored since December 1.

Yet late in the period, the Blues’ attack struck again, as Robert Thomas restored his team’s lead.

He got out his Sunday hands on Saturday night.

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After 20 minutes, therefore, the Blues were leading 2-1.

In the second, Marc Bergevin’s eternal target made the Tricolore pay, as Brandon Saad unleashed a good shot on the rebound in the opponent’s zone that beat Samuel Montembeault.

Not Alex Newhook’s best sequence.

But even though the CH was dominated, the club still found a way to respond. Once again, it was the veteran trio that was solid, as Sean Monahan fed Brendan Gallagher.

Tanner Pearson’s beautiful screen allowed #11 to bring the teams back to within one goal of each other.

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So, after 40 minutes, the Blues were leading 3-2.

In the third period, the CH came out strong in the opening moments, but the Blues held on.

And clearly, it took its toll on the Tricolore, who saw the Blues score two quick goals to nail the Montrealers’ coffin shut.

Alexey Toropchenko (shorthanded) and Brayden Schenn (his first as Blues captain) put the game out of reach.

Kasperi Kapanen scored into an empty net with minutes left in the game, and Nick Suzuki scored a late goal after the game was already lost.

That completed the scoring in a game where there was no shortage of goals.

Final score: 6-3 Saint-Louis

The Canadiens will be back in action on Tuesday night, when they finally return home. For the occasion, the Tampa Bay Lightning will be in town.

Extension

– Maybe it’s the fact that the club was playing the last game of a week on the road, but this was possibly the Tricolore’s worst effort of the season. There were some good moments, but it was very difficult overall. The energy and heart just weren’t there tonight. It happens, though: the important thing is to get back up on Tuesday night.

– After seeing the Coyotes taunt Juraj Slafkovský on X ( or Twitter) on Thursday night, the Blues also spoiled themselves tonight by taunting Arber Xhekaj. Oops.

– Mike Matheson had a terrible game. I don’t know if it’s fatigue or if he’s suffering from an injury, but he possibly played his worst game in a Tricolore uniform. I’m willing to believe that the club can’t really afford him in the absence of David Savard, but if Matheson is injured, we’ll have to think about protecting him from himself, because tonight, he looked like Jeff Petry in 2021-22, and that’s not a compliment.

– I didn’t hate it.

– Juraj Slafkovský showed some very nice things tonight on the team’s first line. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but we saw him be incisive and aggressive with the disc, something he hasn’t often been since the start of the season. He’ll have to do it consistently, but there were encouraging signs tonight.