The Habs were hot, but came out on top against the Philadelphia Flyers

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Crédit:

On Sunday evening, Matvei Michkov played his first game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Before the game, he had already amassed nine points in eight short games.

For the occasion, Cayden Primeau guarded the Philadelphia cage, since Samuel Montembeault had played the day before.

For the Flyers, 22-year-old Belarusian goaltender Aleksei Kolosov played his first career NHL game.

Interestingly, he was the first Belarusian goaltender to play in NHL history.

It was also a duel between two very good friends, the two head coaches, Martin St-Louis and John Tortorella.

Here’s the Habs line-up for the game:

Right from the start, we saw a very involved Lane Hutson.

With less than three minutes left in the game, the diminutive defenseman moved very well (as usual) in the offensive zone and came very close to scoring his first career goal.

After easily disposing of Nicolas Deslauriers along the boards, he unfortunately hit the post.

He also gave his club another chance to score on the same sequence.

A few minutes after this Hutson presence, we thought we’d be treated to an Arber Xhekaj fight, but everyone was wrong.

Veteran Sean Couturier collided with Kirby Dach and his head was hit.

Of course, like a true protector, Xhekaj invited Couturier to dance.

The latter didn’t seem too keen on facing the colossus, but when he realized he had no choice, he finally threw down the gloves, which Xhekaj also did afterwards.

Just as the fight was about to start, Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler came out of nowhere and jumped on #72…

Result of the skirmish: Arber Xhekaj was the only penalty on the sequence and served two minutes for game misconduct…

You don’t need to say much more, but I’ll give you a chance to judge the sequence for yourself:

Once again, the referees escaped a worse one on this sequence.

That said, the Habs could console themselves by relying on their excellent numerical disadvantage.

In fact, prior to Sunday’s games, Montreal ranked third in the NHL for shorthanded efficiency, with a success rate of nearly 90%.

Shortly after Xhekaj’s dubious penalty, which was easily killed by the Habs, captain Nick Suzuki stepped up to score his third goal of the season.

Jayden Struble moved the puck very well during his shift and fired it into the net.

Kirby Dach, who was passing in front of the opposing goalie, took the return and deflected it to his captain, who had a wide-open net.

Here’s a seventh straight game with at least one point for #14.

Late in the period, however, the Flyers tied the game thanks to Travis Sanheim.

Habs’ Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway were also on the scoresheet.

In the second period, the game swung heavily in the Habs’ favor, as they scored three unanswered goals.

First, with less than five minutes left in the second, Brendan Gallagher, true to form, stepped in front of the net to deflect Logan Mailloux’s shot.

The footage shows him stretching out his leg to take the deflection.

Josh Anderson picked up his third assist of the season, while Mailloux now has two points.

For a rare occasion, the Habs are showing good powerplay efficiency.

And of course, it took none other than Cole Caufield to score another goal on the man advantage.

Suzuki picked up his second point of the game, while Mike Matheson collected his 8ᵉ assist of the season.

The captain now has 11 points in his last seven games.

In the last nine games, the Habs have scored in AN in eight of them.

And finally, three minutes later, Jake Evans flashed the red light for the second time in as many games.

On this goal, Gallagher collected an assist by breaking his stick.

It was probably one of the slowest cross-crease passes I’ve ever seen.

Savard was also an accomplice on the goal.

The third period, unlike the second, was much quieter.

There were chances on both sides, but it looked like the Habs would come out on top.

But at the end of the period, the Flyers scored two goals in 29 seconds.

Travis Sanheim threaded the needle for the second time in the game, while Travis Konecny narrowed the gap to a single goal.

Too little too late for Philadelphia, as the game ended 4-3 to the Habs.

The Habs’ next game is next Tuesday, when the Kraken visit Martin St-Louis’ team at the Bell Centre.

Extension

– Since his transfer to the wing of the first line, Kirby Dach has been having a great time. He’s feeling creative, he’s not afraid to get his hands out on Sunday, he feeds his teammates very well and uses his shot when he needs to.

Seeing him on the wing seems to be the most beneficial solution for the Habs. We’re seeing the real Kirby Dach, and it’s a sight to behold.

– Once again, David Savard had a strong game. As usual, he was very effective defensively and wasn’t afraid to throw himself in front of shots to block them.

It was a little more difficult for the veteran at the very start of the season, and that’s normal, as he’s getting older. But you have to be patient while he finds his comfort zone, and once in it, he’s a very reliable defender.

– Brendan Gallagher particularly impressed me in this game. We saw him do what he does best: get in front of the net, disrupt opponents(including Matvei Michkov) and even collect two points in the game.

That’s the Gallagher we want to see, because that’s where he’s most useful to a team.

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