It was a must-win for the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal had a chance to be one point out of the playoffs at the American Thanksgiving break. Most of the time, if a club is in the playoffs at Thanksgiving, that club makes the playoffs. The Canadiens are one point out of the playoffs after a 3-2 shootout win.
Wilde Horses
The Canadiens had only two good sequences in the first two periods, but at least the right player was a main catalyst.
Juraj Slafkovsky led a 2-on-1 rush. The defender took away the pass. Slafkovsky shot. He’s been reluctant to shoot, so it was good to see him take the right option.
However, the shot wasn’t much as he fired it essentially right into the torso of Mackenzie Blackwood who didn’t have to move to make the save. A pro shooter has to be finding a corner with a big amount of time.
Still, no one will deny the follow-up from Slafkovsky after the shot. The puck came back to the Slovakian and he made an amazing pass to Cole Caufield cross-ice. Caufield should have counted on the pass. It was a no-look pass through three players. It was one of the best passes of Slafkovsky’s career, if not the best.
The other top moment was a big one for Jayden Struble. In only his second NHL game, Struble got his first NHL point. It was a cross-point pass to Jonathan Kovacevic who roofed the shot. Struble did an outstanding job selling he would take the shot. He put his body in a position to shoot and looked squarely at the goalie. That opened up the ice for Kovacevic to make it count. Deception is often the start of success at the NHL level.
Leave a Reply