Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, today we will take a look at Week 3 of the Montreal Canadiens season
Here we go…
January 28, 2021 – Calgary Flames
For the Canadiens first home game of the season and the first home game in nearly a year, the Montreal Canadiens take on the Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames Projected Lines and Defenceman
| Matthew Tkachuk | Elias Lindholm | Andrew Mangiapane | ||
| Milan Lucic | Sean Monahan | Dominik Simon | ||
| Sam Bennett | Mikael Backlund | Josh Leivo | ||
| Milan Lucic | Derek Ryan | Joakim Nordstrom | ||
| Mark Giordano | Rasmus Andersson | |||
| Noah Hanfin | Christopher Tanev | |||
| Juuso Valimaki | Nikita Nesterov | |||
| David Rittich | ||||
| Jacob Markstrom |
Scratched: None
Injured: Dillon Dube (lower body)
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lines and Defenceman
| Tomas Tatar | Phillip Danault | Brendan Gallagher | ||
| Jonathan Drouin | Nick Suzuki | Josh Anderson | ||
| Tyler Toffoli | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | Corey Perry | ||
| Paul Byron | Jake Evans | Artturi Lehkonen | ||
| Ben Chiarot | Shea Weber | |||
| Joel Edmundson | Jeff Petry | |||
| Brett Kulak | Alexander Romanov | |||
| Carey Price | ||||
| Jake Allen |
Scratched: Victor Mete
Injured: Joel Armia (concussion)
1st Period
A slow start to the first period for their first game since Saturday night, Montreal gets a power play at 8:13 when Calgary’s Juuso Valimaki is called for Holding. Montreal gets on the board with a power play goal by Brendan Gallagher, his third on the season. Assists on the goal come from Corey Perry, his first, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, his third. Time of the Gallagher goal is 10:07. Montreal scores again with a power play goal by Shea Weber, his second goal of the season, at 15:39 in the period due to a Hooking penalty by Calgary’s Elias Lindholm at 14:30. The first period will come to a close as the Montreal Canadiens lead the Calgary Flames 2-0.
| CGY Penalty | Jusso Valimaki | for | Holding | 2 min minor | 08:13 |
| MTL PPG | Brendan Gallagher (3) | Assisted By | Corey Perry (1) | Jesperi Kotkaniemi (3) | 10:03 |
| CGY Penalty | Elias Lindholm | for | Hooking | 2 min minor | 14:30 |
| MTL PPG | Shea Weber (2) | Assisted by | Jeff Petry (6) | Jonathan Drouin (6) | 15:39 |
1st Period Stats
| Calgary | Montreal | |
| Faceoffs | 5 for 10 | 5 for 10 |
| Power Play | 0 for 0 | 2 for 2 |
| Shots | 9 | 8 |
| Hits | 12 | 5 |
2nd Period
At 8:22 in the period, Josh Anderson will score his a goal, his first goal on Montreal home ice. The Anderson goal is his fourth on the season. Most of the period after the Anderson goal is a lot of puck possession battles and shots between both teams. Montreal will go on the first penalty kill when Paul Byron is shown the box for Interference with 1:20 remaining in the period. The Canadiens Tyler Toffoli will score a shorthanded goal, his sixth goal on the season at 19:35 and at 19:54, Calgary is shown the penalty box at 19:54 with a Milan Lucic Roughing call. The third period will begin with 40 seconds of 4-on-4 play, followed by a Canadiens power play of 1:16
| MTL Goal | Josh Anderson (4) | Assisted by | 08:22 | ||
| MTL Penalty | Paul Byron | for | Interference | 2 min penalty | 18:40 |
| MTL SH Goal | Tyler Toffoli (6) | Assisted by | Nick Suzuki (5) | 19:35 | |
| CGY Penalty | Milan Lucic | For | Roughing | 2 min penalty | 19:54 |
2nd Period Stats
| Calgary | Montreal | |
| Faceoffs | 16 for 36 | 20 of 36 |
| Power Play | 0 for 1 | 2 for 3 |
| Shots | 16 | 19 |
| Hits | 23 | 11 |
3rd Period
The abbreviated power play comes to an end with no goal scored. Montreal heads to the box for the second time in the contest when Alexander Romanov heads to the box on a Playing Without a Helmet call at 2:33. Montreal’s Ben Chiarot gets called for a high-sticking penalty followed by a fighting penalty with Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk at 10:19. The minor penalty for high-sticking is served by Corey Perry. At 15:44, matching minor penalties are given to Montreal’s Jack Evans and Calgary’s Rasmus Anderson for Roughing. Calgary’s Sam Bennett scores his first goal of the season at 18:42 and the goal is challenged by Montreal for offsides. The goal is ruled good and Montreal goes on the penalty kill for a Delay of Game. Rasmus Andersson will score a PPG, his second goal of the season at 19:38.
Montreal goes on to win the first of nine match-ups on the season 4-2 over the Calgary Flames
| MTL Penalty | Alexander Romanov | for | Playing Without a Helmet | 2 min minor | 02:33 |
| MTL Penalty | Ben Chiarot | fro | Hi-sticking (served by Corey Perry) | 2 min minor | 10:19 |
| MTL Penalty | Ben Chiarot | for | Fighting | 5 min major | 10:19 |
| CGY Penalty | Matthew Tkachuk | for | Fighting | 5 min major | 10:19 |
| MTL Penalty | Jake Evans | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 15:44 |
| CGY Penalty | Rasmus Andersson | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 15:44 |
| CGY Goal | Sam Bennett (1) | Assisted by | Milan Lucic (2) | Derek Ryan (1) | 18:42 |
| CGY PPG | Rasmus Andersson (2) | Assisted by | Johnny Gaudreau (4) | Elias Lindholm (4) | 19:38 |
End of Game Stats
| Calgary | Montreal | |
| Faceoffs | 28 of 57 | 29 of 57 |
| Power Play | 1 for 4 | 2 for 3 |
| Shots | 25 | 21 |
| Hits | 26 | 18 |
Game Highlights:
January 30, 2021 – Calgary Flames
The Flames and Canadiens meet again after the Habs 4-2 win over Calgary Thursday night as the Canadiens look to avoid their first loss on the season.
Calgary Flames Projected Lines and Defenceman
| Matthew Tkachuk | Elias Lindholm | Andrew Mangiapane | ||
| Milan Lucic | Sean Monahan | Dominik Simon | ||
| Sam Bennett | Mikael Backlund | Josh Leivo | ||
| Milan Lucic | Derek Ryan | Joakim Nordstrom | ||
| Mark Giordano | Rasmus Andersson | |||
| Noah Hanfin | Christopher Tanev | |||
| Juuso Valimaki | Nikita Nesterov | |||
| David Rittich | ||||
| Jacob Markstrom |
Scratched: Dominik Simon
Injured:
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lines and Defenceman
| Tomas Tatar | Phillip Danault | Brendan Gallagher | ||
| Jonathan Drouin | Nick Suzuki | Josh Anderson | ||
| Tyler Toffoli | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | Corey Perry | ||
| Paul Byron | Jake Evans | Artturi Lehkonen | ||
| Ben Chiarot | Shea Weber | |||
| Joel Edmundson | Jeff Petry | |||
| Brett Kulak | Alexander Romanov | |||
| Jake Allen | ||||
| Carey Price |
Scratched: Victor Mete
Injured: Joel Armia (concussion)
1st Period
In the first period, Montreal goes on the penalty kill when Brett Kulak goes to the box for an Interference call at 3:00. 34 seconds later, Calgary makes it a 1-0 game with a PPG by Johnny Gaudreau, his fifth goal of the season. The assists on the goal go to Elias Linholm, his fifth, and Matthew Tkacuk, his second. At 11:03, Calgary is called for Roughing and a Cross-checking call, with Josh Leivo and Rasmus Andersson being show the box. Montreal is also called at 11:03 for a Roughing call and at 11:40, Montreal is called for Hi-sticking with the two penalties going to Corey Perry and Phillip Danault, respectively. Montreal goes on the power play when Andrew Mangiapane is called for Roughing with 16 seconds remaining in the period.
| MTL Penalty | Brett Kulak | for | Interference | 2 min minor | 03:00 |
| CGY PPG | Johnny Gaudreau (5) | Assisted by | Elias Lindholm | Matthew Tkachuk | 03:34 |
| CGY Penalty | Josh Leivo | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 11:03 |
| MTL Penalty | Corey Perry | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 11:03 |
| CGY Penalty | Rasmus Anderssobn | for | Cross Checking | 2 min minor | 11:03 |
| MTL Penalty | Phillip Danault | for | Hi-sticking | 2 min minor | 11:40 |
| CGY Penalty | Andrew Mangiapane | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 19:44 |
1st Period Stats
| Calgary | Montreal | |
| Faceoffs | 10 of 22 | 12 of 22 |
| Power Play | 1 for 2 | 0 for 1 (1;44 left on PP) |
| Shots | 16 | 11 |
| Hits | 10 | 5 |
2nd Period
The first five minutes of the period is a battle of puck possession. At 6:14, Montreal announced that Josh Anderson is out for the remainder of the game with no explanation given as well as Montreal going on the power play with Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson going to the box again but this time for Roughing. At 8:03, Montreal’s power play is killed when Tyler Toffoli goes the box for Hooking. At 9:26, Calgary goes to the box for 4 on 4 play when Mikael Backlund is called for Hi-sticking. Montreal goes back to the box again when Shea Weber is given a two-minute penalty for Roughing against Calgary’s Dillon Dube 12:47. At 15:05, Montreal is on the PK again when Jonathan Drouin goes off for a Tripping call and at 18:05 Calgary goes on the penalty kill when Mikael Backlund goes off for an Interference call.
In the third period, there will be 5 seconds left on the Montreal power play.
| CGY Penalty | Rasmus Andersson | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 06:43 |
| MTL Penalty | Tyler Toffoli | for | Hooking | 2 min minor | 08:03 |
| CGY Penalty | Mikael Backlund | for | Hi-sticking | 2 min minor | 09:26 |
| MTL Penalty | Shea Weber | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 12:47 |
| MTL Penalty | Jonathan Drouin | for | Tripping | 2 min minor | 15:05 |
| CGY Penalty | Mikael Backlund | for | Interference | 2 min minor | 18:05 |
2nd Period Stats
| Calgary | Montreal | |
| Faceoffs | 25 of 44 | 19 of 44 |
| Power Play | 1 for 5 | 0 for 4 |
| Shots | 21 | 27 |
| Hits | 16 | 11 |
3rd Period
Heading into the period, Montreal needs to stay out of the box as much as possible. The Canadiens need to slow down the aggressive play a bit and play smart. At 5:50 in the period, Calgary goes on the penalty kill when Josh Leivo is called for Holding. At 10:48, Montreal heads to the penalty kill when Brett Kulak is called for Interference. Calgary seals the win with a goal by Mikael Backlund, his second on the season, with 32 seconds left in the contest. The loss by the Canadiens is the first loss in regulation on the season.
| CGY Penalty | Josh Leivo | for | Holding | 2 min minor | 05:50 |
| MTL Penalty | Brett Kulak | for | Interference | 2 min mnor | 10:48 |
| CGY EN Goal | Mikael Backlund (2) | Assisted by | Elias Lindholm (6) | 19:28 |
3rd Period Stats
| Calgary | Montreal | |
| Faceoffs | 32 of 61 | 29 of 61 |
| Power Play | 1 for 6 | 0 for 5 |
| Shots | 33 | 37 |
| Hits | 23 | 17 |
Game Highlights:
Analysis
This week of two games against the Calgary Flames were competitive games. The issue over the week was the penalties. Despite Montreal only having one loss in regulation thus far on the season, Montreal can’t expect to win a lot of games if they’re in the box.
With Josh Anderson leaving unexpectedly during the contest against the Flames on Saturday, hopefully there isn’t a bigger issue there. Hopefully Anderson can come back at 100% for the Canadiens contest against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.
Upcoming games
Monday, February 1st: Vancouver Canucks
Tuesday, February 2nd: Vancouver Canucks
Thursday, February 4th: Ottawa Senators (Montreal will have the on-ice debut of the new Reverse Retro jersey in this contest)
Saturday, February 6th: at Ottawa Senators
