Welcome to another recap of the week in Montreal Canadiens Hockey.
This week, there were games against Toronto on February 10th, Edmonton the next day and wrapped up the week with a game in Toronto on February 13th.
February 10th: Toronto Maple Leafs
Game Recap:
Toronto Maple Leafs v. Montreal Canadiens – 7:30p ET
In an Original Six matchup the Montreal Canadiens would play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the first period Josh Anderson would net his 9th of the season to give the Canadiens the 1-0 lead. Then in the second period the Leafs would heat up as Travis Dermott would net his first of the season to tie the game at one. In the third period goals from Justin Holl and Ilya Mikheyev would grow the Leafs lead to two, but while the Canadiens would get a goal from Tomas Tatar, it would not be enough as the Leafs would ice the game with a Zach Hyman tally to give the Maple Leafs the 4-2 victory.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Line-up
| Zach Hyman — Auston Matthews — Mitchell Marner |
| William Nylander — John Tavares — Ilya Mikheyev |
| Jimmy Vesey — Alexander Kerfoot — Pierre Engvall |
| Nic Petan — Travis Boyd — Jason Spezza |
| Morgan Rielly — TJ Brodie |
| Jake Muzzin — Justin Holl |
| Travis Dermott — Zach Bogosian |
| Frederik Andersen |
| Michael Hutchinson |
Scratched: Rasmus Sandin, Mikko Lehtonen, Alexander Barabanov, Adam Brooks
Injured: Jack Campbell (leg), Joe Thornton (rib), Wayne Simmonds (wrist), Nicholas Robertson (knee)
Montreal Canadiens Projected Line-up
| Tomas Tatar — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher |
| Jonathan Drouin — Nick Suzuki — Josh Anderson |
| Tyler Toffoli — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Joel Armia |
| Corey Perry — Jake Evans — Artturi Lehkonen |
| Ben Chiarot — Shea Weber |
| Joel Edmundson — Jeff Petry |
| Brett Kulak — Alexander Romanov |
| Carey Price |
| Jake Allen |
Scratched: Victor Mete
Injured: Paul Byron
1st Period
| MTL Goal | Josh Anderson (9) | Assisted by | Jonathan Drouin (10) | 1:16 | |
| TOR Penalty | Pierre Engvall | for | Hi-sticking | 2 min minor | 10:37 |
| MTL Penalty | Shea Weber | for | Hooking | 2 min minor | 15:08 |
| MTL Penalty | Phillip Danault | for | Hooking | 2 min minor | 18:38 |
1st Period Stats
| Toronto – 0 | Montreal – 1 | ||
| Faceoffs | 8 of 19 | 11 of 19 | |
| Power Play | 0 for 2* | 0 for 1 | :38 left on PP |
| Shots | 6 | 9 | |
| Hits | 5 | 7 |
2nd Period
| TOR Penalty | Zach Bogosian | for | Holding | 2 min minor | 9:02 |
| TOR Penalty | Justin Holl | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 13:47 |
| MTL Penalty | Jake Evans | for | Slashing | 2 min minor | 13:47 |
| MTL Penalty | Joel Edmundson | for | Interference | 2 min minor | 20:00 |
| TOR Penalty | Zach Hyman | for | Embellishment | 2 min minor | 20:00 |
2nd Period Stats
| Toronto – 1 | Montreal – 1 | |
| Faceoffs | 16 of 36 | 20 of 36 |
| Power Play | 0 for 2 | 0 for 2 |
| Shots | 12 | 22 |
| Hits | 16 | 12 |
3rd Period
| TOR Goal | Justin Holl | Assisted by | John Tavares (9) | Jake Muzzin (7) | 1:50 |
| TOR Goal | Ilya Mikheyev | Assisted by | Alexander Kerfoot (4) | Zach Hyman (5) | 2:32 |
| MTL Goal | Tomas Tatar | Assisted by | Ben Chiarot (3) | Alexander Romanov (2) | 16:40 |
| TOR Goal | Zach Hyman | Assisted by | Auston Matthews (5) | Jake Muzzin (8) | 18:56 |
3rd Period Stats
| Toronto – 4 | Montreal – 2 | |
| Faceoffs | 27 of 51 | 24 of 51 |
| Power Play | 0 for 2 | 0 for 2 |
| Shots | 24 | 35 |
| Hits | 19 | 19 |
Game Highlights:
February 11th: Edmonton Oilers
Game Recap:
Edmonton Oilers v. Montreal Canadiens – 8p ET
For the second consecutive night, the Montreal Canadiens have a home game but tonight the Oilers visit. In the first period, Jujhar Khaira gets the Oilers on the board. In the second period, Edmonton takes the 2-0 lead with a Darnell Nurse goal. In the third, Tyson Barrie scores a PPG to give the Oilers the 3-0 lead. Edmonton goes on to shutout the Montreal Canadiens with the 3-0 win.
Edmonton Oilers Projected Line-up
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Connor McDavid — James Neal |
| Dominik Kahun — Leon Draisaitl — Kailer Yamamoto |
| Devin Shore — Kyle Turris — Alex Chiasson |
| Josh Archibald — Jujhar Khaira — Tyler Ennis |
| Darnell Nurse — Tyson Barrie |
| William Lagesson — Adam Larsson |
| Kris Russell — Evan Bouchard |
| Mike Smith |
| Dylan Wells |
Scratched: Caleb Jones, Slater Koekkoek, Mikko Koskinen
Injured: Ethan Bear (undisclosed), Zack Kassian (upper body), Gaetan Haas (undisclosed)
COVID-19 protocol: Jesse Puljujarvi
Montreal Canadiens Projected Line-up
| Jonathan Drouin — Nick Suzuki — Josh Anderson |
| Tyler Toffoli — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher |
| Tomas Tatar — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Joel Armia |
| 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, Corey Perry
Injured: None
1st Period
| EDM Goal | Jujhat Kharia (2) | Assisted by | Josh Archibald (2) | Tyler Ennis (2) | 08:27 |
1st Period Stats
| Edmonton – 1 | Montreal – 0 | |
| Faceoffs | 8 of 16 | 8 of 16 |
| Power Play | 0 for 0 | 0 for 0 |
| Shots | 8 | 11 |
| Hits | 13 | 17 |
2nd Period
| EDM Goal | Darnell Nurse (6) | Unassisted | 01:27 | ||
| MTL Penalty | Ben Chiarot | for | Tripping | 2 min minor | 12:50 |
2nd Period Stats
| Edmonton – 2 | Montreal – 0 | |
| Faceoffs | 13 of 33 | 20 of 33 |
| Power Play | 0 for 1 | 0 for 0 |
| Shots | 22 | 24 |
| Hits | 17 | 33 |
3rd Period
| MTL Penalty | Phillip Danault | for | Interference | 2 min minor | :55 |
| MTL Penalty | Josh Anderson | for Roughing | served by Jonathan Drouin | 2 min minor | 04:10 |
| EDM Penalty | William Lagesson | for | Holding | 2 min minor | 04:10 |
| MTL Penalty | Josh Anderson | for | Roughing | 2 min minor | 04:10 |
| EDM PPG | Tyson Barrie (3) | for | Leon Draisaitl (18) | Connor McDavid (19) | 04:44 |
| EDM Penalty | Evan Bouchard | for | Interference | 2 min minor | 14:12 |
| EDM Penalty | Darnell Nurse | for | Slashing | 2 min minor | 20:00 |
3rd Period Stats
| Edmonton – 3 | Montreal – 0 | |
| Faceoffs | 29 of 53 | 24 of 53 |
| Power Play | 1 for 3 | 0 for 1 |
| Shots | 31 | 38 |
| Hits | 26 | 44 |
Game Highlights:
February 13th: at Toronto Maple Leafs
Game Recap:
In the second match-up between Original Six clubs this week, this time the Habs visit Toronto. Montreal looks to get back in the win column while Toronto looks to extend their lead in the North Division. In the first period, Toronto gets on the board with Mitch Marner’s seventh goal of the season, assisted by Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman at 3:36. Montreal goes on the penalty kill when Tyler Toffoli goes to the penalty box for a Holding call at 15:35 in the period. The first period had 19 hits from the Habs while Toronto managed one hit, but Toronto had a large time of puck possession. In the second period, there were no goals or penalties. As the contest moves to the third period, Montreal ties the game with a goal by Tyler Toffoli, his 10th goal of the season. Toffoli’s goal is assisted by Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher with the time of the goal at 16:11. At the 16:54 mark, Brendan Gallagher scores his sixth goal of the season to give the Canadiens the 2-1 lead and eventual win with the assists on the goal coming from Jeff Petry and Tyler Toffoli.
Montreal Canadiens Projected Line-up
| Jonathan Drouin — Nick Suzuki — Josh Anderson |
| Tyler Toffoli — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher |
| Artturi Lehkonen — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Joel Armia |
| Paul Byron — Jake Evans — Corey Perry |
| Ben Chiarot — Shea Weber |
| Joel Edmundson — Jeff Petry |
| Victor Mete — Alexander Romanov |
| Carey Price |
| Jake Allen |
Scratched: Brett Kulak, Tomas Tatar
Injured: None
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Line-up
| Zach Hyman — Auston Matthews — Mitchell Marner |
| Ilya Mikheyev — John Tavares — William Nylander |
| Jimmy Vesey — Alexander Kerfoot — Pierre Engvall |
| Nic Petan — Travis Boyd — Jason Spezza |
| Morgan Rielly — TJ Brodie |
| Jake Muzzin — Justin Holl |
| Travis Dermott — Zach Bogosian |
| Frederik Andersen |
| Michael Hutchinson |
Scratched: Alexander Barabanov, Mikko Lehtonen, Joseph Woll
Injured: Nicholas Robertson (lower body), Joe Thornton (upper body), Jack Campbell (lower body), Wayne Simmonds (wrist)
1st Period:
| TOR Goal | Mitch Marner (7) | Assisted by | Auston Matthews (6) | Zach Hyman (6) | 3:36 |
| MTL Penalty | Tyler Toffoli | for | Holding | 2 min minor | 15:35 |
1st Period Stats
| Montreal – 0 | Toronto – 1 | |
| Faceoffs | 6 of 12 | 6 of 12 |
| Power Play | 0 for 0 | 0 for 1 |
| Shots | 6 | 9 |
| Hits | 18 | 1 |
2nd Period
No Goals
No Penalties
2nd Period Stats
| Montreal – 0 | Toronto – 1 | |
| Faceoffs | 11 of 25 | 14 of 25 |
| Power Play | 0 for 0 | 0 for 1 |
| Shots | 11 | 16 |
| Hits | 39 | 7 |
3rd Period
| MTL Goal | Tyler Toffoli (10) | Assisted by | Phillip Danault (6) | Brendan Gallagher (3) | 6:11 |
| MTL Goal | Brendan Gallagher (6) | Assisted by | Jeff Petry (9) | Tyler Toffoli (5) | 16:54 |
3rd Period Stats
| Montreal – 2 | Toronto – 1 | |
| Faceoffs | 17 of 35 | 18 of 35 |
| Power Play | 0 for 0 | 0 for 1 |
| Shots | 25 | 22 |
| Hits | 46 | 16 |
Game Highlights:
Analysis of the Week:
This was not a great week for Montreal, seeing as the Habs were playing against two of the best teams that the North Division has to offer. Between the two games against Toronto and the Edmonton game, the Habs finished the week 1-2 -0. On the season the Habs have a record of 9-4-2 (20 pts, .667%).
The faceoffs still are a bit of a troublesome area but the Habs are getting the shots off, but were not getting those shots in the back of the net. The penalties are still a bit of a problem however they are killing off those penalties. In the upcoming week the one area I’d like to see Montreal work out the overall puck possession and get back to the winning ways they had in the first month of the season.
Upcoming Canadiens Contests:
Saturday, February 20th: Toronto Maple Leafs, 7p ET
Sunday, February 21st: at Ottawa Senators, 7p ET
Tuesday, February 23rd: at Ottawa Senators, 7p ET
Thursday, February 25th: at Winnipeg Jets, 8p ET
Saturday, February 27th: at Winnipeg Jets, 10p ET
With only one game next week, there will be no Canadiens recap released next week. The next Canadiens recap will come Sunday, February 28th.
The Xperience Hockey Talk 