A blocked shot at one end of the ice, then a goal at the other end, and the Canadiens players’ night turned into a nightmare in front of the team’s former glories.
The New York Rangers took advantage of the generosity of a group that repeatedly shot itself in the foot early in the game and cruised to a 7-2 victory over the Montreal hockey club.
Before the game, the Canadiens paid tribute to the players who won the Stanley Cup four times in a row from 1976 to 1979. Fifteen players were present, including five who have their names on a banner in the upper reaches of the Bell Centre – Bob Gainey, Ken Dryden, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard. Dryden and Savard took the floor to thank the fans for their support.
On the opening sequence, Jacob Trouba blocked a dangerous shot by Lane Hutson, then Mika Zibanejad gave the Rangers the lead on the counterattack. Things quickly unfolded for the Habs, who trailed 4-0 after 11:05 of play.
The Tricolore tried to get back on track afterwards, but the damage was done.
“I think it was a great ceremony, it was special to see those guys on the ice,” said Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki, who scored his first two goals of the season. “We wanted to get off to a good start and it ended with the puck in our net. It put us on our heels.”
The Canadiens (2-4-1) suffered a fourth straight loss (0-3-1). Samuel Montembeault allowed four goals on 10 shots before being replaced by Cayden Primeau, who stopped 32 shots.
“Sometimes you get a lesson in humility and that was the case tonight,” said Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis, who also spoke of a “funny first period” against “a very good team” in order to defend his team a little.
“We will continue to work to become a team that teaches these lessons to the opponent,” he added.
Filip Chytil had two goals and an assist, Kaapo Kakko had a goal and two assists, Braden Schneider and Reilly Smith each had a goal and an assist, and Jonny Brodzinski also scored for the Rangers (5-0-1). Igor Shesterkin stopped 21 shots.
Forward Michael Pezzetta was making his first appearance this season with the Canadiens, replacing Juraj Slafkovsky, who is battling an upper-body injury that will force him to miss at least the next week of action.
The Habs lost defenseman Justin Barron midway through the third period when he was hit hard by Trouba.
“I saw the replay and I think the first point of contact was his head,” St-Louis said, criticizing the referees’ decision not to punish Trouba for his gesture.
The Canadiens will play their next game on Saturday, when they host the St. Louis Blues at the Bell Centre. They will then visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
“There are aspects of our game that we need to improve, some are individual aspects and some are team aspects,” St-Louis said. “We’re going to try to take advantage of the next three days to correct that and hopefully we show a better version of ourselves on Saturday.”
Catastrophic departure
The former Glorieux had probably not yet returned to their boxes when the Canadiens were already in trouble with the score.
Zibanejad got the ball rolling for the Rangers just 54 seconds into the game. He fired into an open net after a nice passing play and with Montembeault being pushed to his left.
Brodzinski then scored at 2:05 after a miscommunication between defencemen Jayden Struble and Logan Mailloux allowed Adam Edstrom to negate what should have been a Rangers icing.
Smith returned for the Rangers at 6:40, beating Montembeault glove side after stealing the puck from Hutson in the neutral zone.
St. Louis tried to rally his team during a commercial break, but the Canadiens continued to get bogged down. Chytil scored on the power play at 11:05, after a nice exchange with Kakko and Smith.
“He wanted us to keep going. We gave up goals, but I think we also had some good sequences,” defenseman David Savard said of St. Louis’ tirade. “A few mental errors hurt us, but we had to keep playing our game to get through it.”
The fourth goal ended Montembeault’s evening of work.
Through this Rangers barrage, the Canadiens had still generated a few scoring opportunities and were finally rewarded with 7:08 left. Suzuki deflected a pass from Josh Anderson into the opposing net.
The two teams continued to trade scoring chances, particularly during a four-on-four sequence. Suzuki notably hit the post for the Habs.
Chytil also hit the post for the Rangers on a breakaway before the end of the first period.
After another Rangers post, this time on a shot by Artemi Panarin, Suzuki scored a power-play goal for the Habs at 5:35. He took advantage of plenty of space to charge to the net and beat Shesterkin with a backhand.
The Rangers quickly put the brakes on the Canadiens’ comeback attempt. Shortly after Alexis Lafrenière hit the post, Schneider surprised Primeau, who looked bad on the sequence.
The third period was mostly marked by Trouba’s check on Barron, who was shaken on the play. Barron needed help to get off the ice.
Mike Matheson came to Barron’s defense and forced Trouba to drop the gloves. Matheson also headed to the locker room after receiving minor, major and misconduct penalties, accumulating 17 penalty minutes with just over 12 minutes left on the clock.
The Rangers delivered the final blow with two quick goals late in the third period. Chytil took advantage of a loose puck during a scrum around the Canadiens’ net with 4:19 left on the clock. Kakko then took advantage of Primeau’s generosity 38 seconds later.
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