Canadiens Notes: Dobes Extends Win Streak

The Montreal Canadiens extended their win streak to five games on Sunday with a 3-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes. They currently hold the third spot in the Atlantic Division, with a two-point cushion over the Boston Bruins in the first wild card slot.

The Canadiens five-game road trip continues on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It wraps up with a stop to face the New York Rangers on Thursday and the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.

Habs Notes

Here are my notes following Sunday’s contest.

Nick Suzuki drove the offence in Carolina with two goals and one assist. His three points allowed him to reach a personal high of 91 points for the season.
The captain’s partner in crime Cole Caufield added two goals over the weekend and is now four shy of reaching the 50-goal mark. Sunday’s goal was Caufield’s ninth game-winning-goal of the year, placing him one behind Steven Stamkos for top spot.
Last week, one of the storylines was that the offence relied on the top line. The good news is that the second line of Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen, and Ivan Demidov had a productive week. In particular, the trio scored three of the four goals in Saturday’s win against Nashville.
Two weekend decisions from management revealed where Patrik Laine and Samuel Montembeault stand in the organization’s eyes.
First, Josh Anderson did not complete the contest in Nashville due to illness. On Sunday, they dressed Arber Xhekaj to play on the fourth line with Joe Veleno and Brendan Gallagher. Meanwhile, Laine has been practising with the team for over two months.
Second, when the Canadiens carry three goalies, they usually send the next night’s starter ahead one day to give him extra rest. This season, both Montembeault and Jacob Fowler left early, and the team followed the same approach with Jake Allen and Cayden Primeau a few seasons ago. This weekend, the coaching staff chose not to use Montembeault as Fowler’s backup in Nashville so Dobes could travel to Carolina early.

Rocket Notes

The Laval Rocket began the week at Place Bell with a 2-1 shootout loss to the Utica Comets (New Jersey Devils). The team headed on the road on the weekend for back-to-back games. On Friday, they lost to the Bridgeport Islanders (New York) 3-2 in shootout once again. The losing streak extended to three on the following day, as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated Laval 3-1.

This week, the Calgary Wranglers (Flames) visit Place Bell for back-to-back games starting on Friday.

Here are my notes from the weekend.

Luke Mittelstadt scored his first goal as a pro on Friday. The defenceman jumped into the slot and hammered home a rebound to tie the game in the first period. The rookie paired up with Adam Engstrom over the weekend and saw action on the penalty kill.
On Saturday, Hunter Shepard made his first start since the Rocket acquired him. He allowed three goals on 24 shots in his debut. The veteran’s previous start was on February 7th.
Sean Farrell is consistently putting points on the board at the moment. He’s currently on a five-game scoring streak, collecting seven points.
Alex Belzile had a productive week with two goals and two assists in three games.
Samuel Blais added two points to his record during the week. He has six points in the last six games.