So, how did you appreciate Fan Appreciation Night?
The Canadiens “played” their final home regular-season game Saturday night at the Bell Centre and, keeping with the organization’s tradition, the players took the jerseys off their backs for lucky fans at the conclusion of this 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It was a night when the spectators uncharacteristically started braying in the second period — a 20-minute sequence during which the Canadiens had five shots, including two through 14 minutes.
Columbus’ only shot at a playoff position is overtaking Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan Division. So the Blue Jackets are desperate. Guess what? The Canadiens should have been as well, especially after learning Tampa Bay defeated Boston on Saturday afternoon.
While the Lightning and Canadiens are tied in the Atlantic Division standings with 104 points, the former has seven more regulation wins. Montreal, which , must finish with more points than the Lightning — or Buffalo for that matter — to secure home-ice advantage in the playoffs’ opening round. The Sabres are first in the division, with 106 points. All three teams have two games remaining. Stay tuned.
Our random thought of the night: Cole Caufield should have waited until Saturday to score his 50th goal this season. Perhaps that would have prompted more desperation? He did, however, score his 51st — if that helps?
News you need (Part I): If Nick Suzuki produces a 100-point season — which seems likely — it will come on the road. The Canadiens’ captain sits at 99 points after drawing an assist on Caufield’s early third-period goal.
News you need (Part II): When Columbus was last in Montreal, on March 26, it was coming off a 3-2 win at Philadelphia, improving to 38-22-11. A playoff berth seemed possible. The Blue Jackets lost 2-1 to the Canadiens that night — the first of six consecutive defeats. The team’s record now is 40-28-12, and it still faces an uphill battle, trailing the Flyers by two points. Both teams have two games remaining.
Best mullet in the NHL: Columbus’ Kirill Marchenko, who also scored the Blue Jackets’ third goal.
Strange, but true: Each of the previous four games between these teams had been decided by one goal.
Strong like bull: Russian native Ivan Provorov played his 244th consecutive game against Montreal. He hasn’t missed one since the 2021-22 season.
News you need (Part III): Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes lost for the first time in eight starts. He had allowed only 12 goals over that span. This marked the first time Dobes has allowed this many goals .
News you need (Part IV): Twenty-one of Caufield’s 51 goals have come on Saturday.
Wake up call: Columbus produced the game’s first eight shots in the opening three minutes. The visitors already had a 1-0 lead by that point.
What might have been: Juraj Slafkovsky, who has 30 goals, hit the post in the game’s sixth minute.
Pass of the night (Part I): Jake Evans to Josh Anderson on the Canadiens’ first goal.
Pass of the night (Part II): Marchenko to Charlie Coyle on Columbus’ final goal. It was Coyle’s second goal of the game, and 20th this season.
Quelle tir: Marchenko beat Dobes high to the stick side.
Do better: In the eighth minute of the second period — and instead of taking a few more strides before dumping the puck — Arber Xhekaj sent it down the ice from his own side of centre, resulting in an unnecessary icing call.
How not to play defence: Jayden Struble’s weak clearing attempt along the boards was intercepted by Kent Johnson. He fed former Canadien Sean Monahan for Columbus’ fourth goal.
Great moments in officiating: Almost five minutes into the third period, Adam Fantilli cross-checked Mike Matheson to the back, then slashed the Canadiens defenceman across the ankle. Matheson retaliated — and received a double roughing minor. Fantilli? One roughing minor.
Dumb penalty: Alexander Texier was called for holding in the third period, when the Canadiens still had a chance and were on the power play for another 42 seconds.
And it could have been worse: Already leading by three, Boone Jenner’s wrap-around attempt hit the post in the third period.
The hunt for the Green Jacket: Slafkovsky, Matheson and Noah Dobson, who didn’t return for the third after taking a shot to his thumb, all had goal differentials of minus-2. Dobson’s equipment was still hanging in the dressing room post-game, making it unlikely he’ll play Sunday night on the road against the New York Islanders. If Dobson, a supreme shot-blocker, fractured his digit and is unavailable for the playoffs, the Canadiens will feel the pain.
Quick stats: Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov each had four shots — and the Canadiens only had 22 in total. Joe Veleno had eight hits. Xhekaj had four blocked shots, while Evans had three. Struble was guilty of four giveaways, but also had three hits. Dobes’ save percentage was .848. The Canadiens blocked 18 shots, won 44.4 per cent of their faceoffs and outhit Columbus, 21-15.
They said it: “There’s no doubt about it — the more desperate team won tonight,” Anderson said. “I just feel like they beat us all night in battles, the forecheck and being physical. I don’t know what to say. We just had no juice. We’ve been talking about trying to win the division and get home ice, (then) you play a game like tonight. I don’t know what to say.
“The fans have every right to boo,” he added. “They pay a lot of money to come out. Especially on a Saturday night you need a better effort than that.”
“We played a team that came out very aggressive and played with a lot of urgency,” Suzuki said. “I didn’t think we matched that to the level that we needed to. At some points, we weren’t playing hard enough.”
“We were just chasing it, right off the hop,” Evans said. “Slow start, started to get some momentum and then it died out in the second. We were playing catch-up. Emotionally, it has been a lot of ups recently. But we can’t just sit on that. We have to keep going. You want to put yourself in the best position. We didn’t do that tonight. That just sucks. You want to get home-ice. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot tonight.”
