Montreal Canadiens Take One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

The condensed schedule reveals some very ugly trends sometimes. The weekend featured a solid performance by Montreal on Friday night. They took on the Calgary Flames and defeated them 2-1 behind Tyler Toffoli. Toffoli scored goals 20 and 21 on the season while Jake Allen played great in net stopping 28 of 29 shots.

Calgary Flames Did Play Its Game But…

The key thing for the Montreal Canadiens was being able to stay even-keeled. The Flames dominated most of the first period only to see zeroes on the scoreboard for both teams. Then, Tyler Toffoli was able to cruise down the middle in the Calgary Flames zone. The high-danger scoring chance was not missed as Montreal made it 1-0 early in the second period.

Montreal was able to play better in the key moments. The execution happened in the way of Toffoli. He is a goal scorer plain and simple. Without Jake Allen though, those moments that Toffoli scored would have meant little.

Allen was finally beaten by Elias Lindholm at 6:30 of the third period but Montreal countered with that second Tyler Toffoli tally. The game-winning goal came at 15:45 assisted by Joel Armia. Montreal held on despite a late push from the Flames and that line of Tkachuk-Gaudreau-Lindholm.

The problem with the compressed schedule is that Montreal had little time to savor the victory. Furthermore, they had even less time to prepare for the relentless Ottawa Senators.

And Then There Were The Ottawa Senators

Again, the schedule reared its ugly head. Playing a young and fast Ottawa Senators team was going to present problems. The twist was that Ottawa and Montreal were both exceedingly sloppy early. It was expected and likely.

Was it the perfect game for Carey Price to get into a rhythm? Probably not. Price had missed six games due to a mysterious lower-body injury. The Montreal goaltender faced just 14 shots but Ottawa capitalized in the key moments. This was something the Canadiens just could not do all game long. Drake Batherson was able to get open several times and converted two chances into goals. He assisted on another goal as well. This was en route to a 4-0 shutout.

Matt Murray stopped a mostly easy 23 shots for Ottawa. There were some moments late from Montreal but again not enough.

This gave Ottawa a fifth win in the season series against Montreal. Montreal remains six points ahead of Calgary with two games in hand. The Canadiens are now 3/4 of the way through the season. Montreal heads to Edmonton next to play the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night. That begins a two-game miniseries against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

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Some Quick Final Thoughts

After Edmonton, Montreal has a back-to-back with the Calgary Flames on Friday and Saturday night. At least there are no late evening or afternoon games. Expect Jake Allen to start one, maybe two games this week to ease Carey Price into a flow of sorts.

Standings-wise, Montreal stands seven points behind Edmonton with a game in hand so this week is important. If the Canadiens want to catch up at all, they need three out of four points at least versus Edmonton. Then they have to sustain momentum against Calgary. That sustaining has proven to be difficult all season for Montreal. With the final quarter here, there is little time for missteps.