I ain’t even mad, this game was a helluva lot of fun.
But first, the Highlights
Game Notes
- Your TOI leader was Brandon Montour, who played 23:20 tonight.
- This game from a pure entertainment factor perspective was absolutely fantastic. Every time Montreal took a lead, Seattle battled back. They spent protracted time in front of Joey? The Kraken would repay the favor with peppering shots on Sam Montembeault. Were they lucky? Absolutely; especially when they managed to get body position on a Habs puck carrier in fantastic areas of the ice, but the back-and-forth of a turbo-talented young roster versus a scrappy group that’s come together around a playstyle that makes them better together was just a ton of fun.
- Man, the Habs fanbase sure has a lot of animosity about Shane Wright, huh? That’s sure weird. Anyway he had his first real solid game of the year tonight. We are gonna need more from him, especially as the year begins to drag on; but this is the kind of game I want to see more from #51.
- That Cole Caufield kid is gonna be terrifying this league for ages. Thank god we only see him twice a year. Maybe more if he plays for Team USA.
- Another pretty strong night on special teams; kept the Habs off the board on the man advantage, and then got a goal on the third shot at the power play. That did bail this team out a bit, but it’s already a marked improvement where I can say “special teams were pretty good all around but have plenty of room to improve” across what, three straight games? That’s already big for this squad.
- Ken Dryden was one of the best goaltenders of an entire generation. It’s kind of hard to make that clear in 2025 eyes because the sport and the position has evolved so much, but he genuinely was a brick wall; for most of the 70’s, Save-%’s in the NHL were hovering around .890, and he routinely stayed over .900. Against Orr, Against Dion, Against Perreault, against a lot of the true great revolutionaries of goalscoring of that time. And he was out there for just about all of their utter dominance of that decade, and ultimately defined the position so thoroughly in Montreal that to this day, he is still considered the standard bearer for the position. The Habs understood the assignment on how to appropriately honor his legacy as a sportsman; make it clear who’s crease it really is. All others, from Pat Roy to Jose Theodore to Carey Price to Sam Montembeault, are stewards of his work, but it will always be his crease. Rest in peace to a real one.
- Daccord and Montembeault threw back to Dryden’s area in that both looked absolutely lost out there. In fairness, the net-front was effectively open season for both sides’ forward corps who got to score in all sorts of interesting ways, which is also a bit of a throwback. But still; Cole Caufield is very small, and you should be able to shrug your shoulder to stop that kind of shot. Daccord finished his night with a not-great .773 SV% on 22 shots. You should probably find a way to get a save or two.
Was there anything good about this game?
Absolutely!
- Jaden Schwartz potted home his first goal of the year on the power play, and he made it look easy on a solid passing play from Shane Wright!
- Jani Nyman, Frederic Gaudreau, and Ty Kartye had a fantastic game where they effectively bullied the Habs at even strength, and were rewarded for it with a goal! Was it kinda flukey? Sure! But that’s the Sam Montembeault experience sometimes!
- Jamie Oleksiak got a helluva seeing-eye shot through what felt like the entire Canadiens roster and also Montembeault in a cannon of a shot. Great stuff from the big man!
- Jared McCann sure seems like he’s getting his mojo back and in a hurry; as he potted home his third goal of the season after a fortuitous bounce from Brandon Montour’s shot bouncing off of him. Canner is now on a three game streak of goals!
- This isn’t really anything related to on-ice performance but honestly it is extremely funny how in the heads of Habs fans Shane Wright is. Just high comedy.
- The Kraken’s best start ever! 2-0-1 through three games, and even the 0-0-1 is a back and forth game where you still get a point and battle back from multiple deficits. Sure, they’re not top of the division anymore, but if they can keep the pace…that’s a good sign. Even if the Pacific finally overcomes it’s collective case of stuttering butt, they’ll be able to build a strong cushion against them.
The Chartz, via NaturalStatTrick.com
The Kraken hit the road and head to Canada’s capital to play the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. That’s another 4pm PST start.
We’ll see you there, and always remember:
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.