A comedy of errors sinks Habs in San Jose
With Buffalo and Boston both posting wins earlier in the day, the Montreal Canadiens visited the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday with a big two points up for grabs. In one of their more frustrating performances in recent memory, they bumbled their way to a three goal deficit in the third period, stormed their way back to tie the game, then took a late penalty that ended up giving the Sharks the game-winning goal.
The first two goals scored by San Jose were byproducts of confusion and bad puck security in the defensive zone. Both times, they had opportunities to clear their zone, but couldn’t seem to get out of their own way, let alone organize to defend once San Jose took possession. Overall, they were the better team at five-on-five, but could have been so by a much wider margin if they could get out of their own way long enough to allow it.
In the third period, as we’ve seen them do more than a few times this season, they stormed their way back into a game that seemed lost. They erased a three-goal deficit, and looked like a freight train ready to run the sharks over before another unforced error derailed them. Too many men on the ice, too many avoidable mistakes in the game, and out the window went a chance to pass the Red Wings and move back into the top three of the division. This was a very available two points, and with how tough the Atlantic is this season, they need all they can get.
The fact that they’re capable of erasing third period deficits with sheer determination and pressure is great to see. It would, however, be much more comforting to not need to do that against a non-playoff team. The Sharks are quite reminiscent of last year’s Habs – a young, top heavy team with speed, ready to capitalize on your mistakes if you make them. The Habs just made too many of them.
Jakub Dobes had one of his worst outings of the season, which compounded the problems the Habs were having taking care of the puck in their own zone. The Habs have been occasionally linked to Jordan Binnington in trade whispers leading up to the deadline, and while the majority of the fan base would likely scoff at the idea, a game like that from your best goaltender right before the deadline might give Kent Hughes more motivation than he would otherwise have. I don’t think he needs to go out and spend any assets on a goaltender, but the idea that he might be thinking about it with little time before the deadline isn’t far fetched.
Alas, speaking of the deadline, a game with that many unforced errors – not the first of the like – shows that this is still a young team that needs to improve their process. Is now the time to try and make a big splash, or is Kent Hughes better served exercising patience, and letting this group try to take their next step naturally without selling assets in an attempt to force it? He has but two days to decide which direction he’d like to go in, and we’ll know what that is by the time this team takes the ice again on Friday night.
One game certainly won’t cause sweeping changes to Hughes’s plans for this season, but they sure gave him some things to mull over during these two days off before he has to decide how he’s moving.
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