Canadiens get shut out by Marc-André Fleury

First period

• The crowd really likes Dobes. He gets a nice cheer as he makes a routine save. Of course, many of the fans in the Bell Centre are probably seeing him in person for the first time.
• Rafaël Harvey-Pinard builds up a head of steam and gets a zone entry. It leads to Montreal’s first chance off the stick of Jake Evans. A good shift from RHP.
• I never want to see Patrik Laine attempt a pass to Christian Dvorak ever again.
• Seriously, why does every other player on the team think he’s the better option for a shot? It’s bizarre.
• Lane Hutson takes a big open-ice hit after a zone entry from Marat Khusnutdinov. He probably hasn’t experienced many of those. But he did pop right up and go for a change.
• Arber Xhekaj gets hooked trying to carry the puck out of the zone. I don’t know what the refs were looking at.
• I bet once this opening 20 is over, the people on the Wild broadcast will be calling it a “perfect road period.” There are six total shots through 15 minutes, and Evans’s early on was the only one that had a chance of being a goal.
• Kirby Dach is heading to the box for tripping. He’s guilty of too many penalties taken out of frustration right after he loses an individual puck battle. There’s usually support when behind him in those situations.
• Josh Anderson gets tripped carrying the puck out of the zone on the penalty kill. That’s a clear penalty, and ridiculous that the officials didn’t call it.
• The shots end 8-3 for Minnesota. I have the scoring chances at about one apiece. It would have been two for Montreal — possibly even a goal — if Laine has shot on his two-on-one with Dvorak.

Second period

• Brendan Gallagher brings some energy in the second period. He speeds in to get the puck on the forecheck and pulls it off the wall to the net, but is denied by Marc-André Fleury.
• Liam Ohgren gets one shot, but as Alexandre Carrier falls and slips to the end boards, he has enough time to collect the puck spin back to his forehand, and take another, beating Jakub Dobes to open the scoring.
• Montreal puts in two shifts in a row getting chances in Montreal’s zone. The problematically bad Bell Centre ice causes the puck to leap over Hutson’s stick as he tries to collect it on the boards, and Minnesota scores on the two-on-one that ensues.
• They have to get this ice situation figured out by the time the Canadiens return from California. It looks dreadful.
• Cole Caufield takes a check while standing at the blue line waiting for Juraj Slafkovský to the puck in. Interference is a judgment call they say.
• Hutson sends a perfect cross-ice pass to a streaking Slafkovský. The Slovak hits iron.
• Montreal is starting to get a lot of zone time now. They need to get a goal before the period ends.

Third period

• Gallagher is playing hard tonight, looking to help set up a goal again early in the third period.
• Montreal has upped its level, and suddenly the Wild just standing in lanes and trying to maintain body positioning isn’t as suffocating as it was.
• It’s an endless string of pressure in Minnesota’s zone.
• Fleury just made a spectacular acrobatic pad save on Josh Anderson.
• Savard gets held behind the play, the Wild come down the ice, and Devin Shore makes it 3-0.
• The crowd is fed up with the officiating.
• The Canadiens move the puck past three Wild players and then run into three more standing at the blue line. These refs don’t seem to have the ability to count either.
• Dobes makes an incredible glove save of his own to match the future Hall-of-Famer at the other end.
• Carrier drops below the goal line to support the offence and gets cross-checked. Finally the ref puts his arm up, but it’s probably too late to matter.
• Lots of looks for the top unit. I don’t know why it came off the ice down three goals before the power play expired.
• The Canadiens make their best attempt to spoil the shutout bid by doing a tribute to Fleury with eight minutes to play. A long standing ovation from the Bell Centre crowd.
• We’ll do this all again next year when he plays his last game in Montreal for real this time.
• Minnesota finds the empty net after a long period of six-on-five play that resulted in few chances for Montreal.
• This will end as a 4-0 loss, and the fans chanting Fleury’s name.
• The Canadiens players line up for a handshake with the opposing goalie.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) Not fair that Cynic got to have all the fun tonight

2) Two significant losses of players casual fans wouldn’t even know

1) Fourth time’s the charm