The Montreal Canadiens suffered their fourth straight defeat (0-3-1) on Tuesday night.

By Rick Stephens, Rocket Sports, Montreal Canadiens Blogger

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 2 vs New York Rangers 7 | FINAL
Canadiens record: 2-4-1 | 5 points (28th in NHL)

Canadiens Lineup

Forwards

13 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 77 Kirby Dach
40 Joel Armia - 15 Alex Newhook - 91 Oliver Kapanen
17 Josh Anderson - 71 Jake Evans - 11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta - 28 Christian Dvorak - 51 Emil Heineman

Defensemen

8 Mike Matheson - 52 Justin Barron
48 Lane Hutson - 24 Logan Mailloux
47 Jayden Struble - 58 David Savard

Goaltenders

Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Arber Xhekaj
Injuries: Carey Price, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Patrik Laine, Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky

Game Report

The contrast couldn't have been more stark. In a pre-game ceremony, the organization celebrated the Montreal Canadiens teams of the late 1970's, a Stanley Cup dynasty for four consecutive seasons. Fifteen players from those teams attended the ceremony, including Ken Dryden, Yvon Cournoyer, Bob Gainey, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard.

While raising the Cup had become he norm for those legends, it has been 31 years since the Canadiens, and in fact any Canadian team has had the honor of lifting Lord Stanley. "It's beyond belief," said Dryden.

Of course expectations for the current edition of the Canadiens were much more modest. The workshopped phrase "in the mix", while intentionally vague, left Habs fans with the sense that the bar had been raised. After three years of pain, results would be forthcoming.

But fans expecting their team to take a significant jump in the standings this year may have to wait a little longer. The new campaign opened on October 9th and despite a Montreal victory over the rival Maple Leafs, it was an unconvincing win. Since then, the team has sputtered through the first six games of the season before Tuesday night's embarrassing loss to the New York Rangers.

The lesson started early. On the game's first shot on goal, Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad beat Sam Montembeault with a snap shot from the top of the circle. Just 54 seconds had ticked off the clock.

With just over two minutes played in the game, New York went up 2-0 on a strange play. As the Rangers Braden Schneider cleared the puck the length of the ice, Montembeault signaled to his defenseman that icing was upcoming and let the puck rest behind the net. Logan Mailloux slowed up but the officials did not make the hybrid icing call. Instead, Adam Edstrom retrieved the puck and fed Jonny Brodzinski for the second Rangers goal.

Riley Smith made it 3-0 as he stole the puck from Lane Hutson and beat Montembeault glove side with a rather stoppable shot. The Canadiens goaltender got the hook after Filip Chytil scored the fourth New York goal. Montembeault surrendered the net to Cayden Primeau after giving up four goals on ten shots in just 11:05 of work.

For Primeau it was a busy outing facing 35 shots. His performance was inconsistent, making tough saves but giving up soft goals. It could have been worse: the Rangers hit the post six times with Primeau in the net.

After opening the season with two solid efforts, Montembeault has had three bad starts. Collectively Canadiens goaltenders have given up 20 goals in the past four games.

The good news on this night came from Nick Suzuki. The captain scored his first two goals of the season with the second being a thing of beauty.

The Canadiens generated 11 shots on goal in a free-flowing first period. The Rangers clamped down the rest of the way; Montreal could only manage 12 shots for the final 40 minutes of play.

"Sometimes you get a lesson in humility and that was the case tonight," said Montreal head coach Marty St. Louis.

Quick hits

⦁ With just over 12 minutes left in the third period, Jacob Trouba levelled Justin Barron with a check to the head that was determined to be legal by the on-ice officials. Barron did not return to the game.

⦁ Lane Hutson was the most used player on either team with an ice time of 24:10.

⦁ The Canadiens scored on the power play again meaning that they have been blanked on the man advantage in just one game this season.

Up Next

The Canadiens have a busy weekend ahead hosting the St. Louis Blues at the Bell Centre on Saturday, before heading to Philadelphia for a Sunday night tilt with the Flyers.

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