About Final Evening: Ylönen goes from benched to hero vs. Sharks

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The Montreal Canadiens wanted six rounds of the shootout to defeat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Friday afternoon at SAP Middle.

Jesse Ylönen despatched the Habs to their resort rooms with a win, although he solely noticed two shifts within the third and none in time beyond regulation. Cayden Primeau began in purpose and made 31 saves.

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The three-15-2 Sharks are far and away the worst staff within the league this season, so the win was much less a trigger for celebration and extra for reduction.

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It was a scoreless first, one the place the Canadiens dominated early however Primeau needed to make 8 of his 11 saves within the opening interval within the last three minutes.

Sharks made it 1-0 early within the second. It was birthday boy Mike Hoffman’s first recreation towards the Habs since being traded away within the offseason, and he scored his fifth purpose within the final 5 video games.

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The Sharks prolonged their result in 2-0 simply three seconds into an influence play. Tomas Hertl gained the faceoff again to new addition Calen Addison, who arrange William Eklund for the proper one-timer.

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Johnathan Kovacevic has had a tough go of it currently on defence, however he made up for it on offence to get the Habs on the board, down 2-1. Some milestones from this purpose: Jayden Struble received his first help and level within the execs, and Caufield received his a centesimal profession level. It was additionally the sixteenth purpose by a Habs defenceman within the final 16 video games. Kovacevic has three objectives in his final 4 video games.

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All evening, linemates Juraj Slafkovsky and Caufield had been setting one another up with grade-A probabilities. Within the third, Caufield lastly cashed in on one for his first purpose since Nov. 9. The droop buster tied up the sport 2-2. Primeau received his first level as a Hab on the purpose.

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The shut recreation was a coin flip late within the third, or maybe a recreation of rock-paper-scissors?

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Time beyond regulation solved nothing, and neither did the preliminary three rounds of the shootout. Slafkovsky had the win on his stick and an empty web, however he couldn’t end it off. As a substitute, it was Ylönen who was known as upon regardless of not seeing a lot of the ice within the third. He pulled off a pleasant transfer to maybe get again in coach Martin St. Louis’ good graces. Both approach, the Habs gained 3-2.

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In accordance with Hockey Stat Playing cards, the Caufield-Dvorak-Slafkovsky line was dominant. Then once more, the Canadiens had been taking part in towards the not-so-good San Jose Sharks. Slafkovsky was rewarded with probably the most ice-time of his season to this point: 19:44. He additionally received the aforementioned prime time slot within the shootout.

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Hockey Stat Playing cards went just a little extra in-depth on Slafkovsky, exhibiting that he’s largely shaken off these post-Dach harm doldrums.

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The widespread denominator at this level appears to be Josh Anderson. Sean Monahan began off scorching however has struggled ever since getting Anderson as a linemate. And what of Ylönen, who has proven offensive chops in restricted responsibility, however can’t appear to crack a spot on certainly one of coach St. Louis’ scoring strains? Barring accidents, is Ylönen operating out of race observe in Montreal? It could seem so.

The Liveblog commenters who may play afternoon hooky simply didn’t need the Habs to be a laughingstock for shedding to the Sharks.

3. “Night Habs Followers, simply received house. I see we’re stinking it up towards the worst staff within the league. I assume MSL continues to be going with the michel therien philosophy of breaking apart scoring by breaking apart our few scoring pairs. Keep in mind the EGG line? Sheesh!” -Michael Paul

2. “Good win although we didn’t play the strongest recreation. Reveals character. Primeau performed properly. CC scored a 5 on 5 purpose. D performed properly once more. And a pleasant shootout victory. Subsequent recreation – a purpose for Andy!” -Bob Taylor

1. “Effectively no less than Hoffman didn’t get BOTH objectives.” -Carin Latzel

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