Laineless Canadiens Fail To Win A Fourth Game In A Row

Montreal Canadiens' sniper Patrik Laine decided his return to Columbus wouldn't be quiet, in an interview with The Athletic's Aaron Portzline he explained why he wanted to leave the Blue Jackets last Summer. Essentially, for him the team was too comfortable with losing year after year. The story doesn't say if he meant the players or the front office, but whatever he meant, it didn't go down well.

Normally, when a player goes back to their previous stomping ground, they get a video tribute, and Laine was meant to get one, but he didn't. What he did get though was a lot of hits. In the first frame, whenever he had the puck, the Jackets would descend on him and finish their check.

Related: Former Canadiens Star Is At It Again

The Jackets' Mathieu Olivier was asked on RDS if the players wanted to make him eat his words and he simply said "No comments". After 20 minutes, the Columbus outfit was well on its way to making him do just that as they had a 2-0 lead.

Former Hab Sean Monahan prepared the first cannon shot of the night when he fed Dimitri Voronkov in front of the net and the locals doubled their lead when Zach Werenski placed a shot from next to no angle on the post and Kent Johnson got the rebound right in the crease.

The Canadiens were not only down on the scoreboard but also in shots after the first frame as the Jackets tested Samuel Montembeault 11 times compared to Montreal's six attempts on Jet Greaves. After the break, Laine was nowhere to be seen on the Canadiens bench, but it's another former Blue Jackets who got the Habs back in the game when David Savard found the back of the net for the first time this season.

Columbus soon got its two-goal lead back though when Jordan Harris pounced on a free puck near the blueline and whacked one in past Montembeault. When the Canadiens were given a power play and with Laine still MIA, Martin St-Louis replaced him with Joel Armia on the first wave of the power play. Seconds after the man-advantage expired, Lane Hutson scored his second goal of the season.

Just over seven minutes later, Jake Evans scored on the breakaway to send everyone back to square one, a third goal in as many games for the pending UFA. The score remained unchanged by the end of the second frame even though Brendan Gallagher got a four-minute penalty, the Canadiens resisted and with 20 minutes to go, both teams still had everything to play for.

Related: Canadiens: A Fair Comparable For Jake Evans?

It only took 20 seconds for Armia to put the Canadiens in front for the first time of the night at the start of the third, but a couple of minutes later, Cole Caufield was called for hooking and it turned out to be a costly penalty. Voronko scored his second of the night on the power play.

Kirby Dach then got a golden opportunity to break the deadlock but was repeatedly frustrated on the doorstep by Greaves. With a couple of minutes to go, Monahan got his third assist of the night when he served Kiril Marchenko with a perfect pass and the right winger placed the puck above Montembeault's glove to give the Blue Jackets the win.

In the end, Laine wasn't see again after leaving the game at the end of the first and his status will no doubt be the talk of the town as the Canadiens enter their Christmas break. One has to wonder if he wishes he didn't make those comments this morning because the Blue Jackets physicality was very much focussed on him.

It was another strong night for Evans who ended his game with two points and a 87.5% success rate in the faceoff department. On top of thinking about Laine's status, GM Kent Hughes should also be using the break to assess if he can afford not to sign his "fourth line center" to an extension. With every passing game, Evan's value goes up and while the Canadiens do have some exciting prospects coming at center, none of them are ready to do the thankless job he has and do it as well.

In net, Montembeault had a .844 save percentage and it wasn't his best outing, but the netminder is only human and after so many consecutive games, such a performance was to be expected. Problem is though, it was probably better than Cayden Primeau's would have been and that right there will be Hughes' third concern over the break.

Related: Canadiens Must Be Careful Not To Overload Montembeault

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