Hidden Game: Canadiens cap seven-game road trip with OT victory against Dallas Stars

We’ll never know what — if anything — Martin St. Louis said to his players following Saturday’s lacklustre loss at St. Louis. But this edition of the Hidden Game must be dedicated to the Canadiens’ head coach and, of course, his team.

Playing their second game in 22 hours, and at the conclusion of an exhausting seven-game road trip that must have felt like it lasted forever, the Canadiens found the fortitude for a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime victory against the Dallas Stars Sunday afternoon at the American Airlines Center.

Montreal players, undoubtedly eager to sleep in their own beds, could have easily mailed this one in. They could have left Dallas content with the point they earned by pushing this game to overtime. And yet, they refused to be denied.

We get that this is an unusual NHL season due to next month’s Winter Olympics, when play will shut down for three weeks. But shame on the NHL for making the Canadiens endure this ridiculous schedule while the Stars were idle since Thursday. This is the NHL — not the CFL, where seemingly nothing makes sense.

How do you like him now? It seems goaltender Samuel Montembeault has become the favourite whipping boy — with cause — for the millions of Montreal hockey coaches. Quite frankly, we don’t care that his save percentage against Dallas was only .889. Montembeault kept the Canadiens in the game in the third period, when the visitors were outshot 9-5 and he allowed only one goal. He made huge stops on Miro Heiskanen and Mikko Rantanen in the fifth minute. Midway through the period, Montembeault made a sliding stop on the wonderfully named Sam Steel, who sounds like a villain in a Bond movie. And in overtime, Montembeault stopped Wyatt Johnston, who had already scored twice, on a breakaway.

Montembeault has now won his last two starts following a conditioning stint at AHL Laval. Meanwhile, this three-headed Canadiens goalie puzzle/monster continues getting murkier. However, if Montembeault keeps winning games, he’ll eventually force management’s hand. Maybe?

Best road trip over two years: It began with a 4-3 shootout loss at Pittsburgh on Dec. 21. The Canadiens’ season could have fallen apart in the last two weeks. Instead, they return home with a 4-1-2 record, having garnered 10 of a possible 14 points. Kudos to them.

Get the man some water: TSN seems to have a bottomless pit of money and a cast of thousands at most events, including four commentators who discuss the World Junior Championship between periods and on off-days. Why, then, was announcer Bryan Mudryk alone for this game? Even he sounded beleaguered by the third period, when he stated the game could have used an analyst. It brought back memories of legendary Vin Scully calling Los Angeles Dodgers games alone. Scully could have read names and addresses from the L.A. phone book and made it sound interesting. Kids, ask your parents about Scully. They can also explain what phone books were.

Is this the same team? Dallas went 12-2-1 through late November and the month of December. But the Stars are now winless (0-2-3) in their last five.

News you need (Part I): It figures neither team would produce a plethora of shots. The Canadiens have been averaging 25.7 shots, slightly ahead of Dallas’s 25.3. Shots in the game — and remember, it went to overtime — were 29-27 for Montreal.

Strange but true: Following regulation time, each team had 25 shots. We can’t make this stuff up.

News you need (Part II): The Canadiens are now 1-1 without Josh Anderson.

Milestone: It took a while following his trade from the Kings, but Phillip Danault produced his first point for the Canadiens, in his sixth game, drawing an assist on Brendan Gallagher’s first-period goal. It was the 400th point of Danault’s career. He produced his 401st point on Lane Hutson’s overtime winner.

News you need (Part III): It was Gallagher’s first goal since Dec. 11. We don’t care. We’d take the 33-year-old on our team any day of the week.

Faceoff of the game: Danault, in overtime, against Johnston.

News you need (Part IV): Since Nov. 17, when he was teamed with Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen, Juraj Slafkovsky has a team-leading 23 points. That includes a goal and assist against Dallas.

OK, so he made one mistake: Montembeault didn’t look good trying to corral the puck behind his net in the first period. It resulted in Dallas’s first goal, by Mavrik Bourque.

Pass of the game: Demidov to Kapanen in the second period, on the Canadiens’ second goal. The Russian rookie wheeled around before dispatching a cross-ice gem to Kapanen.

Where goals go to die: Owen Beck set up Joe Veleno in the third period. Alas, the pass went through Veleno’s legs. He remains stuck on two goals this season.

Dumb penalty: Johnston’s third-period hook on Noah Dobson, negating the final 49 seconds of a Dallas power play.

Next time, decline the penalty: Dallas went 0-for-3 with the man advantage and has failed to convert its last 10 opportunities. After going 0-for-4 against St. Louis — and allowing a shorthanded goal — the Canadiens went 1-for-5 against the Stars.

Quick stats: Gallagher and Slafkovsky both had four shots. The former also blocked one shot and had two hits. Samuel Blais had six hits — two more than Veleno. Kapanen and Zachary Bolduc both had three shots. Hutson scored on his only shot while playing almost 28 minutes. Mike Matheson played 26:38, had two blocks and two hits. Dobson played 23:08, blocked six shots and had three hits. Jayden Struble was limited to 7:56, but had three hits. Arber Xhekaj had two hits over 9:14. Beck played only 7:17. The Canadiens won 42.2 per cent of their faceoffs, but outhit Dallas 30-15.

They said it: “He came out of nowhere,” Montembeault told reporters in Dallas about Johnston’s overtime breakaway. “I didn’t think there was a player for them coming with that much speed. I was able to get my gap quick and read the shot well. It was a good save for us.”

“This group is resilient,” Gallagher said. “It’s a tough schedule. Tough travel. An early game in a tough building. I thought the guys played really good. It has been a great road trip. A tough road trip. You take whatever you get to recover and just get ready for the next one. That’s kind of the nature of the beast right now. Montembeault made some tremendous saves. We don’t win that game without him.”

“It has been really good recently,” Slafkovsky told the media. “I’m finding the ways to create plays, get pucks on the net and just doing a lot of good stuff. I feel really good on the ice. I just feel great overall.”

hzurkowsky@postmedia.com

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