GAME RECAP: Canadiens 6, Oilers 2

MONTREAL, QC - The Montreal Canadiens handed the Oilers their first regulation loss in 12 games, picking up a 6-2 victory at the Bell Centre on Sunday morning.
Montreal's offence was lead by a multitude of inexperienced, but hungry players. Jordan Ellis scored twice for the Canadiens, while Alex Belzile, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Josh Anderson and Christian Dvorak accounted for the rest of the Habs goals.
"I thought both teams got what they deserved tonight. Montreal played a very good game and credit to them, I didn't think were very sharp at all," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game. "We got what we deserved. We ended up getting behind the game and we made a push there in the second period which made it close, but in the end we didn't get it done."
Stuart Skinner took the hard-luck loss, allowing six goal on 30 Montreal shots -- however the goaltender had little chance on several of the tallies due to tips, screens, and odd-man rushes.
Edmonton received goals from Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane on the night, while Connor McDavid did not register a point -- ending his point streak at 15 games.
The rigors of the playing the last game of a road trip in a morning back-to-back seemed to catch up with the Oilers who struggled to keep up with the feisty Canadiens squad. The loss ends the Oilers 11-game point streak and was the first time the Oilers have allowed more than three goals in a game since the streak began.
The Oilers will now return back to Rogers Place for a pair of home games starting on Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings.

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FIRST BLOOD

Malfunction at the junction.
For the third time on the Oilers road trip they found themselves chasing the game in the first period, following some miscommunication between Stuart Skinner and his defence. The Canadiens started the game flying with an 8-0 shot advantage out the gate. Edmonton's defence tried to calm things down by sliding the puck to Skinner for the cover, but unfortunately for the Oilers the biscuit squirted out into the slot.
It would be rookie froward Alex Belzile who would pounce on the opportunity, spinning around and firing the shot by a screened Skinner for his first NHL goal just over eight minutes into the contest. The 31-year-old Riviere-du-Loup, Que. product elicited a huge roar from the hometown crowd. Belzile is a veteran of 319 AHL games and 168 ECHL games, but was only playing in his 20th contest in the National Hockey League - a by-product of Montreal's massive injury list that includes: Cole Caulfield, Sean Monahan, Brendan Gallagher, and Juraj Slavkovsky.

DOGGED DETERMINATION

With a lot of skill out the Canadiens lineup including last year's first-overall pick and their leading scorer, Montreal relied on a high-effort game to put pressure on the Oilers.
Their aggressive forechecking paid off 3:55 into the second period, pinning the Oilers in their own zone and thwarting a trio of attempts to clear the zone. The play culminated in Evgeni Dadonov working a reverse feed from behind Skinner's net to Jordan Harris for a quick sharp angle one-timer goal that caught the Oilers goalie looking the wrong way. The 2-0 goal was the 2018 third-round pick's second goal of the season and 12th point.
The relentless Canadiens continued to press in the Oilers zone, forcing Cody Ceci to take a holding penalty on the cycle. Montreal was able to solve an Oilers penalty kill that ranked number-one in the NHL over the last month, courtesy of a rebound goal by Josh Anderson for the 3-0 advantage.

OILERS PUSH BACK

Edmonton finally found their legs midway through the game.
The push back began physically first -- with a couple of post whistle scrums and finally a fight between local boy Vincent Desharnais and Arber Xhekaj. The Oilers really started to pour the pressure on the home side, first with McDavid nearly beating Jake Allen and the Montreal defence with a ridiculous dangle. Zach Hyman got his opportunity at the Canadiens net, dragging three defenders towards himself and the crease leading to a loose puck for Leon Draisaitl to tap in his 30th goal of the season with 7:38 left in the middle frame.
It would be Evander Kane's turn to get in on the action before the end of the period. Montreal was able to kill off an Oilers 5-on-3 man advantage, but just as time had expired on the power play, Kane collected the puck and roofed a shot over Allen for his ninth of the season and third of the road trip.

TURNING POINT

Just as the Oilers had seized momentum in the game, a back breaking penalty call on some gentle interference by Evan Bouchard swung it back the other way.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard tipped his sixth of the season by Skinner with 1:19 remaining in the second period to turn what could have been a one-goal game with 20-minutes left into a much more difficult task.
"I think I didn't love our game the entire game, but we try to fight back and weren't able to kill that power play," Woodcroft said about the goal. "They were able to get two power-play goals on us. Our penalty kill has been a real strength here over these last six weeks or so, and we just weren't as detailed as we normally are on it. It's the National Hockey League, they made us pay when we weren't on top of our game."

PARTING WORDS

Head Coach Jay Woodcroft on the play of the Montreal Canadiens:
"I think they have a lot of really good hockey players. For us, we respect every opponent, regardless of what their record is. This is the National Hockey League and in order to win, you have to be at the top of your game. We just felt we weren't sharp. But as I said, credit to the Montreal Canadians because they did a good job today."
Jay Woodcroft on the Oilers toughness:
"I would say that we have more than enough people on our roster that can help take care of things. Now, you and I might have a different definition of what tough is. I think Connor McDavid is one of the toughest players in the National Hockey League with how many battles he wins on the ice where he's willing to go to find offensive success. I think we have a lot of guys that do that, but in terms of the fisticuffs department, we have more than enough guys that can help take care of that. I've seen what our players are made of deep into the month of May and early June. You don't get to that point without being a tough team."
Derek Ryan's thoughts on how the game turned out:
"I don't know what you want me to say. It wasn't our game, we didn't play our best. Not even close to it."
Ryan on the play of Vincent Desharnais in his hometown:
"I thought he's brought a lot of different elements to his game, to our team, and obviously that physical element is something that only some guys put forth in our dressing room. So it's nice to see him do that. He's a big, strong guy. He's played well for us."
Vincent Desharnais on his overall thoughts on the game:
"Bad start. We were not ready. We don't have any excuses. We just got to be ready. They were ready, they were in our faces, they blocked shots, we didn't. They just played better."
Desharnais on getting to play in front of his home crowd:
"Obviously, it's a great feeling. I had a lot of friends and family here, but I came here for two points."