Canadiens Earn Their Keep Against Utah at the Bell Centre
Neither Dobes nor Cossa had his best night, so Montréal won it the honest way: by creating more and better looks than the Mammoth.
Montréal didn't need a hot goalie to beat Utah 5-4. The Canadiens simply had more of the puck around the net and better looks when they got there, and that was enough to outlast a shaky night in both creases.
The Canadiens outshot the Mammoth 35-20, close to two to one. The quality matched the volume: by expected goals, a measure of how dangerous each team's chances were, Montréal's looks were worth 4.58 goals to Utah's 3.40.
Neither goalie bailed his team out. Jakub Dobes stopped 16 of 20 and let in a bit more than Utah's chances deserved. At the other end, Sebastian Cossa made 30 saves on 35 shots and also gave up a little more than expected.
Montréal could have had more. Cole Caufield led all skaters with six shots and scored once, and he and Juraj Slafkovský each hit a post. Both played with Nick Suzuki, who had a goal and two assists. Lane Hutson logged 27 minutes and set up two goals.
Utah's power play kept the game close, scoring on three of five chances to Montréal's one of four. But over the full game, the Canadiens did more of the work and earned the two points.
