After waiting all week to play, the Montreal Canadiens had a difficult back-to-back starting Friday in Washington, then Saturday at home against Dallas. The Capitals are the surprise team of the season with the best record in all of the East Conference.
They likely thought it would be an easy one, but these aren’t the same Canadiens. Montreal was strong yet again, pulling off an overtime shocker 3-2.
Wilde Horses
There was an important and positive development in this contest. Juraj Slafkovsky was outstanding. He sent Nick Suzuki in for a glorious look early in the second period. It was a chance that sent Charlie Lindgren from the game as he hit his head on the ice on the save.
In came Logan Thompson, and he was immediately greeted by a terrific chance from the Canadiens. Slafkovsky spotted Cole Caufield on the other side of the ice all alone right in front of the net.
Caufield unleashed the perfect shot into the top corner. It was a typical Caufield snipe for his 23rd goal of the season. That’s five straight games with a goal for Caufield, and six in the last seven. He is now on pace for 46 goals this season. The last 40-goal scorer for Montreal was Vincent Damphousse in 1994.
Call of the Wilde: Habs look to continue hot streak
Slafkovsky had his best game of the year. He looked like he did in the second half of last season. He kept his skating stride going, which makes his size so much harder to handle. He had terrific vision on many passes. He went to the front of the net when he didn’t have possession looking for deflections and screens. These are the habits Slafkovsky needs to have success.
The analytics matched the eye-test on how strong the contest was for the Canadiens top line. Suzuki’s trio just finished shutting down the lines of Aleksander Barkov, Brayden Point, Jack Eichel, and Nathan MacKinnon for one five-on-five goal against in four games. They continued the excellence with a 67-per cent shot share against the Capitals top line.
Montreal played a sensational first two periods. This club in October had a hard time keeping their opposition under 40 shots. In this one, halfway through the game they had allowed only seven shots. Their play is improving so rapidly, and so markedly, it is difficult to believe this is the same season as that confused bunch in their own zone in the first quarter.
The Canadiens then took the lead on the best play by Josh Anderson in two seasons. Shorthanded, Anderson stole the puck at the blue line and then went coast-to-coast before whipping a backhand into the top corner on Thompson. It was reminiscent of vintage Anderson in his glory days.
This one went to overtime where Martin St. Louis started his three best players. After one minute and 15 seconds, Nick Suzuki, Lane Hutson, and Caufield were still on the ice. Hutson started the play by breaking up a two-on-one. Caufield made an early pass to set up a two-on-one the other way. It was broken up by the defender, but bounced back to Suzuki who roofed it.
Suzuki with his second straight overtime winner. He maintains his point-per-game pace and remains the most underrated centre in the NHL.
Wilde Goats
When the Canadiens play the best team in the east conference in their own home and outshoot them 30-17 overall, there are no goats. The Canadiens played outstanding hockey. Kaiden Guhle, Alex Carrier, Alex Newhook, Joel Armia, Lane Hutson, Jakub Dobes and many more could be added to the already mentioned above for excellence in this contest.
The Canadiens are growing up quickly. They do not look overmatched or intimidated by anyone, anywhere, anymore.
Wilde Cards
“I don’t anticipate allowing the lineup to be flooded with young players, because I think if we did that, I think naturally there would be an element of regression that comes with it.”
There it was on Wednesday at the mid-season news conference from Canadiens management Kent Hughes. Finally, we had an acknowledgement that veterans are required in a rebuild to provide stability in teaching young players how to win. Veterans are valuable even when wins aren’t in the nascent stages of a rebuild.
Hughes added, “I would say there’s a certain culture that’s being established in the room that I’ve seen with other organizations where once it’s established in the room, it gets passed down from one year to the next. It gets passed from veterans to young players”.
These comments spoke to what the next 22 games might look like as the March 7th trading deadline approaches. Hughes has free agents to trade before that day, if he wishes, but in valuing veterans, Hughes indicates he may not make the moves fans seem to expect.
“I think right now we have two firsts, two seconds, three thirds, two fourths and our regular complement of five, six and seven and we have two seconds and two fourths next year.” Hughes listed in order to remind everyone that he doesn’t need even more picks.
Hughesalso said in the Rebuild television show that he only has 50 contracts. It’s one of the most important statements he ever made, yet no one paid much attention to it. Hughes is saying that there is actually oversaturation of draft picks at a certain point, and the Canadiens have reached it.
If Hughes is in the mix, he won’t be a seller this season, even if it means getting no return on unrestricted free agents: “Whether we can be a playoff team or not, we’re in the conversation right now. Let’s see how our players respond to it”.
If they respond well, the culture that they have created this season must continue. Head Coach Martin St. Louis has asked his players to commit to this season. He has created a sense of belief, and the players are buying in. It would be absolutely crushing to the players, if they worked that hard, if they were in the mix at the trading deadline, only to have Jake Evans, Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak and David Savard traded for picks.
There would be no way possible to sell that to the locker room. That’s how a team mistakenly and accidentally creates a culture of losing.
“We want this young group of players to be under the pressure of learning to win when it counts. Whether, ultimately, they succeed or not, it’s the experience that you go through that is the most important thing about being in the mix,” said Hughes.
The Canadiens value this pressure and learning more than yet another second or third round draft choice. They may even trade a draft pick or two away to strengthen the roster this season. We shall see in the next 55 days how it all shakes out.
Let there be no doubt what preference management has. They want wins.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
