There is no bigger challenge for the Montreal Canadiens defensive corps than the Edmonton Oilers coming to the Bell Centre. The Canadiens have been playing better defensively in their last five games. However, the Oilers can score in bunches.
That’s why a 3-0 shutout is the high point of the season for Montreal. The Canadiens played their most complete game of the year.
Wilde Horses
After allowing eight goals on back-to-back Tuesdays, it was a dark atmosphere around the Canadiens. They were embarrassed. The head coach was disappointed. Some members of the media wondered whether the head coach needed some help.
Martin St. Louis felt it was time to tighten up, and while the offence can struggle at times with scoring with such emphasis put on defence, overall, this better structure is going to be important for the young defence in the long run.
The Oilers, with some of the greatest offensive talent in the game, were the big test. Connor McDavid, fresh off his 1000th career point, was in a mood to get his team going from the struggles it has had this season, but McDavid found an organized Canadiens team defensively.
Nick Suzuki and his linemates have taken a lot of heat this season for subpar work. The Suzuki line’s expected goals share was terrible at only 33 per cent for October. However, recently, he’s been, at least, 50, and even one contest a 70 share.
What about McDavid, though? The expectation was that the Canadiens top line would get a lesson in hockey, but that is not how the night went. Suzuki, with Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach, had an 88 share. This is a remarkable development for a line that struggled so badly.
In the third period, with the Canadiens leading on a Brendan Gallagher goal, the Oilers needed to tie it, but the Canadiens continued to pour it on. They did not back off a bit.
For all the hand-wringing this season about how bad Suzuki has been, he’s at a point per game offensively, and his defence is resembling last season when the line was top 10 in the league in the second half.
Overall, the club has also turned its 33 share in October into a 50 expected goals share in the last five games, including a 58 share against the Oilers. They are all figuring it out. After a start where they truly looked lost in their own end, now they are holding their own.
It should bode well for the group as they gain experience and bring Patrik Laine into the fold. He is skating and it appears he is about three weeks from returning to action.
It was suggested here that the low point of the entire rebuild could be the first two months of this season. It’s starting to look that way. Things are definitely looking up.
Wilde Goats
The second period was perhaps the best Canadiens period of the season, and in the third period, they didn’t let up, but kept an aggressive posture against the Oilers. They added to the lead on the Kaiden Guhle tally and a Jake Evans empty-netter.
On a night when many expected the Oilers could put a half-dozen on the board, that they were shut out with 30 saves from Montembeault means absolutely no way is there a goat in this game.
Wilde Cards
The Montreal Canadiens rebuild is in year three and there appears to be only one hole remaining. In net, and on defence, the solutions are already in the organization.
Jacob Fowler could be the best goalie prospect not in the NHL today. Fowler is already dominating at Boston College at only 19. There are likely two or three seasons still to go before he makes an attempt at the Canadiens roster, but the organization does have an answer in net.
On defence, there’s an argument being made that the club doesn’t have a true number one. That can be accepted. There isn’t a Cale Makar in the mix, but there is a viable top four, which is the goal. Parings of Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher and Kaiden Guhle and Logan Mailloux make the top four look extremely competitive against any other of the league’s current top 20- to 23-year-old window of defenders. It’s just a matter of the four finding their ceilings with more experience.
The forward goal is naturally to have a strong top six filled with goals. The top line has competed at a top NHL level. Last half of last season, the Nick Suzuki trio with Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield scored 53 goals. That was top five in the league.
The target now is finding three more forwards who belong in the top six for sure. Ivan Demidov should be the most obvious pick for the second line at this point. He’s been ranked by ESPN as the best prospect not in the NHL. The other top-six winger is in a mix of Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook and even Patrik Laine short-term. The wings are settled.
However, the organization is lacking a bona fide 1A at centre of the same talent or even more than Suzuki. Apart from the St. Louis Blues Cup run, it’s a difficult task to find a champion without a dominant first-line centre. Often, the centre stamps a full-ice two-way footprint, like Alex Barkov and Jack Eichel, as recent examples.
Montreal needs that 100-point star, or a dominant winner of shot share due to excellence at both ends of the ice. The Canadiens don’t have that player yet. It’s the biggest hole in the rebuild, and they need to fill that hole before leaping out of the rebuild.
It will be a big challenge finding that player, if not in the draft. Though it is always possible to win a trade that significantly, or have an unrestricted free agent choose Montreal, the more likely path to achieving the final piece of the puzzle is through the draft.
Hope is alive Michael Hage can be that player, but a 21st pick is a 50-50 proposition to make the league, and a long shot to be a star. Owen Beck has had an outstanding start to his AHL career, gaining points at a strong clip while being great in the defensive zone. His offensive upside is limited, though, so again, it is unlikely that he can fill that star role. Both these options are for the strongest of optimists.
After all this sacrifice, the Canadiens can’t just head back to the middle of the standings. That is likely to happen without winning the middle more significantly than they are able to do now.
One more upper-echelon target to hit.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.