After two of the most impressive moments of the season with back-to-back wins in Florida over the Panthers and Lightning, the challenge was even more difficult in Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights are the best home team in the NHL, but they couldn’t show it against the Canadiens.
Montreal spotted Vegas two, but then roared back to score the next three in one of the best wins of the season. The Canadiens have won three straight playing some of the best teams in the league on the road.
Wilde Horses
The top plus/minus centre in the entire league, Jack Eichel, became yet another centre that Nick Suzuki could handle effectively.
The top line is playing strong defensive hockey against some of the best in the world this road trip. Suzuki’s line faced Aleksander Barkov on Saturday and fared well against Brayden Point on Sunday. These just aren’t two of the top scoring centres, they also are two centres on lines with the best 200-foot games.
In this one, the Suzuki line actually out-chanced and outscored the Eichel line. Late in the second, the Canadiens scored as Juraj Slafkovsky won his puck battle, then he quickly fed Suzuki who saw Cole Caufield alone at the side of the net. It was goal number 100 in the career of Caufield. That is 19 on the season for Caufield, setting a pace of 42 on the season.
This is a first line that the rebuild can count on as a strong and finished product keyed by the play in the middle of Suzuki. He is a vastly underrated player.
Another gem that the club has added this season is Emil Heineman. It isn’t just that Heineman has shown an affinity around the net, but he also plays an outstanding 200-foot game. He almost never costs the team while scoring nine goals on the season.
His marker in the third period tied the contest completing a two-goal comeback. Heineman deflected a point shot, then adroitly jumped on the rebound to flick it home. Heineman has the third highest goal total among rookies behind only Matvei Michkov and Macklin Celebrini.
The remarkable comeback continued with the Canadiens taking the lead two minutes later. Josh Anderson blocked a shot then flipped it to centre where Kirby Dach led a 2-on-1. Dach attempted a pass to Patrik Laine, but it went through Adin Hill. Dach has three goals on the road trip.
It was Hill against Samuel Montembeault in this one. One of the two will play for Canada in the Four Nations, and one will sit and watch. It’s advantage Montembeault, as the saves in the last minute to preserve the lead were world-class.
The Canadiens refuse to quit these days. There is belief. The road to a playoff spot is 7-4 in each 11 game segment to conclude this season. After one 7-4 set, they are already two wins and no losses in the next 11 game set.
Wilde Goats
After having some strong games on defence, the second line was back to being the primary issue on the club, allowing two goals in the opening 20 minutes in Vegas.
Early on, it was Dach with a giveaway that led to a 3-on-3 rush that didn’t look that dangerous, but then Alex Newhook didn’t find a man to cover. In the last 10 seconds of the opening frame, it was Laine who lost the puck, then Dach was caught on the wall, and far too late on the back check, allowing a second goal.
It’s remarkable to see Suzuki take on the best centres in hockey, yet find a way to stay even overall. On the season, Suzuki is a stunning plus-one on the year, while Dach is minus 22.
The differential for the entire club in goals this season is minus 15. Suzuki’s line is even. Jake Evans line is slightly a plus by two goals. Christian Dvorak’s line is slightly negative by two goals. Essentially, the entire deficit is the second line.
With the goals that the second line is now scoring, it was hoped that the Dach line could tighten it up on the defensive end as well. Sadly, for the Canadiens, it remains a work in progress.
Usually the defensive liability is blamed on the centre, but Dach is not exactly with known defensive stalwarts Laine and Newhook. The easiest fix is this line getting a strong defensive centre. The goals are coming, but the differential is always the bigger, and more important, story.
Wilde Cards
To extend Jake Evans or to not extend Jake Evans. That is the most popular question on the minds of Canadiens fans in the last month. The sentiment is shifting to giving Evans a good contract to keep him in Montreal at the age of 28.
Evans is an unrestricted free agent. His contract offer could be as long as four years, but three years is more likely. The annual salary could be in the range of three million dollars. It might be even more. There are 32 teams, and it only takes one desperate team being silly because they need to make a splash.
The plus side to the Canadiens signing Evans before he listens to other teams on the first of July is Montreal knows what they have in him. They know that Evans can perform at this time. For both the organization and the player, there is stability knowing he fits.
The down side is Evans is probably turning in the best season of his life, and a general manager doesn’t want to pay for a player’s past. Kent Hughes wants to pay for his future. Also, does Hughes need Evans in the future?
Before Hughes throws $12 million to $14 million at Evans, he has to make sure that he needs the player on the roster. At the moment, this is a tricky proposition. If Hughes needs a second-line centre, then Dach becomes a third line centre. That leaves prospects Owen Beck and Oliver Kapanen to fight for the fourth line role.
Evans is a fourth liner now. He is, in fact, centring the best fourth line in all of the NHL with 25 goals ahead of Carolina with 18 goals. However, the organization does not want to leave Beck and Kapanen in the minors for too long. They are close to ready.
If Dach can improve his play and be a bona fide second-line centre next season, then Evans could be the third liner and Beck or Kapanen the forth liner. Oddly, Dach’s play, good or bad, impacts Evans status with the club.
Hughes also has the memory of Rafael Harvey-Pinard on his mind when he considers how to assess this Evans season. It is fresh in his mind that he gave Harvey-Pinard a healthy two-year contract based on the strongest season of his career.
Harvey-Pinard got 14 goals in 34 games. It was impossible for him to duplicate that because a shooting percentage of 24 is a sample that does not continue.
Evans has similar numbers. It’s the best season of his career with 10 goals in 36 games, but that shooting percentage says that he can never duplicate this season. Evans has a career-best shooting percentage of 10, but this year, he is at 31 per cent.
At 28, Evans didn’t just learn how to snipe at 31 per cent. The best shooter in hockey each year doesn’t do 31 per cent. The best shooting percentage in a season in the history of the league is 33 by Charlie Simmer of the Los Angeles Kings.
What you see from Evans is not what you get, so buyer beware for Hughes considering he has already lived through Harvey-Pinard.
Thankfully, on the first day of 2025, Hughes has time to assess this decision. He will firstly contemplate his need of a second-line centre instead of Dach. If he gets the right answer on Dach, he may opt for Evans. If he needs a better Dach, Evans is surplus that he can not afford to spend.
To be continued.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
