The Saturday-to-Tuesday scenario is the most rested a team can hope for this season in the NHL.
With the condensed schedule, that length of break leads to an advantage over a usually tired opposition. The Vegas Golden Knights played Sunday, losing 7-1 in Ottawa.
The Canadiens and the Knights played a well-fought, highly-skilled contest that went to overtime, with the Canadiens winning 3-2.
Wilde Horses
It’s fascinating to note how much the Canadiens have improved their roster recently. The additions continue to make a difference. Alexandre Texier has fit in on the first line beautifully. It’s hard to believe that he was released from his contract in St. Louis.
Texier was in front of the net for Cole Caufield’s 30th goal of the season. Texier got a little tap on the puck that caused the pinball-like reaction that allowed Caufield’s fast hands to tap it in just inside the post. Caufield has nine goals in his last six games.
Texier was also in on the game winner as he pushed the puck along the boards, allowing Jake Evans to have the room to go on a partial breakaway. Evans made a gorgeous inside-out move to bring the Bell Centre faithful to their feet.
Phillip Danault has also made a huge difference with his arrival from Los Angeles. Danault, by his own admission, was wasting away the season for the Kings. He’s rejuvenated in Montreal. He’s a big part of the club. Much more than your ordinary third-liner, solidifying the club down the middle.
Danault counted the first Canadiens goal on the night, as he made a perfect deflection on a Zachary Bolduc shot from the blue line. Bolduc is playing his best hockey of the season. Ignore the goal totals recently, he’s contributing much more than he did early in the year.
The teaching the head coach is instilling is sinking in. Bolduc’s routes are better. His work rate is higher. His defensive play is more sound.
Another player to have his best game since returning from injury was Kaiden Guhle. He made the right choice all night. He didn’t seem to have as much difficulty as his first few games in handling the speed of the forecheck. He retrieved and made solid plays.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
Kirby Dach also started to gain some confidence for his first good game since returning from his foot injury. Dach won pucks for the first time and dangled like he believed in himself. It’s difficult to return to the high speed of hockey right after an injury. Both Dach and Guhle’s games were proof of it against Vegas as they both started to finally look a lot more comfortable.
Advantage Jakub Dobes to get more starts, as he put in a strong outing. He repeatedly darted out his leg on cross-crease passes that are usually goals, but he stopped all three of them to keep Montreal in the game. He can be unorthodox, but a save is all that counts.
They don’t ask how pretty was it. They ask how many he let in. Dobes let in two on 34 shots. That’s a great night’s work.
Wilde Goats
The players have adopted most of Martin St. Louis’s system successfully. However, one component that they can’t seem to get right is the forward awareness when a defender pinches in at the blue line. It has cost the club countless goals, and even points in the standings.
In the first period — a period the Canadiens carried — Montreal allowed an easy goal on a two-on-one. Alexandre Carrier pinched in on the attack. Ivan Demidov didn’t notice the pinch, and was caught out letting the puck go high in the offensive zone when there wasn’t enough support.
For Demidov, who was fighting for possession, to be aware of that risk is a very tall ask of him in his rookie season. This is a lot of awareness. In this moment, perhaps, someone not in the fray battling could have covered for Demidov, noticing the danger lurking.
Also, Montreal didn’t own possession of the 50-50 puck, so what was Carrier pinching for in the first place? The pinch becomes low percentage without possession. It’s great to have an extra attacker when the team is clearly attacking, or there is plenty of support, but without possession, those percentages in Montreal’s favour drop significantly.
As always, when there is a goal against, it’s the theory here that at least two or three players are involved. In this case, point to everyone. Demidov lost the puck in a vulnerable position. Carrier vacated his point at a high-risk moment. Slafkovsky and Kapanen didn’t catch the risk, either.
Lane Hutson actually did what he is supposed to on the odd-man rush. He blocked off the pass, leaving a bad angle shot to the Vegas attacker. Pavel Dorofeyev ripped it to the top corner.
This is the most common mistake the Canadiens have made this entire season. It’s one of the reasons they are a high-scoring team. The head coach is trying to get his group to be a creative and entertaining offensive team. That’s perfect. Playing in the opposition zone is winning and enjoyable hockey. It’s just going to take a little time for the players to increase their defensive awareness.
It’s a lot of work to score in the league, especially on the cycle. The easiest goal to score is an odd-man rush. Winning teams don’t allow them. For the youngest team in the league, naturally, it’s still a work in progress.
Wilde Cards
It’s early, but there’s been a lot of scoreboard-watching already this campaign. The Canadiens have been both out of the playoffs, and at the top of the division recently. The standings have been that tight all year long.
Presently, Montreal is seven points from first and four points from eliminated. It’s going to be a wild chase for the post-season. No team is so good in the east that they can run away with a cup finals berth, so get into the dance to have a chance has to be General Manager Kent Hughes’ model for the season. Expect him to make a roster push at the trading deadline.
The east is massively better than the west this campaign for some bizarre reason. At present pace, it will take 98 points to make the playoffs in the east, but only 90 points in the west. Last season, Montreal shocked the hockey world by winning that final spot with 91 points.
The anxiety of possibly missing the playoffs is causing some to feel as if the Canadiens haven’t taken a leap again this year. They most definitely have. They’re on pace for 98 points and that’s always been enough, but in this wacky season, it may not be a successful total for the first time since they started awarding a point to lose in overtime. In 2019, the Canadiens missed the playoffs with 96 points in a strong, yet, ultimately, disappointing season.
Don’t let the standings cause confusion that Montreal’s improvement from year to year continues. The rebuild started with 55 points, since then 68 points, 76 points, the playoffs with 91 and this year prorated for 98.
It’s still all systems go. It’s simply looking dicey because the east is stacked and the west is in quicksand. Montreal would be in fourth in the west, and lead the Pacific Division. The Canadiens are ninth in the league as an example of how weak the west is overall, and of how sad all this anxiety is over their supposed bad play.
It’s going well for the Canadiens this season. They’re making big strides. Some more saves would be nice, but all in all, it’s been another huge year for the long-term growth of the team.
They just need to be in the other conference for the conversation to be more skewed in their favour.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
