The Montreal Canadiens tried to break their two-game losing skid with the Utah Mammoth at the Bell Centre Saturday night. Perhaps even more important in the long run than the two points was Samuel Montembeault finding his form again.
Montembeault entered the night with an abysmal .855 save percentage on the season, but he was in fine form keeping the Canadiens in it during a poor second period, before they surged in the third for a 6-2 win.
Wilde Horses
Canadiens management can be patient on that search for a second-line centre if the present one keeps playing like this. Oliver Kapanen’s line is now plus-five in goal differential. That’s an excellent number overall at sixth in the league.
The second line was supposed to be a weakness this season. It was the black hole of last year with players turning in plus/minus like minus-29 for Kirby Dach, minus-21 for Alex Newhook and minus-14 for Patrik Laine. This season, the script is flipped.
The Canadiens had nothing going in the first period when that second line tied it up. Ivan Demidov was striding down the right side when he gave the puck to a streaking Kapanen, who counted his sixth goal of the season — first among rookies. Six goals is a huge number in 15 games as Kapanen is providing offence that few saw coming unless they were paying attention to his last year in Sweden.
In the second frame, Kapanen made another outstanding play. He was tripped in his own zone, but instead of pleading to the ref, he pushed the puck ahead while lying on the ice. Newhook took the pass and made a magnificent move one-on-one to undress the defender for his sixth of the season.
Perhaps the championship run in coming seasons takes more than Kapanen as a compliment to Nick Suzuki on the top-two lines down the middle. However, until that right centre comes along, management can be comfortable that all of the top-six players are learning how to compete better with whatever designation they complete this season.
The top-six on the Canadiens will be interesting in the next two or three years. Prospects Alexander Zharovsky and Michael Hage have second line potential. Both players also have centre potential. When those two arrive, the third line might just be a scoring line as well. Few teams can claim that they have that depth.
One player surely to be on that top-six is Cole Caufield. He is an absolute sniper. Caufield scored from the corner once again. This is supposed to be an impossible angle. But with the goalie’s “Reverse VH” style opening up the area over the shoulder and under the post as a hole to target — and Caufield’s ability to target it —Caufield scores from the corner regularly.
In the third period, Caufield did it again. Another horrible angle from the side of the net, but this time, he took advantage of the goalie not hugging the post with his skate blade. Caufield slid it home.
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With that goal, Caufield passed Sidney Crosby and Cutter Gauthier for the league lead in goals. Caufield has 12 goals in 15 games this season. Caufield’s line with Suzuki at centre is also shining in goal differential this season at plus-eight. That’s second in the league.
The Canadiens wrapped it up with two late goals to end their run of seven straight one-goal games. Newhook fed Suzuki for a one-timer on a two-on-one, and Dach scored on a breakaway to count his fourth goal in his last three games. Dach’s deke was outstanding. His edge work was first class.
It was the Canadiens best third period of the season. Montreal has the best record in the entire Eastern Conference.
Wilde Goats
There’s really only one line struggling this season, and it’s Jake Evans’ trio. They were on ice for both of the goals the Mammoth got in the first two periods. The first goal was on the first shot for the third straight game against the Canadiens.
The second goal was bizarre, as Josh Anderson was clearly interfered with. He and the rest of the team seemed to stop playing, thinking there would be a call. They made a slow line change as well. This led to Montembeault watching Utah throw it cross-crease twice before scoring easily.
Wilde Cards
“Stop trying to score f***ing goals. Stop trying to f***ing make plays. Get the pucks deep and then hammer their defencemen. Hammer them so by Game Seven they got nothing left. “ — Panthers head coach Paul Maurice yelling at his players during a time-out in a playoff game as the team leads by three goals.
The Florida Panthers followed Maurice’s advice to back-to-back championships. However, not just anyone can hammer defencemen. Dumping the puck deep, then hitting defenders takes the ability to hit defenders.
Maurice brings to the forefront the importance of balance on a team. Proper team construction is vital. Generally, two lines score goals and two lines make sure they don’t allow goals — and crush defenders every chance they get. A good game for the fourth line is 0-0 on the scoresheet and 30 hits levelled.
Most of the attention on the Canadiens rebuild has been given to the scoring lines, and rightfully so. If they can’t score, it’s definitely not going to make a lot of difference if the back-end lines are delivering hits or not.
The Canadiens are getting very close to having all the pieces to have two perfect scoring lines, but do they have third and fourth lines capable of Maurice’s intelligent mantra that wins playoff series?
Is the club physical enough to wear down defenders with their size and anger? The playoff series against the Washington Capitals yelled a resounding “no” to that last spring. Against the Capitals, the roster issue was an overall lack of toughness.
The back six forwards at the moment are Kirby Dach, Brendan Gallagher, Zach Bolduc, Jake Evans, Josh Anderson and Joe Veleno. Can they wear down defenders with relentless hitting? The answer is a clear no, actually.
Dach is playing good hockey and plays a big enough game. If he keeps playing as well as this, then he will be big enough. Gallagher doesn’t wear down anyone with physicality, though, he certainly is tenacious. He is more like a bug, though, than a bear.
Bolduc laid out a hit so ferocious against Jake Sanderson last week that he sent him right over the boards. Bolduc can deliver in this area. That’s exactly what Maurice’s blueprint is.
Josh Anderson has been a disappointment in this area this season. He can deliver big hits and be physical, but this year, he is saving himself it seems.
Jake Evans is a quality hockey player who brings the defensive acumen that is required on the back end of forward rosters. He also kills penalties well. However, he offers no physical play at all to wear down defenders.
Finally, Joe Veleno has not shown any ability at all to crush a defender with any anger or truculence. In fact, he’s been a bit timid. The Canadiens have some “tweeners” in the back-six. There’s not enough size. There’s not enough “Maurice’s Mantra.”
Understand this, though, that a lack of size isn’t about moving on from Hutson or Caufield. Some small size is fine as long as it is at the top of the roster. The change to bigger and angrier must come in the back-six. Florian Xhekaj and Luke Tuch being good enough to play at the NHL level would be a huge improvement in physicality, eventually.
The Capitals series was a perfect example of Maurice’s Mantra. Canadiens management made it clear in the post-mortem that they know they need to get bigger.
Win the battle with the top-two lines scoring more than their counterparts. Win the war with the back-two lines pounding their counterparts into submission.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
