It’s felt like the schedule has been extremely taxing for the Montreal Canadiens so far this season, especially this 21-day stretch when the Canadiens play 12 games.
It all starts with the traditional road stretch during the holiday break. First up was the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canadiens showed a stunning amount of resolve counting three times in the final 11 minutes to force overtime. It went to a shootout where the Canadiens fell to make it a 5-4 final.
Wilde Horses
The Canadiens had only one line going offensively on the day. The first goal was a terrific drive to the net by Juraj Slafkovsky that created the opening. Ivan Demidov seized on it by going to the net hard for his tenth goal of the season.
The line’s second goal was on a terrific play by Slafkovsky. He took the pass from Oliver Kapanen, then fired it home for his 12th of the season. The Canadiens made it close, and a frantic finish with a Noah Dobson marker.
The comeback was completed with four seconds remaining. Lane Hutson kept it in at the blue line after Phillip Danault won the face-off. Hutson passed it to Demidov who quickly fed Slafkovsky. He one-timed it for his second goal of the day. It was an amazing moment for the Canadiens to earn a point, and Slafkovsky was named the star of the game with three points.
Montreal absolutely dominated in overtime – the Lightning barely touched the puck for the first four minutes. Cole Caufield ripped one off the crossbar, but the extra period ended with no goals scored, forcing a shootout. While the Canadiens did lose, all in all, this was a positive and uplifting game for the team that will gain confidence through their comeback.
Here is a theme that may be slightly before its time, but the trend is certainly developing: Danault appears to be stabilizing the Canadiens on defence. Montreal has had a terrible time with their back-six forwards showing a large deficit in goals for and goals against.
Jake Evans has the worst plus/minus on the team, and Joe Veleno has the second worst. The important centre role has been filled by only one top quality defensive veteran in Nick Suzuki. GM Kent Hughes knew he had a problem, and he had to fix it.
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With good usage by Head Coach Martin St. Louis, Danault can find himself in many important sports during key moments of the game. Danault can handle defensive zone starts as well as any centre in hockey. He can win important face-offs in his own zone. He can handle difficult match-ups against the best players in the league.
With Danault in the lineup, the Canadiens allowed only three shots in the first period as Jacob Fowler looked for something to do in the Montreal net. The shots attempted was 24-7 for the Canadiens in the first. Danault makes intelligent decisions all game long. Those decisions can turn games in the Canadiens favour.
Advanced statistics can be deceiving at times. If a line always starts in their own zone, it’s quite a challenge to have positive numbers at the end of the night because they have to win 200-feet of ice before anything moves in their favour. Danault and his line shone.
Danault, Josh Anderson, and Alexandre Texier managed a 100 Corsi in the two periods they were together. When St. Louis subbed out Zachary Bolduc for Alexandre Texier on their respective lines in the third period, Danault powered that line to a 90 Corsi as well.
Before the trade, Danault and Evans had basically the same profile of defensive-zone starts on their respective teams, yet Danault had a 53 Corsi in Los Angeles, while Evans had a 36 in Montreal. What Danault can do defensively can not be denied, nor can it be minimized in its importance. He shuts down great players.
Danault has zero goals this season, and it does look like he won’t be adding many to his total in Montreal, but if he can be a ‘shutdown’ centre this significantly, on this Canadiens club that had struggled defensively so badly, he’s worth a goal-against lower per game.
Wilde Goats
The Nick Suzuki line had another horrible game. This line for the last two years, with Slafkovsky on it, has been one of the best in hockey. They had the best five-on-five goal differential in the NHL last season.
With Bolduc, however, it is a vastly different story. They are caved-in four nights out of five. The Tampa Bay game was particularly ugly. The Suzuki line had a nine per cent Corsi after two periods. Bolduc isn’t the puck battler in the corner that Slafkovsky is, and he can’t carry it up ice either like Slafkovsky can.
It is likely just a matter of manpower right now because of injuries, but when the injured return, it has to be Kirby Dach who gets a shot on the first line, followed by Alex Newhook. It’s extremely difficult to be a winning hockey team when the first line is getting destroyed most nights.
Wilde Cards
The Canadiens have four players at the World Juniors, but only one is a sure thing to make the National Hockey League. Michael Hage has been a force for Canada in his first two games.
Hage is listed as the second-line centre for Canada, but he has been the best centre on the team, as Michael Misa has struggled. Misa was loaned from the San Jose Sharks to give Canada a big boost, but he hasn’t found his stride yet with Porter Martone and Tij Iginla.
The line of Gavin McKenna, Brady Martin and Hage has been Canada’s best. They have the numbers to show for it, and Hage and McKenna lead the team with four points.
Hage has two goals and two assists. He scored the overtime winner Saturday over Latvia on a perfect pass from McKenna so he could one-time it past a goalie who wasn’t yet set.
Hage has dominated at every aspect of the games, except one. He has been weak in the face-off circle at only 28 per cent. He’ll need to work to improve in this area, if he wants to be that second-line centre the Canadiens need.
All other areas Hage looks like a centre. He has the ability to carry the puck up ice and win the offensive zone with excellent stick-skills while maintaining his stride.
Hage comports like a centre defensively as well. He has great instincts when the play is in his own zone to track the puck for retrieval. He also isn’t afraid to go deep into his own zone to help out. He has a strong conscience for the less enjoyable hockey task of defending.
In the attacking zone, he will think defence as well. Hage always heads back to the blue line when a defender goes deep on the attack to cover for that rearguard. Hage has a head for it at centre; many do not.
Offensively, he’s shown a fantastic shot. He has also shown creativity with tremendous vision to find his line-mates. And, he’s shown some trickery with his eyes and head positioning to deceive opponents as to where he is going.
Hage looks like an NHLer who isn’t even close to his ceiling yet. He has been the best forward for Canada after two games. It’s quite remarkable that this pick at 21 overall looks like such a massive win for Montreal’s scouting staff yet again. In a redraft, Hage would likely be in the top ten.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
