The Montreal Canadiens late-season success is the talk of the hockey world. They went into a home-and-home series with the New Jersey Devils this weekend with seven straight victories. The Devils hosted the Saturday’s opener, and Montreal extended its streak to eight games, winning an absolute thriller 4-3 in a shootout.
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All the talk these days is about the Canadiens top line and deservedly so, but this contest had an important development on the second line.
Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov have been defending too much in the last couple weeks. They are talented when they get in the offensive zone, but they haven’t been in that area of the ice enough. Against the Devils, they dominated the first period. They had an Expected Goals shot share of 75 per cent. They finished with a 60 Corsi.
Ivan Demidov was the most noticeable of the three. He is levelling up in a massive way right now. It hasn’t translated to big nights on the scoreboard yet, but scoreboard victories start with possession victories. Puck-battling is a vital skill, and a player can’t do great things, if he can’t win the disk. That’s where the magic starts.
It’s becoming nearly impossible to take the puck off Demidov. He dangles it with such talent and efficiency, and he’s starting to realize that opposing players simply cannot take it off him. He has the ability to move through defenders like they’re not even there.
Demidov is also shooting more, which is another strong sign of an increasing comfort level. He would normally defer, but now he is seeing that he has the talent to hold on to the puck and make plays.
Demidov has learned another valuable lesson on the power play this season. He used to stay on the half-wall and wait for a pass to come to him. Generally, he was static, and easily defendable. Recently, he has been moving up and down between the half-wall and moving toward the net.
By doing this, he changes the angles for passes and he loses his defenders more easily. On Saturday, it made him available for a scintillating back-door pass from Cole Caufield, giving Demidov his 60th point of the season on his 17th goal. Nick Suzuki picked up his 95th point of the season on the tally.
Only a minute and change later, Lane Hutson notched his first point of the night as he continues his assault on the record book with his 74th point on his 12th goal. Suddenly, the Canadiens had a 3-0 lead. Hutson said before the season began that he could score more goals. He was right. He’s doubled his total from his rookie season.
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Some of the support staff had notably good games, too. Arber Xhekaj is getting more and more comfortable, and Jayden Struble put in a strong performance in addition to scoring his second goal of the season. At forward, Joe Veleno is also playing strong hockey. He’s a hard worker on the forecheck. Zachary Bolduc continues to improve his decision making to help the play progress positively.
The shootout was thrilling, too, with Caufield and Demidov scoring for Montreal with perfect shots. Still, it took five rounds to decide the game, with Oliver Kapanen smoothly going to the five hole to extend the Canadiens winning streak . The Canadiens magic number to make the playoffs is one single point.
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Saturday’s game was well in command. The Canadiens were up by two goals and were on a four-minute power play. Then they lost their concentration. With the man advantage they gave up consecutive two-on-ones in about 15 seconds. The Devils scored on the second one to get back into the game.
It’s hard to criticize a club that has won seven consecutive games for poor game management, but in that moment, the Canadiens forgot that a two-goal lead after two periods would be a good result. Certainly, a power play goal at that moment would have been preferred, but the game is yours if it’s managed well. Instead, they gave the Devils life.
All that is positive that can be said about the sloppiness is learn that lesson in the regular season, because in the playoffs, that’s exactly how to lose games.
That shorthanded goal mattered because the Devils tied it with the goalie pulled and two minutes remaining.
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The line is unstoppable. It is among the best lines in the NHL, and it might just be the best.
Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky have been on an absolute tear since being reunited. It’s been 15 games since head coach Martin St. Louis took Slafkovsky off the second line and put him back with Suzuki and Caufield. They have, in that short time, 30 goals.
Caufield is so hot he is scoring at more than a goal-per-game for almost a half season. He has 28 goals in 27 games. Slafkovsky is having a breakout season looking for his first 30-goal campaign. Suzuki is on the verge of his first 100-point season — and the first for the franchise since Mats Naslund in 1986.
The Canadiens have fallen short offensively for a long time. The last time they were truly powerful offensively was 1993. That was the last time they had a 100-goal line with Kirk Muller, Vincent Damphousse and Brian Bellows. They counted 110 goals the season they won the cup.
The numbers for this year’s top line are impressive, but they are even more impressive when compared to the rest of the league. With Caufield’s 49 goals this season, Slafkovsky’s 29 and Suzuki’s 27, they are at 105 goals in total. That compares quite favourable to the best lines in the league.
Nathan MacKinnon with Martin Necas and Artturi Lehkonen have 105 goals. Anthony Cirelli with Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov have 99 goals. Mark Scheifele with Gabe Vilardi and Kyle Connor have 96 goals.
The only caveat for the Suzuki line is that they weren’t together all season to achieve these totals. That says that they could do even better if they were always together. It makes it an exciting proposition for next season when the organization hopes it can find a strong second line. That way, it won’t have to tinker with the chemistry of the top line to find balance.
The other three top lines this season that will eclipse the 100-goal plateau all have one thing in common that the Canadiens line doesn’t. They are all veteran players at the height of their powers. The oldest member of the Canadiens line is 26. They’re just getting started.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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