With five straight victories for the first time this season, the Montreal Canadiens faced a difficult challenge for number six.

It’s practically their archnemesis in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Whenever everything seems to be going right, the Lightning bring the kryptonite.

It always seems to get away from the Canadiens when they play Tampa. Not this time, though, as this Canadiens team is absolutely on fire.

Montreal posted a 4-1 win.

Wilde Horses 

Juraj Slafkovsky turned 22 on Monday. It’s difficult to believe that he is so young, because it seems like he’s been around so long. His career is just getting started, yet he’s already put terrific numbers on the board. This is clearly his breakout season.

He had four goals in a shortened first season, then 20, then 18 goals. He started slowly all three years, and he vowed that he was going to be ready to roll right from the opening faceoff this year, and he was true to his word.

Slafkovsky has become the player that the organization believed in when they made the bold choice to not go with the consensus Shane Wright first overall. In the first period, on a five-on-three power play, it was Ivan Demidov to Slafkovsky and he ripped his excellent one-timer.

It was goal number 29 for Slafkovsky. He wasn’t done. In the second period, Slafkovsky went for a skate down the left side. He’s learning how to protect the puck, so the defender had zero chance to take it from him. Slafkovsky then found Cole Caufield streaking down the side for an easy tally.

GM Kent Hughes hoped at the age of 25 that Slafkovsky could give the Canadiens a 30-goal season. He’s on the verge already the day after he turned 22. It was an absolutely vital moment for Nick Bobrov, and the head scout got it right.

Credit to Trevor Timmins for getting some choices right as well. Caufield is close to the best choice from the 2019 draft taken at 15. Caufield’s marker was his 47th of the season. He has eight games to get three goals. The last time a Canadiens player hit the 50-goal plateau was Stephane Richer in 1990.

It was another stellar night in the net for the first star of the week in the NHL, Jakub Dobes. He has answered the call as the team’s number one in a stunning manner. He’s winning some of these games almost by himself. His last two starts he was a 2.84 Goals Saved Above Expected against Columbus, then followed it up with an even more remarkable 3.79 GSAE over Carolina.

Dobes is now seventh in the league in GSAE. The team’s weakness is no more a weakness.

At some point, certainly, he has to look human, but it wasn’t against the Lightning as he kept it going. It was a GSAE of 3.09 as he stopped 36 of 37 shots.

Dobes has always been athletic, and he’s used that athleticism to get to the NHL. However, against the best shooters in the world, technical skills are needed as well, and in the last month, the improvements are massive.

Under Marco Marciano, Dobes is looking entirely different. His positioning is tremendous. He’s cutting down the angles intelligently. He’s square to the puck. He is up and down and back up with outstanding balance meaning he is ready for a second shot.

There are times when the rebound control on long shots could be slightly better, but, overall, this is a much better goalie.

Wilde Goats 

A win over the Lightning in Tampa Bay when they’re battling for first place in the Atlantic Division is simply a remarkable achievement. No goats.

Wilde Cards

The Canadiens have lost the services of Alexandre Carrier to an upper-body injury for the next two to four weeks. It’s an unusual announcement from the organization, considering Carrier played over 19 minutes on Sunday in Carolina and didn’t miss a shift.

What’s more unusual, though, is who GM Kent Hughes called up from Laval as a replacement. Carrier is a right-shot defender, so this was the absolutely perfect opportunity to call on David Reinbacher to make his debut in the NHL. Reinbacher is the only player among the top 13 picks from the 2023 draft to not have played a game in the NHL yet.

However, the brass went to Adam Engstrom for the backup role. Engstrom is strong. It’s not a slight against him to suggest that he shouldn’t have been called up. It’s simply that Reinbacher is the obvious choice, and they refused to make it.

Engstrom is a left-shot defender. He is one of those defenders that can move over to his wrong side and still play a strong game, though. This has been a big theme inside the Canadiens for a long time — that they have to use a player on their unnatural side of the ice to fill out their top-six.

In fact, when trying this with Mike Matheson, it was an absolute nightmare. They’ve tried it with Kaiden Guhle as well with similar bad results. Lane Hutson is the only one who maintains some level of the same skill set when moving across the sheet.

A weaker right side is an organizational issue, and it’s one of the reasons that the Canadiens even drafted Reinbacher. They had a chance to minimize the issue Tuesday, and they didn’t choose it.

The most likely reason to pass up the opportunity to bring up Reinbacher is that the call-up isn’t likely to play a lot, considering Arber Xhekaj draws in as the sixth defender, leaving Engstrom in the press box anyway. Anyone watching proceedings this year knows though that the way they feel about Xhekaj, Engstrom is likely to play eventually in the next month.

Hughes may feel as if Engstrom’s tutelage in the minor leagues is over while thinking Reinbacher can still benefit from the ice time in Laval. They may not want Reinbacher to sit for two to four weeks not playing. This is a minor concern in itself, as why is Reinbacher not ready yet in their minds?

No one has the answer to that one, and no one is going to get that answer by asking. It’s simply a matter of wait and see on Reinbacher. He’s playing well in Laval. He probably wants the NHL test now, but apparently, it’s still time for sowing, and not time for reaping on this pick.

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.

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