After a four-game road trip winning all eight points, the Montreal Canadiens returned home to face the Pittsburgh Penguins. They didn’t play tight hockey, but they played winning hockey. It’s five straight wins after a 5-4 win over the Penguins.
Wilde Horses
The Canadiens were flying on offence against a Penguins team that didn’t find a body they wanted to hit. Even the fourth line got into the act. Florian Xhekaj pushed the puck nicely up to Owen Beck who fed Oliver Kapanen for the one-timer. His first of the season.
24 seconds later, it was Josh Anderson with a shot absolutely wired into the top corner just under the cross bar. That was the first of two for Anderson. The second accidentally hit him on a Lane Hutson point shot.
The Canadiens struck quickly for two straight in the second period as well. This time with two goals in 27 seconds. Hutson with a masterclass in winning ice and finding an outlet for the first one. His spinerama pass to Alexandre Texier was sublime.
Right after, it was Chris Kreider doing what he does best. Kreider was standing in front of the net by himself. His first attempt was stopped, but he calmly persevered to slide home the rebound. Four goals in the first half of the game for the Canadiens.
The fourth line didn’t have Kirby Dach on it because he was ill. What happened instead is the fourth line showed exactly what a fourth line is supposed to do. On one shift, Florian was immovable in front of the net, then Beck absolutely destroyed a defenseman with a hit.
With Kapanen, they had big pressure and were a handful to play against. Look at history, fourth lines that play like that are fourth lines on cup winners. It’s a formula: the first two lines score, the third line often defends the best of the opposition, and the fourth line punishes anything that moves while being a complete annoyance.
The Canadiens blueprint will likely be just a bit different. The first three lines will all be able to score as a big change from the usual blueprint. That’s because the GM has managed his cap so well that the Canadiens will be able to afford scorers on all three lines.
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Considering both Beck and Kapanen are excellent defensive players, with Florian, they might just a defensive line and a punishing line. To be continued, but there is some clear promise there. Beck has the best Expected Goals on the team but hasn’t garnered a lot of respect yet.
Wilde Goats
The Canadiens get a bit too excited to play in front of their fans at the Bell Centre. On the road, especially in Dallas, they won four straight. Except for a poor third period in St. Louis, they played controlled and composed hockey.
They didn’t take any chances. They allowed almost few two-on-one rushes, and even fewer breakaways. They respected the blue line and cleared the puck over it. The opposition had to earn their offensive chances.
Back at home, it’s wide open. The fans are crazy. The Bell Centre is wild. The mood changes. The Canadiens are flying on offence, but they’re also reckless on defense. Montreal’s record on the road being better, just like last year, isn’t an anomaly. It’s how differently they play.
Gambles all over the ice on offence by the Canadiens. Even Alexandre Carrier made an extremely ill-advised pinch in the first period. It’s like they want to win the entire game in the first ten minutes; instead, they make so many clumsy errors.
Arber Xhekaj with a giveaway on the third goal trying to flip it out but not having enough power on it, then no one covering a man after that. Sloppy. Simply very sloppy.
On the road, they look like a championship club, and at home, they look like they haven’t been taught how to control a game at all.
The result is the top goalie in the league Jacob Fowler saw that lofty status challenged. Fowler allowed four goals on 29 shots. His save percentage fell from .942 to .932. However, his Goals Saved Above Expected went up to a league leading 10.2.
The Alex Newhook line with Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky had a difficult night. They were excellent in Dallas, but they got steamrolled in this one. The match-up against Sidney Crosby was a tough one for them. They finished with an Expected Goals share of only 20 per cent.
Nick Suzuki can come back as soon as possible, and word is that he is close.
Wilde Cards
One of the greatest challenges of a general manager is to understand that he is always paying for the future; that he is never paying for the past. It’s an easy trap to get into, but the worst contracts, historically, are when a GM falls in love with the memories of his superstar.
GM Marc Bergevin was in tears extolling the virtues of Brendan Gallagher when he signed him for six seasons. He loved Brendan’s work ethic, and all that he had done for him wearing the CH. However, Bergevin forgot that Gallagher’s superb past didn’t guarantee six years of future.
Tampa Bay GM Julien Brisebois is a wiser man than Bergevin. Brisebois is faced with a dilemma right now. It’s said that Nikita Kucherov wants six years at $20 million per season. However, Brisebois knows at 33 years of age, the next six years for Kucherov won’t look like the last 12.
This is an albatross waiting to spread its wide wings to ruin the Tampa Bay Lightning. Brisebois won’t sign Kucherov for any more seasons than he thinks he can maintain his star status. This is why talks have broken down, and Kucherov has asked for a trade.
GM Kent Hughes has shown, so far, in his career leading the Canadiens that he understands that simple fact that a contract is for the future. Fans, no doubt, would love for Kucherov to fill out that top six. Rumour is that Kucherov has the Canadiens on his ten-team list of cities to accept a trade.
Hughes won’t bite on this poisoned apple. He’s far too smart at this job than to do that. Hughes took the job having to already get massive contracts Shea Weber, Carey Price, and Brendan Gallagher off the books before their contracts were up. Hughes isn’t Bergevin.
Be thankful for that.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sportswriter, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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