It’s remarkable that the Montreal Canadiens are on pace for 104 points, yet they are in an absolute dogfight to make the playoffs this season. They made the post-season with only 91 points last year. This season, the east is dominating in games against the west, so it’s skewed like never before.
Montreal needs every win it can get and the Canadiens didn’t disappoint against the Washington Capitals with a 6-2 win on Saturday.
Wilde Horses
All Cole Caufield has to do is stay healthy to have the greatest goal scoring season for the Canadiens since 1994. That was the last time a Montreal player hit the 40-goal milestone, with Vincent Damphousse delivering the result.
Since then, it’s been nothing but failure to eclipse what isn’t that stunning a mark in the NHL. The closest was Max Pacioretty who counted 39 goals in 2013-14. Caufield’s career high is 37 goals, which he achieved last season.
This year, Caufield has something special in his sights. Only 30 seconds in on Saturday night, Caufield blocked a shot at the Capitals blue line to skate in on a breakaway. He shot far side, easily beating Charlie Lindrgren. Caufield added a second tally in the first period, beating Alexander Ovechkin in a goal-mouth battle to tap in number 35 on the season.
The 40-goal mark is easily attainable for the second highest goal scorer in the league. Caufield is on pace for 49 goals this year. He shouldn’t just end that embarrassing Canadiens run of 32 years without a 40-goal scorer, Caufield could be the first 50-goal man since Stephane Richer in 1990.
It will be exciting to see what total Caufield can achieve in the final 23 games of the season.
Alex Newhook has been strong in his first two games back from a serious ankle injury and surgery. Newhook has two assists in two games since returning. Newhook and Nick Suzuki are the two forwards assigned to win the zone on the power play, carrying a back pass from their own blue line. Newhook is actually the better of the two at this endeavour using his huge speed.
Newhook won the zone with the power play time running out. He caved in the Capitals defence, then found Zachary Bolduc, who fed the trailer Mike Matheson. Matheson found the far side. It was a beautiful goal that doesn’t happen without the speed of Newhook.
The Canadiens went up 4-1 late in the second on a great play by the first line on a three-on-two rush. Suzuki carried the puck into the corner then fed Kirby Dach, who fired it upstairs with a slap shot. The first line was the only trio that had good Corsi on the night.
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Both Suzuki and Jake Evans added empty-netters as Montreal seemed to take advantage of every chance they had to create a score line that wasn’t exactly indicative of the five-on-five play.
Wilde Goats
The Canadiens had a lot of difficulty in their own zone. They spent a considerable amount of time trying to clear out the bigger Capitals, but they didn’t suffer for it because of a strong game from Jakub Dobes. He made 27 saves on 29 shots to make sure the goats segment stayed empty.
Without Dobes, the night would have gone quite differently. The Canadiens won 6-2, but the Goals Expected was actually 2.78 to 2.25 for Washington before the empty netters skewed the final numbers. Dobes made it look like everything was relaxing and cozy for the Canadiens when it wasn’t.
Wilde Cards
The trading deadline is Friday at 3 p.m. It’s becoming apparent that the Canadiens are missing assets if they want to make a major run this season. It’s a difficult moment for management. They don’t want to send a message to their players that this isn’t the year.
The players actually deserve more than General Manager Kent Hughes standing pat. The club needs an asset at every position if they are serious about this right now. If they are not serious about this season, they do have an asset coming at every hole that they have.
If the attempted Cup runs start in 2026-27, then they have Michael Hage and Alexander Zharovsky coming at forward; they have David Reinbacher at defence; they have Jacob Fowler in the net. If the run starts this year, then they need a first line winger, a third pair defender and a better goalie.
Dach hasn’t been the solution on the first line, though the Canadiens had a strong Saturday night. The club can’t seem to trust Arber Xhekaj as a third pair solution. Samuel Montembeault is well under league average in net and Jakub Dobes is somewhat under league average.
If Hughes and Jeff Gorton do decide to spend, then they have to unload Patrik Laine who they, apparently, do not have a spot for in their line-up. Laine has been wearing a contact jersey in practice for over a month. They refuse to play him. In fact, they refuse to let the media speak to him as well. It feels all but assured that his time is done in Montreal.
The future is extremely bright for the Canadiens, but how quickly do they want that future to arrive. If they acquired assets right now, the logjam of talent next season would be massive. They have no expiring contracts of unrestricted free agents next season. The following season the entire third line of Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson are free to move.
Don’t think that Hughes has boxed himself into a corner. He’s actually in the middle of an open field. There are no wrong choices; just interesting ones.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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