With roughly 90 seconds left in the Canadiens’ 4-0 blanking of the Stanley Cup champion Panthers in Florida Saturday afternoon, I was mildly surprised to see the towering figure of No. 92 out there, taking charge of the puck in his own zone and calmly skating it out of harm’s way.
Patrik Laine, after all, is an elite sniper, possessed of one of the hardest, most accurate shots in the league. But here he was, playing the role of a third defenceman as the Canadiens tried to preserve the shutout for young Czech goaltender Jakub Dobes in his first start in the NHL. Obviously, Martin St. Louis trusts the big winger in that capacity or he wouldn’t be out there.
Laine didn’t score as the Habs went two-for-Florida over the weekend, but he did do everything else in his power to help propel his team to improbable back-to-back triumphs over a pair of bona fide Cup contenders by a combined score of 9-2.
Suddenly, the Canadiens are playing better than they have at any point since the summer of 2021. As is usually the case when a team is going well, it’s very much a group effort. It’s Dobes playing like a top-flight veteran goaltender in his first start. It’s Alexandre Carrier turning out to be another solid-gold move on the part of GM Kent Hughes and permitting Kaiden Guhle to return to his proper position. It’s Kirby Dach finding his game alongside Laine and it’s Jake Evans earning what should be Player-of-the-Month for December and a solid contract somewhere. It’s Samuel Montembeault getting a bit of rest and coming back strong.
But no one has had a bigger impact than Laine in his return from that knee injury suffered in the pre-season. When a coach tells you that a guy is out there because he “does all the little things,” that usually means that he isn’t very good so he must be out there for some reason.
Laine is both very good and very capable of doing all the little things that make a team better. As with any top-flight player, his presence in the lineup creates a chain reaction. Laine has contributed eight power-play goals and two assists in a dozen games and in the game in Columbus, he barely played.
With Laine, the second line has gone from black hole to force of nature. Dach and Alex Newhook are scoring. On the power play, Laine is such a threat that penalty-killing units will have to overplay him, creating opportunities down low for Cole Caufield.
And when you’re protecting a shutout in the dying seconds of a game, it’s a luxury for the coach to be able to trot out a huge offensive talent to get the job done on defence.
All this and a second-round pick for Jordan Harris. Nice work, Mr. Hughes.
Counting Cayden: I feel for Cayden Primeau, placed on waivers before finding himself back in Laval when Dobes was called up.
Some observers still hold out hope for Primeau. I’m reminded more of a conversation I once had with Felipe Alou when I asked why another of his tall, athletic sons hadn’t followed older brother Moises into the majors.
Alou had a brutally honest, two-word response: “Can’t play.”
You might think Alou was being hard on his own son but the big leagues are the big leagues, and no one knew that better than Felipe Alou. You can be a terrific athlete, you can work hard, do everything right and still fall short of the NHL or MLB.
The Canadiens have been extraordinarily patient with Primeau. People talk as if Primeau was a top prospect who was messed up by Canadiens coaches, but that’s a crock. He was the 199th overall pick in 2017, a seventh-rounder. It’s a miracle that he made it as far as he did before the ultimate verdict had to be delivered: “Can’t play.”
Nasty Nikita: Nikita Kucherov is one heckuva hockey player. Not quite at the pinnacle with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon, maybe, but the guy can play.
Kucherov is also about as pleasant as a hibernating wolverine with jock itch. Canadiens fans will remember the inebriated post-Stanley Cup press conference when Kucherov Unfiltered went viral.
Kucherov brought the ugly again in Saturday’s loss to the Habs in Tampa. With Kirby Dach about to slip past him along the boards behind the Lightning net, Kucherov kicked out his right skate, a vicious and dangerous trip. Predictably, Kucherov protested mightily when he was called for tripping.
Once a piece of work — always a piece of work.
Happy New Year, folks.
Heroes: Summer McIntosh, Ethan Katzberg, Marie-Philip Poulin, Mariah Keopple, Alexandra Labelle, Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, Lane Hutson, Kirby Dach, Jakub Dobes, Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier, Jake Evans, Samuel Montembeault &&&& last but not least, the Paris Olympics of 2024 — the greatest Olympiad there ever was or will be.
Zeros: Zach Werenski, the Blue Jackets, Nikita Kucherov, John Herdman, Bev Priestman, Joel Embiid, Clay Matvick, Dave Pasch, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.
Now and forever.