The Montreal Canadiens were back at home on Saturday night for the first of a three game home stand. Jake Allen was in the net as the Canadiens faced the New Jersey Devils.
Montreal hoped that they had more energy than Thursday against Detroit. They struggled for it all night, but somehow forced overtime before losing 4-3.
Wilde Horses
While the goal is the playoffs for the Canadiens, there are some individual targets that are on the radar as well. Two targets stand out: Nick Suzuki would like to be a point-per-game player for the first time in his career, and Cole Caufield would love to be a 40-goal scorer.
In the second period, the Canadiens finally got some offence going when Juraj Slafkovsky did an excellent job winning the puck, to feed it to Caufield. Caufield, who has suddenly turned into an ‘assist’ guy as well as a scorer, dished a great feed to Suzuki.
It was the 15th goal of the season for Suzuki, but more noteworthy is Suzuki stayed in touch with a point-per-game pace with the tally. Late in the second period, the same three connected again. This time it was Suzuki with the feed to Caufield.
Caufield with a tremendous shot as he weaved into the slot with great skating and skill. That’s 25 goals on the season for Caufield in 49 games. He is on pace for 42 goals.
In the third period, the Canadiens tied it on a night that they didn’t seem to have a chance for the first 35 minutes. Suzuki won the draw cleanly to Kaiden Guhle. Guhle sent a soft pass to Alexandre Carrier, while Slafkovsky went to the front of the net to screen Allen. Carrier counted his first for the Canadiens and it was somehow 3-3.
It was a third point for Suzuki as he seems to rise to the occasion when he faces good centres like Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. Suzuki now has 50 points on the season in 49 games. Both Suzuki and Caufield have their personal targets in sight.
On defence, Kaiden Guhle has been a point-per-game player for the last four games, but what stands out is his commitment on defence. On one shift late in the third period, Guhle was an absolute monster blocking shots. They all had tremendous commitment to the task using every ounce of energy that they had.
One other player to be excited about, despite the loss, is Jakub Dobes. He let in four goals on 44 shots, but he still had a strong game. He showed another element to his game in this one. He had a short memory when he let in a bad goal.
The second goal against was not a good one, as a weak shot snuck through his pads, but after that bad goal against, Dobes didn’t wilt. He actually upped the swagger even more on his saves. Dobes had a difficult one-on-one shot to stop from 15 feet, and he flashed the glove with vigour.
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The kid has belief, and you have to have that to be a goalie. In the third period, with the game tied, he came out of his net six feet to challenge the shooter. He has such confidence in himself, and cutting down the angle is an important way that a goalie shows that confidence.
The Devils were absolutely swarming the Canadiens late as Montreal was desperate to find their legs enough to get it to overtime. Dobes made some stunning saves that had the fans spontaneously rising to their feet to applaud the effort.
Dobes took the loss for the first time in the NHL, but he was still outstanding.
Wilde Goats
Every team does have the same schedule, but they don’t all have the same hard parts at the same time. The Islanders may feel overtaxed in March due to three trips out west. The Blues may feel overtaxed in December due to nine games in 20 nights.
For the Canadiens, this is when they have felt all the miles on the ice and off. Montreal has travelled 25,000 kilometres in one month with three trips all across North America, so this is the time that they simply do not have any legs.
Every team has ups and down of restful periods and overtaxed periods. They don’t happen for every single team on Jan. 25. However, a playoff team during its slumping periods does manage a .500 record, and then surges for a .650 to .700 record during its hot streaks.
This is why the Canadiens have to figure out a way to head into the Four Nations break with a 4-4 record, despite how they feel right now. The full three days between games should help Montreal tremendously when they face the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday.
Next week, they have yet another road trip out west with three games in California, so there is no rest for Montreal. If they want to be in the playoff hunt, they still have to get results.
After the Four Nations break, the difficult part of the schedule is over. Their strength of schedule is one of the easiest in the league in March and April. Montreal also has only two road trips of a maximum four games.
This Canadiens team was the best in the league for one month, but they have hit a wall getting results using up every last ounce of their energy.
On the first goal, Jesper Bratt was skating all over the ice with no one taking him. Every Canadiens checker thought someone else had him as they watched him skate through coverage. This is both physical and mental fatigue.
This club was rotating coverage in the hybrid system with ease for a long time. In this one, they missed a lot of assignments.
In overtime, Mike Matheson had a rough moment when he was the last man back and simply didn’t feel the back pressure coming at him which led to a 2-on-0 breakaway that Jack Hughes converted. More awareness was needed in that moment where Matheson simply had to dump it deep when he had the chance.
It was a well earned point for Montreal just the same. Best case scenario, the Canadiens will be fresher on Tuesday night after three-days rest. Worst case scenario is they stay sluggish until the two-week break.
The Canadiens have met every challenge since November. The challenge in the next seven games will be their most difficult the rest of this regular season.
Wilde Cards
While Ivan Demidov, Owen Beck, Jacob Fowler, and Logan Mailloux are some of the prospects gathering a lot of attention, one outstanding performance this season has been neglected for the most part.
Oliver Kapanen made the Canadiens roster out of camp in one of the biggest surprises of September. Kapanen was sent back to his club side in Europe to continue to learn his craft after a solid start for Montreal looking not out of place in 12 games.
Since then, Kapanen has been one of the best players in the Swedish Hockey League for Timra. There are only seven point-per-game players in the entire league and Kapanen is one of them.
Kapanen scored twice in a 3-2 overtime loss for Timra against Lulea. Timra is in third place in the SHL. Kapanen plays with the second highest scorer in the league Filip Hallander.
The best aspect of Kapanen’s season that the Canadiens love is he continues to receive all of his apprenticeship at centre. The 21 year old has a bright future in the middle. He is another one of those intelligent, well-trained, defensively responsible players from Finland.
The breakout in scoring is a tremendous bonus as Kapanen is discovering his offence for the first time in his career at any level. He has 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points in 21 games.
Kapanen never shone before scoring-wise at the club level, except when playing for Finland at the World Championships in 2024 when he led his nation with six goals.
Some players have done most of their improving by 21, but Kapanen seems to be still discovering many elements of his game. His ceiling may be very high.
Most pundits target Beck as the next Canadiens prospect to push through to the NHL-level at centre for Montreal, but it was Kapanen who made the team out of camp, and he has proven his worth in every facet of the game since then.
