We dedicate this edition of the Hidden Game to all the beat writers who cover the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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Forget for a moment they’re forced to cover a team that’s not a powerhouse, they also on a daily basis must type some of these names — Yegor Chinakhov, Mikael Pyyhtia, Daniil Tarasov and Kirill Marchenko. Actually, the latter isn’t all that complicated. The others? Not even spell-check can be of any great assistance.
We also want to give a nod to James Hagens, a centre with Boston College and, as of now, the consensus first overall draft choice in the 2025 NHL draft.
Entering Saturday night’s game at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens sat dead last in the overall standings, while the Blue Jackets were 27th. Hagens might well end up playing for one of these two franchises. Even the scouts didn’t care. Only four organizations — Dallas, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Tampa Bay — were represented to witness Montreal’s 5-1 victory.
That was an awkward moment: Former Canadiens general manager and defenceman Serge Savard had some difficulty removing the curtain that was temporarily stuck and covering Shea Weber’s name in the rafters following the pre-game ceremony honouring him, while adding his name and number to the ring of honour.
Weber, 39, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last Monday. While he was perceived to have a love/hate — mostly the latter — relationship with the media, the former captain and defenceman received a nice ovation from the spectators. And, much like his interview repertoire, Weber kept his speech short, allowing the game to commence in a timely fashion.
A reprieve from the governor: With Justin Barron’s insertion into the Canadiens’ lineup for the first time since Oct. 31, fellow defenceman Jayden Struble was scheduled to be a healthy scratch — coincidentally following last Thursday’s critical double high-sticking minor in the third period at Minnesota. But when David Savard was a late scratch with an upper-body injury, Struble got to play.
Savard, however, participated in Saturday morning’s skate and looked fine. Could management be preparing to trade him? Let the speculation begin.
What a difference a day makes: The Canadiens lulled most people to sleep in the first period against the Wild, registering only two shots. But they had 16 in the opening 20 minutes against Columbus. Must be that home cooking?
Great moments in scouting: Blue Jackets defenceman David Jiricek, who was selected sixth overall in 2022, was assigned to AHL Cleveland earlier this week.
The rest of the story: Defenceman Dante Fabbro, who scored the visitor’s only goal, was claimed off waivers from Nashville last Sunday. He met his new teammates the following day in Seattle with all of his Predators’ gear, including yellow and blue gloves — not the Blue Jackets’ colours.
Jamie Healy, Columbus’ equipment manager and obviously a quick thinker, coloured over the Predators’ yellow thumbs with a blue marker.
Another $400 stick bites the dust: That was a weak slashing penalty assessed against Cole Caufield barely two minutes into the game. Somehow, his gesture broke Adam Fantilli’s stick.
No goals, but he remains an early Cy Young candidate: 12-3. That’s the disparity between Caufield’s goals and assists. He contributed two assists against Columbus.
Best figure-skating move of the night: Was that a single Salchow jump performed by Juraj Slafkovsky on the Canadiens’ opening goal, which was scored on the power play by Mike Matheson five minutes into the game? Goalie Tarasov might not have stopped the shot, regardless, but Slafkovsky, who was stationed in front of the net, likely impeded his view by jumping.
Guess he wanted a souvenir: Former Canadien Sean Monahan took an opening-period interference penalty for grabbing Lane Hutson’s stick. Presumably, Monahan knows the kid’s going to be good.
News you need: Matheson’s goal was the fourth this season by a Canadiens’ defenceman. The team’s on pace for 18 from its blueliners, compared with 48 — fourth in the NHL — last season. It also was the first power-play goal this season by a Montreal rearguard, and the first since Jan. 20, 2024, also scored by Matheson, during a 9-4 drubbing at Boston.
It was better than Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson: Both Arber Xhekaj and Mathieu Olivier rained right hands off each other during their second-period slugfest. Xhekaj momentarily was staggered and briefly went to the dressing room to have a small cut on his left cheekbone cleaned.
Pass of the night: Cross-ice, from Caufield to Evans, on the Canadiens’ fourth goal.
Dumb penalty: Joel Armia had two assists, but also was guilty of tripping Zach Werenski in the offensive zone early in the third period.
Dumber penalty: Fantilli decided to pitchfork Kaiden Guhle’s stick out of his grasp in the final period while Columbus was on the power play.
Giveaway of the night: Ivan Provorov’s miscue eventually led to the Canadiens’ third goal, the first this season from Lucas Condotta.
Faceoff of the night: Alex Newhook beat Justin Danforth, eventually leading to the Canadiens’ final goal, from Josh Anderson.
Next time, decline the penalty: Columbus went 0-for-4 with the man-advantage.
Quick stats: Matheson, Evans and Brendan Gallagher each had three shots. Matheson, as usual, logged a team-high 27:12. Samuel Montembeault stopped all but one of 26 shots for a save percentage of .962.
They said it: “As long as it got the boys going, I think I did well,” Xhekaj said. “I was sitting in the box thinking we’ve got to give the people a better show than (Paul vs. Tyson) last night. It has been a while for me (since he fought). It felt good.”
“I think we defended really well tonight and stayed patient,” Nick Suzuki said.
“It’s great that we’ve been playing better defensively,” Matheson said. “We didn’t come into tonight thinking we’ve got to outscore them to win a game. We knew they played last night. I feel like we had our legs and were able to take advantage of that.”