It is stunning how difficult it is to get out of a hole in the NHL, and into a playoff spot, with the abundance of three-point games. The Montreal Canadiens have the best record in the league in the last month, but when the clubs they are trying to catch keep going to overtime, a loss isn’t a loss.
Finally, on Tuesday night, the Canadiens had a chance to pass the Boston Bruins and move into the second wild-card with a win over Tampa Bay, but the Lightning always play Montreal tough.
This time, though, the Canadiens somehow found a way for a 3-2 win.
Wilde Horses
Lane Hutson has added yet another record to his rookie season. Hutson counted an assist on the first Canadiens goal. It was a point in his ninth straight game. It ties the all-time record for consecutive games with an assist for a rookie with Shayne Gostisbehere.
The assist was on a Juraj Slafkovsky goal on the power play, and what a terrific moment it was for the number one overall pick. Slafkovsky was at the side of the net with the great Andrei Vasilevskiy in the Reverse VH to make the stop.
The hole that Slafkovsky had to find was about the size of a puck, and he found it for his seventh goal of the season. Slafkovsky is continuing his improvement. He’s using his size, protecting the puck with his reach, leaning into his checker for space and using that space to find options. He is considerably better in the last three weeks. Improvement happens quickly when you’re 20.
Two minutes after Slafkovsky’s magic, the Canadiens tied it on an absolute bullet from the high slot from Alex Newhook. Newhook is an effective player when he uses his speed. Laine had an assist on both goals. Once again, Montreal was competing against one of the league’s best teams.
This was always going to be a tough one for the Canadiens, considering the huge amount of hockey they’ve played recently. Halfway through, they were still in the battle.
In the third period, they had to conjure up more energy than seemed possible. They did not have that energy, but Sam Montembeault stopped chance after chance, trying to keep Montreal alive.
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This was the first game that the Canadiens were outmatched in a long time, and simply it was because of fatigue. The Canadiens were outshot 35-22. The spirit was willing, but the body said no.
And yet.
They found that one moment of energy with 2:15 left. The best fourth line in the NHL had Josh Anderson on it late, in place of Owen Beck, in place of Emil Heineman. Anderson pushed it on the right half-wall to Joel Armia who found a late-arriving Jake Evans.
Evans continued the best season of his career by one-timing a shot into the top-shelf for the go-ahead goal. They were dead men walking, but somehow they found a way to win again. Of all the wins on this run, this was the most courageous. The Montreal Canadiens are in a playoff spot.
Wilde Goats
While the Canadiens had a difficult time finding energy in a too-busy schedule recently, another negative was a third-period injury to Kaiden Guhle. It seemed like a fairly innocent moment when Josh Anderson skated in the vicinity of Guhle.
Guhle went down hard holding his left elbow. It’s not a place that one usually has an injury. It’s also a place where a stinger is possible. It’s more a football injury, but it can happen in hockey as well. Guhle looked to be in tremendous pain as he left the ice.
Guhle is a tough player and he fought through it to return to action. The entire night was a fight for Montreal in trying to keep pace with the Lightning, especially in the third period, when the Canadiens simply did not have any legs. They kept fighting, so the only goat is the schedule-maker, because this has been a grind the last three weeks.
Wilde Cards
October looked so dark. The Canadiens were last in the league. Few had any faith that a brighter day was coming. Fewer still thought it could be coming as soon as now. However, at this moment, so much is going right.
In Montreal, the Canadiens are in the mix for a playoff spot. The Laval Rocket are flirting with first place in the North Division of the American Hockey League. The best story, though, might just be in Russia.
According to ESPN, the best prospect not playing in the NHL today is Ivan Demidov. He is in the midst of the best draft-plus-one season in KHL history. That honour, currently, is held by Matvei Michkov with 41 points in 48 games.
In action this afternoon, Demidov scored one of the best goals this entire season in Russia. He undressed the defenceman with a one-on-one move going skate-to-stick, then he went upstairs with a backhand deke. Demidov also added a world-class assist with a gorgeous cross-ice pass to a wide open SKA player. This excellent contest for Demidov was against the league’s best team Lokomotiv.
Demidov is on a considerable run since Canadiens management visited St. Petersburg hoping to get him some more ice time. In the last 11 games, Demidov has 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points. Outstanding numbers in the league, never mind for a 19-year-old.
Where Demidov stands out in a shocking manner is in points-per-game per 60 minutes played. It’s an important marker, because it factors in how much ice time that a player actually gets. Demidov for much of the season has played games where he gets only five minutes of ice.
Five minutes counts as a ‘game played’ but it’s quite a lot different than a game played with 20 minutes of ice. The stat PPG per 60 recalibrates it fairly. Demidov has 4.02 points per 60 this season. He would pass Kirill Kaprizov for the best-ever season of PPG/60 for a u19, if his pace continues. Kaprizov had a 3.32. Michkov had a 3.02 for third best.
Demidov has played 45 games this season counting 16 goals and 21 assists for 37 points. When the final numbers are in, Demidov will be the greatest 19 year old scorer in Russian history. All he needs to do is keep getting ice time like the 20 minutes he had Tuesday.
Considering he is the top plus/minus player on the club at plus-22, that shouldn’t be an issue.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
