The first contest after the Four Nations break was an excellent and easy win for the Montréal Canadiens in Ottawa.
However, to keep the hope alive of a playoff spot, the Canadiens need to get a winning streak going.
The Carolina Hurricanes co-operated. The Canadiens took a second impressive win after the break, defeating Carolina 4-0 as Samuel Montembeault earned a 20-save shutout.
Wilde Horses
One of the areas of Juraj Slafkovsky’s game has to improve is how he uses his big frame to create chances for himself. It has seemed at times in his first three seasons that he is unaware of just how dominant he can be if he were to use his size.
Slafkovsky was told early in his career to go to the front of the net and bang bodies around to create space. He responded by indicating that he could use his hands to take great shots and make superb passes instead.
There may be a day that Slafkovsky is right with that response. However, right now, he needs to take the advice. He needs to be a big, annoying, and tough force for success.
The best ploy that a big-bodied player can try is get to the front of the net when his team is attacking. Slafkovsky has the ability to win inside position against a smaller defender, then turn and look for deflections, or screens.
Depending on the nature of the shot, Slafkovsky should be either trying to get a stick on the shot, or make sure that the goalie can’t see the shot. Both are outstanding choices that lead to goals.
Both the screen and the deflection also lead to rebounds. Slafkovsky doesn’t need a heavy shot on a two-foot rebound. He simply needs to stand strong and keep his stick on the ice for tap-ins.
It’s not as pretty or as exciting to score goals like this, or to help defenders to score, but they all count as one on the final tally. Slafkovsky’s natural tour de force is exactly what happened when the Canadiens took the lead. Jayden Struble took a point shot that didn’t have much power on it. Slafkovsky was in front of the net where he tipped it home.
Slafkovsky can score 20 goals per year in just this manner, if he believes in the importance of it. Slafkovsky should be working on his deflections as much as he works on his shot. In the third, Slafkovsky was in front of the net again. This time the Lane Hutson goal was scored because of a screen.
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Recently, there’s been a lot of keys stroked on Slafkovsky saying that he wants to play like Brady Tkachuk. He also might want to look at the career of Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers. He made a living in front of the net, tipping, screening, picking up rebounds to the tune of a 386-goal career.
A second major plot point in this one was Owen Beck getting a chance on the second line as centre thanks to an injury to Kirby Dach. Beck doesn’t need to pile up points to find success on this line. What he needs to do is help the line to not get caved in. Dach with Patrik Laine and Alex Newhook has led to the line spending 70 per cent of their time in their own zone.
The shot share of the line is absolutely abysmal with Dach as centre. Dach is the worst plus/minus player in the entire league, and the Corsi of the line is 30 to 35 regularly. They almost never win in shot share as a line.
Beck is known as a terrific 200-foot player. If he could change the overall footprint of the line so they play more hockey in the offensive zone, it would make a massive difference to the final score.
In the first period, not only did the line have a good goals-expected total of 80, they also scored the second goal. Beck led the rush and created space going hard to the net. The puck then went back to the point where Patrik Laine deflected an Alex Carrier shot. It was a three-point night for Laine.
It was a massive first period for the Beck line. They dominated the action and scored as well. However, one period is not three. The sample size had to get bigger to validate it, but in the second period, they had one very poor shift.
Newhook and Laine both had chances to clear their own zone, but they both failed. Finally, it was actually Beck who made the excellent outlet pass with patience to stop the carnage. Beck was the saviour for the line in the second. He made some beautiful passes in the third.
However, the only line that had good analytics at the final buzzer was the Suzuki line. Suzuki ripped a powerful wrist shot into the top corner for his 16th of the season. Suzuki has played 58 games this season with 57 points as he tries for his first point-per-game season.
Wilde Goats
No goats considering the Canadiens beat a club that has strong aspirations for a Stanley Cup this season. Montreal has its energy back after being exhausted before the Four Nations break.
It’s still a long road to a playoff spot, but the road has been helped by the target moving from 93 points to 89 points. To get to 89 points, the Canadiens need to go 15 and 9 to close out the season.
Wilde Cards
The trading deadline is approaching with the rumours starting to fly what could happen to the Canadiens unrestricted free agents. An interesting idea is floating that the Canadiens are trying to acquire a first-round draft pick. The only way to do that successfully is to package players instead of dealing them independently.
Common sense suggests that Jake Evans with Joel Armia is a perfect package for teams trying to improve the back end of their roster and their penalty killing. The Canadiens are seventh in the league in killing penalties led by Evans and Armia.
They also form two-thirds of the fourth line on the Canadiens that is the second best fourth line in the entire league behind only the trio in Carolina in goals scored. It also makes sense from a viewpoint of contract negotiations for the two players as it looks like both are at an impasse with Canadiens management.
Jake Evans is apparently asking for a five-year contract, and at 28 years of age, considering where the Canadiens are in prospects and their rebuild, that is an untenable ask to GM Kent Hughes. It would be a shock if Hughes agreed to such a lengthy contract with similar players like Owen Beck and Oliver Kapanen waiting to take over that type of position on the club from Evans.
Evans has played great hockey for Montreal, but this season is an outlier. He is not a goal-scorer like this over the long run. Armia also is a serviceable player, but that doesn’t make a champion usually. Management will hope to hit a home run with a third first-round draft pick trading these two away.
That pick would likely be in the 20 to 32 range, as only the strongest teams in the league would be willing to part with their first rounder trying to have a long playoff run this season. Also, a first rounder at about the 25 spot in the draft has only a 50-per cent chance historically of even making the league and only a five-per cent chance of turning into a star.
However, five per cent is better than zero per cent. Zero per cent is the chance that Armia or Evans turn into a star, so considering where the Canadiens are in the rebuild, they will hope for a Hutson-type miracle again, rather than pay top dollar for aging veterans when a cup hope is still years away.
It’s a trade that makes perfect sense. We will know by March 7 if Hughes can pull off the move. It’s going to be an exciting time for Canadiens fans even if the club doesn’t secure a third first-round pick. Two first-rounders already secured will build a better tomorrow.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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