The Montreal Canadiens have played outstanding hockey after the Four Nations breaking winning five straight games, and taking points in six of seven, yet they have barely made any ground. Montreal needed a win in Vancouver Tuesday night to close the four-point gap to the final playoff spot.
They got it with a 4-2 win over the Canucks. The Canadiens are only two points behind the Blue Jackets for the second wild card spot.
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Since the return from the Four Nations break, only one line has been scoring for the Canadiens, yet somehow it has been enough for the entire team to go on a solid run. The Suzuki line is one of the hottest lines in the league.
During the break, Suzuki and General Manager Kent Hughes had a conversation about what the trading deadline could look like. Suzuki earned a promise from his GM that if his club went on a winning run, then there would be no selling of players on March 7th.
Hughes agreed. Suzuki took care of the rest. The Canadiens have earned points in seven of their last eight games to rekindle hopes of a playoff spot.
In the eight games since the break, Suzuki has 15 points. His wingers Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky have nine points and eight points. The line is dominating, with perhaps their best period the first in Vancouver.
The opening goal only one minute in was an absolute stunner. It was Slafkovsky leading it to Caufield who laid out a terrific saucer pass to Suzuki. However, the captain still had a lot of work to do on a partial breakaway. He made one of the best moves in his career, someone delaying the goalie, while having a defender draped all over him.
Midway through the first, it was Suzuki using his mind perfectly as he faked a defender to him while leaving the puck for Slafkovsky to use his speed to streak down the left side. Slafkovsky ripped a shot into the far side high. It was one of the best shots of Slafkovsky’s career.
In the second period, the line kept on dominating. Slafkovsky started it with a terrific pass to Suzuki who caught a streaking Caufield across the crease, and he feathered the pass over the defender’s stick allowing Caufield a tap-in.
Three goals for the line, and they were all simply brilliant.
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Unfortunately, the one line could not carry the entire contest without some drama. The Canucks were down by three entering the third period, despite the fact, they were controlling the other three Montreal lines. Vancouver persisted, and it came together for them in the final 20 minutes.
Samuel Montembeault had a strong game, but he couldn’t hold on, as the finish got frantic when the Canucks scored their second goal with eight minutes left. This is what experience is worth in the NHL. Great teams know how to kill the game, and the Canadiens could not.
Vancouver poured it on late. They were ready to pack it in, but just a small error by Emil Heineman turning the puck over at his own blue line led to one goal, then a poorly timed David Savard penalty led to another. Suddenly, an easy night got hard.
The Canadiens held the line well in the final two minutes. The Canucks did not get a quality chance before Mike Matheson scored an empty netter with 17 seconds left. A vital two points for the Canadiens with only a small lapse in the third period that they recovered from nicely.
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Talent is worth points in the standings. It is as simple as that. There are many variables that go into a winning team, but none of them count like talent.
It’s important to be coached well. It’s vital to stay healthy. It matters that players get along well and pull for each other. It’s great when the fans support the club with full houses to inspire them. These factors all count, but nothing moves the needle like talent.
It was predicted here before the season began that the Canadiens would surpass last year’s point total, and blow away the money line in Vegas of 76 points. The reason was simple. They added more talent.
Right now, the Canadiens are on pace for 89 points. They will have to pick it up a little to make the playoffs, but what an excellent rise for Montreal in the standings in year three of the rebuild. All other things being equal, like remaining healthy, next season is even more promising for Canadiens fans.
Fans should believe that the rebuild is going extremely well. It’s difficult to put a point total on an individual player, but talent is worth points, and the best player not in the NHL today is the product that may push the Canadiens over the top toward a playoff spot.
Ivan Demidov has 49 points in 61 games in the KHL. That is a record for a draft-plus-one player in Russian history. Demidov surpasses Matvei Michkov who is finding success for the Philadelphia Flyers. Expect the same type of success for Demidov for Montreal next season. That will move the needle.
The Canadiens will also likely add a second line centre acquired via free agency, or trade this summer. It would be a shock if General Manger Kent Hughes heads into next season with the same 2C as this season. The second line has been a bottomless pit this season.
The first line keyed by the point-per-game season of Nick Suzuki is top-ten in the league. The resurgence of Josh Anderson has helped the third line to be mid-tier. The career-year for Jake Evans and the arrival of Emil Heineman has led to the second best fourth line in goals in the entire league.
However, the differential of the club at minus-23 is almost entirely on the shoulders of the second line. Kirby Dach finished his season at minus-29 which is the second worst in the league.
Any sort of improvement for the second line, never mind a significant improvement, would be worth a large amount of points. If Demidov is worth three to five points, then the second line not allowing 30 more goals than it scored would be worth even more than that.
This computation is made without any positive surprises in the mix. Perhaps Juraj Slafkovsky figures it out more next year in his fourth season which is often a breakout year in the NHL Perhaps David Reinbacher continues his outstanding play not in the AHL, but in the NHL. Perhaps Owen Beck, Joshua Roy, or Oliver Kapanen are ready to play solidly in the show.
It’s difficult to imagine any negative surprises. It’s a young team with everyone on the rise in their career arc. The only extreme intangible that is uncontrollable is if the injury bug hit hard. That would be the only debilitating development.
Whatever the point total is at the end of this season, with the talent developing, and arriving, and a solid second-line centre signing, add about eight points to the Canadiens total which should put them in the playoffs.
The rebuild is right on course. The second line centre is the only hole in the roster. Solve that and Hughes can rest easy while he watches even more talent arr
