The Montreal Canadiens have the best record in the Atlantic Division, but they didn’t play like it at all in the first period against the Philadelphia Flyers, spotting them a three-goal lead.
Cue the second period when all the fun started. Montreal roared back with a thrilling four goals, before they finally settled it in a shootout with the Flyers winning 5-4.
Wilde Horses
Credit to Samuel Montembeault for allowing three goals on his first five shots, then stopping the next 31. He went from goat to horse in 45 minutes. He looked afraid early, but something, somehow, clicked. It’s impossible to know what happened, but it did. He stopped breakaways. He stopped point-black chances. He stopped cross-crease passes.
They fired everything that they thought had a chance because of his start, and piled up the shots. The Canadiens were dominated 42-20 in shots. That usually means a loss, but you can get dominated and still have a chance when you have this power play.
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With two more goals on the power play in the second period, Montreal is now seven for 13 since Ivan Demidov moved to the first unit. Demidov was a marvel. He was spectacular. He’s 19 and we’re already running out of adjectives.
Demidov brings such creativity to it all, demonstrated when he received the pass from Cole Caufield, then he slid back to the other side to a wide-open Nick Suzuki. That’s 12 straight games with a point for Suzuki. It’s the longest streak in 30 years for a Canadiens player.
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Demidov’s goal was a shot that could only be called a missile. It left his stick so fast into the top corner, if you weren’t already looking at the net, you wouldn’t have seen it go in. Demidov now has 12 points in 13 games this season.
How are voters going to choose between Demidov and Matthew Schaefer? He is also spectacular on Long Island with 10 points and he is a defenceman. If they both keep performing at this level, it will be a shame that only one can win.
The Demidov magic wasn’t the only huge up for the Canadiens on the night. Kirby Dach continues to find his game, and his confidence. He is heading to the net feeling as if his knee can handle it. He is getting in the dirty areas to fight for pucks.
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His first goal was from 15 feet on a rebound off the back boards that Dach was well positioned on. His second tally was a mostly Lane Hutson creation as he made the Flyers winger look pedestrian before taking it to the net. Hutson fed Dach, who earned position in front of the net where he slid it inside the near post.
It was a magic second period with the Canadiens scoring four times. They can do that now. They have the exciting players to accomplish magical moments. Hutson and Demidov are two of the most electrifying players in the league. One is just out of his teens and one is still a teenager.
Wilde Goats
The worst period of the season was the first when the Canadiens were overwhelmed by the power of the Central Red Army at the height of their greatness. Check that — the Philadelphia Flyers made Montreal look that bad.
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The Canadiens were flat, counting only two shots in the frame while allowing 12. Montembeault continued to look poor allowing three goals on the first five shots that he faced. Granted one goal was a deflection that was difficult to stop.
The other two were not in the realm of impossibility. One was a 30-footer that he, once again, simply could not track. The other was a rebound that should not have been directed in such a sweet spot for the shooter.
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It was clear he was starting to feel the pressure as simple shots started to be handled like grenades. His rebound control lacked the word control, but “rebound chaos” is not a hockey term. Yet.
The fans began to give him a Bronx cheer on easy shots which couldn’t have helped the confidence. Two of the goals were scored on a five-on-three shorthanded situation for 1:32 where the penalty killers didn’t exactly rise to the occasion in aggressiveness to attack the Flyers power play.
Then they played the second period, and it was like the first period never happened.
Wilde Cards
General Manager Kent Hughes is realizing that the Canadiens are too good for his initial plan for this season. He and Jeff Gorton thought they had a lot of time to find a second line centre. However, sitting atop the Eastern Conference, they now know they’ll be wasting two or three years of an open window waiting on a prospect to arrive.
They believe Michael Hage is their 2C of the future. Hage is scoring at a strong pace in his second season of college hockey with 15 points in 10 games. The issue is that he still has, after this season, a year in Laval and then a year in Montreal to find his game at the NHL level, before he ever impacts the Canadians from the 2C position.
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That means this season, next season, and perhaps even the season after that the Canadiens are still not surrounding this emerging group with a 2C that can add to their chances of doing something special.
That simply is illogical.
The window is open now. Push through it.
The more this youngest team in the NHL piles up wins, the more the pressure is on to complete the rebuild with a second line centre as soon as this season.
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As the trading deadline approaches, the options will get more attractive. They weren’t attractive before the season began because all general managers have faith that they built a good hockey team. Now is the time when they begin to admit that they were wrong. As the losses accumulate, the reasons to release their veterans increase.
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American Thanksgiving has long been established as that moment when a GM knows when he sees his club near the bottom, that he is done and it’s time to rebuild or at least reset.
It’s too early to go too deep in this exercise, but fans love to speculate on who that 2C might be. Simply look at the depth chart of any team who isn’t making the playoffs this year, find their centres who wouldn’t be a part of a rebuild of their franchise. Those vets are on the trading block in exchange for youth — prospects and draft picks.
Early surprises of failure are in Calgary and St. Louis, for example. A look at the Flames shows Nazem Kadri. He won a Stanley Cup. He’s a gamer in the playoffs. Not a great contract with four years remaining at age 35. This is not an optimal choice and is mentioned more because he’s an obvious player who fits the criteria. Not suggesting he’s a big win. His contract is longer than his usefulness.
The big win is Sidney Crosby as his window is the same as the Canadiens window waiting for Hage to arrive. Crosby is the perfect placeholder and perfect player. Sadly, his Penguins are off to an excellent start this season. They might not even be sellers at the deadline.
It could be the Blues will be sellers. They have Brayden Schenn. He’s been outstanding in the playoffs. Like Kadri, he’s also a second like centre who has led his club to a cup. Schenn is 34, though he is a better place holder than Kadri with only two years left on his deal. Kadri and Schenn are not ideal. Ideal would have been Kirby Dach being the player that they traded for, instead of the victim of two major reconstructive knee surgeries.
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The player the Canadiens will acquire is not perfect. The options are aging players, or big contracts. They may even be too old to play effective hockey at the end of their contracts. It’s not a perfect situation to need a 2C this badly, but it’s better than not trying anything at all.
All one can do is have faith as the trading deadline approaches that GM Kent Hughes will find a centre who can move onto the roster and make the Canadiens much better for the next two or three seasons.
The window is open and you simply have to try to jump through it. This group winning games at a shocking pace is demanding that the rebuild gets finished not in 2027-28, but now.
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Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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