The Montreal Canadiens had to make sure they didn’t fall into the trap of taking the Buffalo Sabres too lightly on Monday night. The Sabres lost their first five games but won their last two, including an impressive shutout of the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
The Canadiens posted a hard-fought 4-2 win thanks to offensive contributions from the blue line and another excellent performance from Jakub Dobes.
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The injuries to forwards Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine forced the head coach to change his third line back to a trio that has been working for a long time. Occasionally, good can arrive out of bad. With Brendan Gallagher back on the line with Josh Anderson and Jake Evans, all three players were better than they have been this season.
Right from the get-go, the line was flying. On the first shift, Josh Anderson took it to the net on a spin-o-rama, almost scoring. Jake Evans later fired a shot from point-blank range. Gallagher was around the net being a pest all night. The puck was in the Sabres’ end every shift they played.
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When Dach and Laine return, it simply will not make any sense to break up this trio. They are all better players together than when they are apart.
The Canadiens opened the scoring, with the second line counting. Alexandre Carrier made a remarkable play at the blue line. Somehow, he had three Sabres on him. He managed to beat all of them to feed the puck down low to Ivan Demidov.
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Demidov made a skillful move to the inside. He may have left the puck in the slot for Oliver Kapanen on purpose. If he intended to do that play, it was hockey genius. If it was just osmosis, it was still excellent to take it to the slot. Kapanen has four goals already. Demidov has five points, which is third on the team.
That Carrier moment was just one of a hundred excellent plays for him. It was his best game as a Canadiens defender. He is so intelligent, and with a low centre of gravity, it never feels like he is short of six feet tall.
The Kapanen line was solid, led by the centre. His offensive production is not likely to continue at this pace, but he will be a solid NHL centre for many years with his heady play. He is always on the right side of the puck. He has an ability to win puck battles.
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A defender was instrumental again in the construction of the Canadiens’ second goal. Nick Suzuki was looking for an outlet, and found Dobson eager to pinch in and charge the net. His foray led to a rebound for Juraj Slafkovsky to count his third of the year.
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Slafkovsky had a powerful game. He went to the front of the net instinctively. The head coach has been waiting for that pattern for three years. Slafkovsky was immovable. The Sabres simply let him park there. There were three occasions when he had an opportunity to deflect point shots, but he missed each time. Now that he is heading to the front of the net, if he adds an ability to deflect at a higher level, the point totals will jump for him considerably.
The Canadiens’ third goal also had a defender as an architect, as the theme of the night continued. An Owen Power giveaway led to Alex Newhook feeding Lane Hutson, who had moved into the slot. Hutson wristed it just under the arm of Alex Lyon.
Lyon had a solid game, but it was Jakub Dobes who outshone him. Dobes entered the game with a stellar .940 save percentage, and he showed again that he is the number one on the club at the moment. Dobes had 29 stops on 31 shots for another outstanding .935 save percentage. He tracked the puck effectively, and on cross-crease passes, he stayed big as he slid to the other side.
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The only aspect of the night that felt like it had a goat was watching Jiri Kulich as the first-line centre for the Sabres at the age of 21. In the first draft of Habs co-director of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov, which was highly successful, the hockey community felt late in the first round that the pick had to be Kulich.
Bobrov opted for Filip Mesar, who it does not look like will pan out. Not complaining overall about Bobrov. He’s done extremely well, but that one was a miss.
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Injuries have hit the Canadiens early in the season, with little clarity on their exact nature.
This is frustrating for fans, but the league allows for only the reporting of what half of a body is the injury. If it’s allowed, it’s smart to take advantage of it, so the opposition can’t target a specific location.
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Eventually, most of the time, there is clarity — only, though, when it is in the best interests of the club to reveal the exact nature. In fact, Kaiden Guhle is gone for four to six weeks with a lower-body injury and the location of the injury specifically hasn’t been released.
Usually, the situation is straightforward enough that no one cares all that much if there is secrecy. For example, Laine has a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day and there’s not much curiosity about what the injury is. This is because there is no troubling history.
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That contrasts with the feelings around not getting any clarity on Dach. After getting two surgeries to repair an ACL, it feels difficult to accept the lack of news from the organization on the location and severity of his day-to-day lower-body injury.
However, it’s in the club’s best interest not to give out this information. Speculation on why it is silent is futile. One could guess that it is because it is serious, but this is simply a guess and serves no purpose.
It could also be that to never give out specific information in any injury scenario takes guessing out of the equation because of management’s consistent approach. If a GM speaks only if it’s minor, then you know if he is quiet, then it’s major.
Not knowing about something you care about deeply is frustrating. For fans, the best way to deal with this is to trust in the professionalism of the organization. You have to simply trust that they’re doing what’s in Dach’s best interest.
It’s day-to-day. That’s all you get. At least until they leave for the road trip out west. If Dach doesn’t go on the trip, you get your first indication that he needs at least two weeks’ rest.
This is the life of a fan. GM Kent Hughes must prioritize the physical and mental health of the player, the questions for the head coach by the media, the protocols of the training staff and the PR department’s time management.
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Everyone else matters more than the anxiety of the fan base. It will be argued that this leads to speculation, but speculation will always exist anyway. In fact, the way speculation works is the less you know, the less there is to speculate on.
It has to be this way. It’s best for the Canadiens top to bottom. For you all, remember patience is a virtue that requires a lot of waiting. The next update will be after practice Tuesday, when we learn if Dach and Laine are getting on a plane to Calgary.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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