The Montreal Canadiens had a quick-one game road trip in New Jersey on Thursday night. It was the toughest test of the young season for the Canadiens, facing another hot team in the league for only the second time. The leaders of the Metropolitan Division are playing great hockey.
The Canadiens showed that they can play with anyone this season. It went to overtime when Jesper Bratt beat Jakub Dobes on a breakaway for a 4-3 final.
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The best forward for the Canadiens was Kirby Dach. It’s a welcomed sign for management to see Dach starting to show some of the talent that he did before two major knee reconstruction surgeries for his ACL.
Dach has three goals in his last two games. His goal in this one was hardly a classic as it simply hit him in front of the net and bounced up and over the goalie. The moral of the story here is be in front of the net and you can score.
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Dach drove to the net with confidence as if he believes his knee can take the contact. He also battled hard in the corners and won some of those battles again. He wasn’t last season because of knee weakness. He also carried it with authority to win the blue line on rushes.
Before the first injury on the hit from Jarred Tinordi, Dach was playing excellent hockey. The trade to acquire him to be the second line centre was looking like a smart one. Perhaps it is time to try him there again. Ivan Demidov is dying for a passer.
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Then again, the Canadiens took the lead in the third period with Oliver Kapanen scoring the go-ahead goal. Great work by the entire line. It was Demidov winning the puck battle down low to start it. He found Alex Newhook for the shot, and Kapanen did a fly-by to score on the rebound with a backhand.
This was after the Canadiens killed two straight on one of the best power plays in the league when it was 2-2. Montreal tied it thanks to a Jake Evans shot when he went five-hole on a shaky Jacob Markstrom.
On the blue line, quietly, Noah Dobson is looking like everything the Canadiens hoped for when they acquired him. Dobson had another two assists. It’s hardly even been noticed, but he has 10 points on the season. He also did strong work on the penalty kill. Dobson finished the night plus-three.
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It seems a little unusual to find difficulty with the leading goal scorer in the NHL, but Cole Caufield has gone a long time without going to his best spot one-on-one. His shootout effort was not his best move against the Flyers on Tuesday night.
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Caufield had a breakaway in New Jersey, and again he did not go to his money maker. Caufield shot low and Markstrom made the save look easy. Caufield goes to the top corner on a breakaway better than anyone in the entire league, but he is not taking that option enough.
If they can’t save it, keep doing it. Use your best weapon, not your second or third best one.  Caufield will surely figure it out. It’s what goal scorers do, and he’s got the gift.
It’s close to time to make a change on the fourth line. The organization is seeing why Detroit and Chicago gave up on Joe Veleno despite him being talented enough to be taken in the first round in the NHL draft. The issue is Veleno does not bring enough hunger to the contest.
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Call of the Wilde: Habs off to thrilling start
In the first period, he had a clearing attempt on his stick. He had to make the play with some force on the backhand. It would take leaning into it, but that meant he would take a hit on the play. He chose to not get hit, so the clearing attempt slid weakly on the ice.
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He basically passed it to the Devils defencemen. The result was the Devils continued their zone pressure. Veleno seems to have a great hockey sense in terms of reading the play to be in the right place. He is solid enough in his two-way play, but if there’s no giddy-up, it all feels disinterested.
Veleno won’t have a short leash because of his talent, but he will be on watch soon enough, if he doesn’t knock some bodies around and dig into the difficult corners to make plays. When Veleno was a star junior in Drummondville, he played a pretty game. He can’t transition to that at the NHL level, and he’s 25, so the candle is running out of wick here.
The contest also ended the points streak of Nick Suzuki at 12 games.
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The Canadiens have a new number one prospect. Jacob Fowler, David Reinbacher and Michael Hage are now in the discussion for who is the second-best prospect of Montreal. The clear emerging number one prospect is Alexander Zharovsky.
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Nick Bobrov has done it again. In the same realm as last year’s rookie award winner Lane Hutson, Montreal’s head scout has found another second round shocker.
This one might be an even bigger shock. When Hutson fell to 62nd, the hockey world knew of the player well but simply decided to pass on him. In this case, Zharovsky was more an under-the-radar pick than an assumption Hutson couldn’t handle the physicality of the NHL. In the case of Zharovsky, Bobrov’s Russian roots mattered.
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Bobrov sold GM Kent Hughes on a trade of two lower second round picks to get Zharovsky at 34 overall in the 2025 draft. A call from Hughes to Ivan Demidov on the character of Zharovsky also helped the decision. Demidov knows Zharovsky well and recommended him highly. Quickly, the trade was made, then the pick was made.
Demidov finished last season in the KHL with the highest rookie total in league history of 49 points in 65 games. With another assist yesterday, Zharovsky now has 15 points in 15 games. He is on pace to rip apart Demidov’s record.
They have very similar games. Both have stunning hands. It’s advantage Demidov in terms of creativity and vision. Zharovsky actually has better puck protection which is a massive skill in the NHL. When considering skating, Demidov’s edge work is better, but Zharovsky has a long stride that’s difficult to defend. They’re both tremendous players.
Zharovsky will likely beat Demidov’s rookie record because of ice time. Demidov had a terrible time convincing his coach to let him on the ice. Zharovsky has no such problem. He is averaging four minutes per game more ice time at Salavat that Demidov did in St. Petersburg.
The potential of the four top prospects is stunning. Fowler has number one goalie potential. Hage has second line centre hopes. Reinbacher should be a top four defender. But it’s Zharovsky that seems the NHL lock with the highest ceiling at this moment. He’s doing the unthinkable so far in the KHL in his rookie season.
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As it stands now, Zharovsky is contracted to stay in Russia until 2027, but if he continues to play like he is, don’t be surprised if he comes sooner. It really is a matter of money in Russia, though it’s never officially that. Like with Matvei Michkov and Demidov, it looks impossible to break a contract until miraculously it doesn’t.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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Call of the Wilde: Habs off to thrilling start
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