{"id":304581,"date":"2025-11-24T21:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T21:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304581\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T21:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T21:56:10","slug":"canadiens-quarter-mark-report-solid-start-fueled-by-offence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304581\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens quarter-mark report: Solid start fueled by offence"},"content":{"rendered":"

BROSSARD, Que.\u2014 If you\u2019d have told the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> in September that they\u2019d go 11-7-3 and post the 10th-best points percentage (.595) in the NHL through the first 21 games of this season, they\u2019d have taken it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a marked improvement over what the Canadiens did through their first 21 games last season, even if where they find themselves on Nov. 24 in the same place they were towards the end of last November\u2014outside of a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

Still, back then, the Canadiens were 7-11-3, six points out of an Eastern Conference wild card position and 11 points back of the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs, and right now, despite a recent skid that saw them lose seven of eight games and five in a row, they\u2019re just two points out of second in the conference and first in their division.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a lot of good, with most of it propelling the Canadiens to a 9-3-0 start.<\/p>\n

But some bad mixed in leading to a 2-4-3 record to close the quarter served up an important lesson, coach Martin St. Louis hopes his group will absorb quickly\u2014ahead of the schedule condensing considerably between now and the end of the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to earn it every day,\u201d said St. Louis after Monday\u2019s practice, before departing for Utah to play the Mammoth for what will kickstart a stretch of 16 games in 28 days that features five sets of back-to-backs in the lead up to the brief Christmas Holiday break.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hard league,\u201d St. Louis continued. \u201cDon\u2019t take anything for granted. We know what works. I would say don\u2019t take anything for granted, just get after it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most encouraging development: The offence<\/p>\n

The Canadiens have waited many years to have as many weapons dispersed throughout their lineup as they currently do, and it\u2019s no coincidence they\u2019ve produced as much as they have.<\/p>\n

They rank fourth in goals per game (3.43), seventh in five-on-five goals per game (2.83), and 14th\u00a0on the power play (21 per cent) despite a recent 0-for-17 run.<\/p>\n

Up front, Nick Suzuki<\/a>\u2019s on pace to at least the career high he set last season of 89 points, while Cole Caufield<\/a> is poised to shatter his previous highs in goals (37) and points (70).<\/p>\n

The Wisconsinite has 13 goals and is on pace for 50, and his 22 points put him on pace for 86 over 82 games.<\/p>\n

Caufield and Suzuki didn\u2019t carry the offence alone through the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Alex Newhook had six goals and 12 points through 17 games before getting hurt, counting as one of a few forwards who have spread out Montreal\u2019s scoring.<\/p>\n

Juraj Slafkovsky is another, with six goals and 10 points, while Josh Anderson and Kirby Dach each found the net five times.<\/p>\n

Then you have Ivan Demidov<\/a> and Oliver Kapanen. The former leads all rookies with 17 points, and the latter is tied for first in goals (7).<\/p>\n

From the backend, sophomore Lane Hutson has scored 18 of the 61 points Canadiens defencemen have collected thus far. Only the blueliners of the first-place Colorado Avalanche have combined for more (64).<\/p>\n

Most concerning development: The goaltending<\/p>\n

Samuel Montembeault<\/a> ranks 73rd\u00a0out of 75 goaltenders to have played in at least one game this season in goals saved above expected.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a belly flop off the high-diving board into the abyss for a goaltender who ranked fifth in the category among 103 goaltenders to appear in a game last season.<\/p>\n

It has temporarily cost Montembeault more than pain. It\u2019s cost him his net.<\/p>\n

For how long, no one knows, because Jakub Dobes<\/a>, who started off the season with six consecutive wins, hasn\u2019t been able to inspire much more confidence of late.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old has gone 1-2-2, allowing 18 of the last 115 shots he\u2019s faced to beat him.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an .843 save percentage, which is far off the .922 Dobes posted through the first six games.<\/p>\n

Montembeault is at .852 in 12 appearances. His four wins and a point in extra time are almost exclusively thanks to the Canadiens\u2019 offence.<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t win at the same clip through the second quarter without at least one of their goaltenders stepping up.<\/p>\n

Neither of them must be spectacular. They just have to be average.<\/p>\n

If Montembeault and Dobes can\u2019t be at least that through the start of this second quarter, the chances either of them will be guarding Montreal\u2019s net by the end of it will diminish considerably.<\/p>\n

Top-six forwards: B-minus<\/p>\n

Suzuki and Caufield carry the grade, with Demidov and Kapanen supporting them.<\/p>\n

Newhook remaining healthy would\u2019ve eliminated the minus next to the B, and a little more production from Slafkovsky would\u2019ve turned it into a plus.<\/p>\n

The grade is as low as it is due to the dearth of production from this group.<\/p>\n

We figured it might be lower with Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia becoming free agents and Emil Heineman getting traded, but it shouldn\u2019t have been as low as it was through the first quarter of the season.<\/p>\n

Zachary Bolduc<\/a> scored goals in each of his first three games as a Canadien but has just one since.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019ll change now that he\u2019s three games into playing with Caufield and Suzuki.<\/p>\n

Not that it\u2019ll help the bottom-six.<\/p>\n

Brendan Gallagher and Joe Veleno scoring more than the two goals between them will, as will Anderson, adding to his total.<\/p>\n

After scoring 13 last season, Jake Evans<\/a> only has three so far, but at least he\u2019s done a remarkable job in the most defensive role of any forward on the team.<\/p>\n

In general, the bottom-six\u2014even with callups Jared Davidson, Joshua Roy, Owen Beck and Florian Xhekaj featured in it\u2014has been decent defensively.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see if they improve in that department while providing more scoring now that Alexandre Texier is in the mix.<\/p>\n

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Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n

Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n

They\u2019re producing a ton, but they have to give up much less.<\/p>\n

Mike Matheson<\/a> and Noah Dobson have been fantastic at both ends. Hutson has been great offensively and not bad defensively.<\/p>\n

Reverse that quotient for Alex Carrier.<\/p>\n

As for Jayden Struble<\/a>, he\u2019s shown flashes of greatness and lapses in concentration\u2014too often from shift-to-shift, never mind from game-to-game.<\/p>\n

And yet Struble has still been more consistent than Arber Xhekaj, who has understandably struggled more than he\u2019s succeeded in a role that sees him used so sporadically within a game.<\/p>\n

One of Struble or Xhekaj stepping up could help the grade.<\/p>\n

Adam Engstrom is now with the team and threating to unseat whichever one of them doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the competition brings the best out of all three of Engstrom, Xhekaj and Struble.<\/p>\n

They should be treating it as the fiercest one they\u2019ve faced at this level while Kaiden Guhle heals up from surgery. Because when Guhle returns between the first and 14th\u00a0of January, he\u2019ll be taking someone\u2019s spot.<\/p>\n

The only thing keeping it from being an F is Dobes\u2019 performance at the start.<\/p>\n

MVP:\u00a0Suzuki
Most Improved Player:\u00a0Kapanen
Best Defensive Player:\u00a0Matheson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BROSSARD, Que.\u2014 If you\u2019d have told the Montreal Canadiens in September that they\u2019d go 11-7-3 and post the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-304581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}