Call of the Wilde: A game full of errors as the Montreal Canadiens fall to the St. Louis Blues – Montreal | Globalnews.ca
The Montreal Canadiens have been seven games over NHL .500 only one time this season. They had a chance to get back to their season high best record with the St. Louis Blues at the Bell Centre.
The Blues are struggling, but no game is guaranteed. Montreal missed an opportunity as the Blues posted a 4-3 win.
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Lane Hutson had four goals last season. He was disappointed with that total in the midst of one of the greatest rookie seasons for a defender in NHL history. He believed he could score much more than that.
So he worked on his shot, and he vowed to move into scoring areas more when he had the chance to attack. The results so far lead to the obvious observation: If Lane Hutson sets out to improve on something, he’s going to accomplish his objective.
Only 28 games into the season, Hutson is already ahead of last year’s goal total with five. He is on pace for 15 goals. Even if he falls far short of that total, it’s still a remarkable improvement.
The goal against the Blues was an absolute beauty. He sliced through the Blues defenders and received a superb pass from Zach Bolduc. He then made a deke so significant that Craig Binnington wasn’t even close to stopping the attempt. The crowd roared enthusiastically.
Late in the first, they added another. It was a point in an 11th straight game for Cole Caufield. That equals his career best points streak. Nick Suzuki passed from behind the net to Caufield, and he one-timed it under the armpit of Binnington. Caufield is on pace for 91 points. His career high is 70.
Last year, in a quest for the first 40-goal Canadiens player since Vincent Damphousse in 1994, Caufield counted 37 on the year. With his 16th of the campaign, Caufield is now on pace for 47. He will have to slow down quite a bit to not hit the mark.
It’s a long season, however, and it has ups and downs. But this is the Canadiens best chance to finally have a player to count 40 in a shocking 31 years.
If Caufield get there, it will likely be because the team is better overall. His linemate on the wing is certainly better. Juraj Slafkovsky delivered another dominant game. Everyone keeps waiting for this surge to level off or for Slafkovsky to have a bad game, but it isn’t happening. Each game is as uplifting as the one before it. The improvements are coming in waves for the former first pick overall.
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Practices are a rarity in this NHL season with a condensed schedule due to the Olympics. However, the Canadiens managed to get one in on Friday. They worked on defensive zone play.
Saturday night, they played their tightest defensive game of the season. The Maple Leafs, at home, managed only 10 shots in the first two periods. They scored only once in 65 minutes of play. It was extremely encouraging.
On Sunday, it was back to a work in progress. Usually, when there are three goals against a Canadiens goalie on seven shots, there’s every reason to point to the goalie to be better. However, Jakub Dobes was not at fault. The Blues scored clean goals on brutal breakdowns in coverage.
It’s a young team learning how to cover as well as they know how to score. The Canadiens are eighth in the league in goals per game. They are 28th in the league in goals against per game. Some of that is bad goaltending, but some is still having difficulty defensively.
Two of the Blues goals were scored on two-on-ones with Dylan Holloway and Brayden Schenn feeding each other for tallies. Saturday night, the Canadiens allowed a shorthanded breakaway. The top teams don’t allow any odd man rushes. It’s how they win games with less talent than the Canadiens have.
It’s a strong season for the Canadiens, yet it can get so much stronger with improvements that shouldn’t be too difficult to make. Allowing odd-man rushes isn’t about talent. It’s about understanding coverage responsibilities. Start there to win more.
Patience is another concept where experience plays a part. The Canadiens didn’t lose it on the third goal against. They lost the game on the fourth goal against. That was the goal against where they were impatient to tie it midway through the third. The way back into a game is to build chances. It doesn’t happen by taking stupid gambles, but with solid cycling in the offensive zone.
The Canadiens are the youngest team in the NHL. Some nights their talent is ahead of their team concepts. It will come. The talent is actually the hard part.
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Alexander Zharovsky is looking like a massive draft theft by the Canadiens. Montreal’s first pick last year but 34th overall appears to be the first rounder that they believed they had when they traded up for him.
Zharovsky completed another stellar weekend with three points in two games for Salavat. He now has a remarkable 23 points in 26 games. He is on pace to beat Ivan Demidov’s record-breaking KHL totals for a rookie that he set last season.
Zharovsky has won the rookie award for October and November already in the KHL. He has also been chosen to attend the league’s all-star game, which is an impressive honour for an 18 year old.
Zharovsky is the leading scorer of his club. Salavat is not one of the rich clubs in the league. If the Canadiens want to entice Salavat to cancel the Zharovsky contract, there is every chance a deal could be worked out. Zharovsky isn’t set to come to Canada before 2027, which is a long time in the life of a hockey player when they’re itching for bigger challenges. All parties would win if he came earlier than 2027.
Like Demidov, Zharovsky has an arsenal of beautiful moves. He has amazing hands and processes the game quickly. The only difference in development between the two is Demidov had a more remarkable MHL season in his draft year than Zharovsky. However, in the draft plus-one season, it is actually Zharovsky who is faring better.
Demidov had difficulty winning the favour of his head coach in St. Petersburg, who limited his ice time. Zharovsky has no such issue getting opportunities in all situations at Salavat.
Even though Zharovsky is at almost a point-per-game, he will have difficulty breaking Demidov’s rookie scoring mark. Zharovsky had an early season injury missing eight games. Demidov finished with 49 points. Zharovsky is on pace for 54 points.
A lot of great prospects come out of Russia. The Canadiens may have the best two in the last five seasons. And that’s a far cry from the fan frustration of not choosing Matvei Michkov two years ago.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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