10 Thoughts: A Smashing Win in Nashville

Montreal kicked off a back-to-back road set in Nashville on Saturday night.  A strong second period gave them a big lead that they didn’t relinquish as they skated away with the 4-1 win.

Martin St. Louis elected to keep his lineup intact from Thursday’s victory over Columbus.  However, he opted to change goalies, giving Jacob Fowler the start for this one while Jakub Dobes will likely get the nod on Sunday in Carolina.  The team lined up as follows:

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Kapanen – Demidov
Bolduc – Evans – Veleno
Anderson – Danault – Gallagher

Hutson – Struble
Matheson – Dobson
Guhle – Carrier

10 Thoughts

1) One thing the Habs have struggled with lately is slow starts.  Early on, it looked like this was going to be another of those games.  They were very sloppy on their defensive zone breakouts, leading to a lot more time defending than needed.  However, they settled down after a few minutes, eventually yielding a Juraj Slafkovsky breakaway and a two-on-one between Alex Newhook and Ivan Demidov that Newhook telegraphed that he’d be passing all along, eventually leading to no shot.

2) Demidov had plenty of jump in the opening 20 minutes.  On top of that rush, he had another shot in tight that he tried to go far-side on Juuse Saros but fired wide.  He’d get another chance, however.  A little past the midway mark of the period, Nick Suzuki picked off a sloppy clearing pass from Nick Perbix and sent Demidov in with speed.  He aimed far-side once more and this time, he made no mistake, firing it past Saros to get the Habs on the board.

3) Aside from the first few minutes, this will go down as one of Montreal’s better first periods in recent memory.  While Nashville had some offensive zone time, they only managed three shots and 13 total attempts in the opening frame.  Montreal will happily take that any day.  Two of those shots came from Luke Evangelista, the second of which saw him barrel into Fowler after taking it, leading to a scrum and a penalty that yielded the Canadiens a carry-over man advantage.

4) The power play couldn’t get much going despite having some offensive zone time.  There was plenty of passing but not much else.  Sometimes, they’re just too patient.  On the other hand, that patience can pay dividends.  Not long after the power play expired, the Habs were battling for the puck right in front of the next.  Oliver Kapanen tipped it to Newhook on the side and instead of trying to rush a shot, Newhook waited, found a lane, and sent a centring feed to the top of the crease.  Kapanen was surrounded by Nashville defenders but still got a stick on it to tap it home and double Montreal’s lead.

5) Personally, I didn’t think Evangelista hitting Fowler late in the first was overly malicious.  The Canadiens seemed to think otherwise as they took every opportunity and then some to go after him.  In doing so, they took a couple of penalties which isn’t ideal.  Fortunately, they killed both of them and even generated good scoring chances on both as well.  Still, those weren’t good penalties to take.

6) Cole Caufield’s nickname of ‘Mr. Saturday Night’ has been well-earned this season and he lived up to it once more.  Not long after just missing from the slot off a nice drag play, Suzuki was able to break up Nashville’s clearing attempt.  He sent the puck to Caufield who was in alone on Saros in close.  Caufield didn’t have much time to deke or aim but it didn’t matter as he slid it five-hole to make it 3-0 and really put the visitors in the driver’s seat.

7) The second line has been showing some good signs in recent games and kept it up as the period went on.  With a little under four minutes left, Newhook got the puck in the slot and sent it to Demidov on the side.  He couldn’t bury his initial shot but the rebound came back to him.  By then, Nashville’s defenders were completely out of sync and Demidov was able to go cross-ice to Newhook to give him a scoring chance.  Newhook didn’t get all of it but it was enough to get past Saros to make it 4-0 heading to the break.

8) The third period didn’t feature much to write home about.  With both teams playing an afternoon game on Sunday, they were both content to keep rolling their lines and defence pairings.  To Montreal’s credit, they didn’t let up offensively and even kept up their structure defensively.  Nashville wasn’t pressuring a ton but aside from a couple of decent looks, Fowler wasn’t tested too much.

9) Unfortunately for Fowler, he wasn’t able to get the shutout.  After Jake Evans was called for a slash on Zach L’Heureux, the Canadiens did well on the penalty kill, including Joe Veleno getting a good look shorthanded.  But as the penalty was ending, Ryan Ufko dumped the puck in.  But instead of going around the boards, it hit a stanchion and bounced right in front of Fowler.  Fowler didn’t track it – he was waiting for the puck to come around on the other side – and L’Heureux was right there for an easy tap-in with 3:34 to go to spoil the shutout bid.  But that was the only blip on the night and the Habs shut things down from there.

10) One piece of bad news that came up during the game was that Josh Anderson left after the first period due to illness.  With Alexandre Texier not on the trip as he’s still battling an injury, they’re running out of depth.  If Anderson can’t go in Carolina, the Habs have three not-ideal options.  They can dress seven defencemen to get Arber Xhekaj back in, they can recall a player from Laval and make them play three-in-three, or they can activate Patrik Laine (if he’s with the team).  Playing Xhekaj is probably the easiest of the three but that creates a whole different kind of challenge in terms of bench management.

HW Habs 3 Stars

1st Star: Ivan Demidov – Games like this are what had Montreal’s management (and fans) dreaming that he’d fall to them at pick five in 2024.  Demidov was simply dominant in this one off the jump.  On top of the several plays he was involved in earlier in the game, he nearly had another goal on a breakaway as well.  The key to the Habs’ success in the playoffs (should they get there) will be having a second scoring line.  It’s a lot to put on the rookie but he has to be the catalyst.

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +3 rating, 2 shots, 2 hits, 16:11 TOI

2nd Star: Oliver Kapanen – Every time it feels like he’s starting to slip a bit and become less impactful, Kapanen goes and has a rebound game to reset the clock, so to speak.  This was one of those games.  He played a big role in their success offensively and was particularly strong shorthanded as well.

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +3 rating, 3 shots, 15:42 TOI

3rd Star: Alex Newhook – Fowler and Suzuki could both have landed here but it’s fitting that all three members of the second line earn the stars in this one.  Newhook helped drive the line with his speed while chipping in with two points as there was no weak link on his trio.

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +3 rating, 3 shots, 3/7 faceoffs, 14:48 TOI