While the fan base was extremely discouraged by Game 1 in the Montréal Canadiens series with Buffalo, the head coach and players felt that they would make the necessary adjustments to be much better against the Sabres in Game 2.
It turns out that the coaching staff knows what it’s doing. The Canadiens dominated the Sabres from the first minutes to take it 5-1, heading back to Montreal for a Sunday night affair.
Wilde Horses
The Canadiens suffered a hangover from their first series win for Game 1 of the Atlantic Division final. They simply were not ready to go. They made up for it with a superb opening period in Game 2.
Only 1:36 in, Lane Hutson went across the blue line to Kaiden Guhle who threw it at the net. That’s where Alex Newhook deflected it, and the Canadiens found a way to silence the crowd. Less than three minutes later, it was a won draw by Phillip Danault to Mike Matheson and he used a screen to float one home from 50 feet.
The draw win by Danault is important to note. The Canadiens have been dominant in the faceoff circle in the playoffs. They have been better than they were in the regular season. The Canadiens are second, so far, in the playoffs with a 57-per cent success rate. The Sabres are 16th and last at only 43 per cent.
Only two minutes later, Nick Suzuki had a breakaway with a chance to overpower the Sabres early, but Alex Lyon made the save as Suzuki’s difficulties one-on-one continued. The Canadiens had jump. They were ready to go.
After a solid penalty kill for Montreal, there was a shift that Lane Hutson was on for two minutes. He should have been exhausted. From a standing start, he joined a two-on-one, and almost converted. Hutson has phenomenal endurance. It was hard to believe that he outskated the Sabres to join that rush at the end of a hard-working shift.
It was an absolutely dominant first frame. The Expected Goals of the four lines had a share of 77, 93, 90, and 100 per cent. The defensive pairs had an Expected Goals share of 100, 85, and 72 per cent. The analytics supported the eye-test that Montreal dominated.
In the second period, after another strong kill, credit to Noah Dobson who took a huge hit to make a play in his own zone. He saw the violence that was coming at him, and he went first to get the puck up the ice. That takes a lot of courage.
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It led to Jake Evans leading a two-on-one. Evans made a perfect pass to Newhook who tapped it home on the far side. It was the second of the game for Newhook and third of the post-season as he is having a good playoff in the first nine games.
The Canadiens had a breakdown late in the second period, but they didn’t let it crush them in the third. The Canadiens counted a fourth to take the crowd out of the game. It was Alexandre Texier, of all people, leading a two-on-one. The defender gave him the shot, and he took it, just under the crossbar with perfection.
Buffalo pulled its goalie late, only to have Nick Suzuki score a goal in his third straight game. The Canadiens put in an absolutely dominant performance, winning by four goals to even the series.
Wilde Goats
There is a lot of consternation that Cole Caufield has followed his 51 goals in the regular season with only one in the first nine games of the playoffs. The issue is that Caufield simply isn’t shooting the puck. He has lost his confidence. If he were feeling it, then he would shoot.
He has only 14 shots in the playoffs. That is an average of 1.55 per game. Even Lane Hutson has more shots with 18. In the regular season, Caufield was shooting at a much higher rate. He had 258 shots in 81 games for an average of 3.19 per game.
It’s not that he isn’t in position. He is, in some cases, simply passing up the opportunity. In other cases, he is not putting himself in position to shoot. The best example was a second period power play where the Canadiens had zone time for the entire two minutes.
The five Canadiens on the power play were absolutely dominant. They were throwing it around with great skill, but for the entire two minutes Caufield was in the corner. He never got to the front of the net in any way. He would usually move into the crease when he had a chance. He would usually go to the high slot, or move in from the half-wall on the left. He just stayed stuck in the corner where goals aren’t scored.
This isn’t to say that Caufield is having a terrible playoff. He isn’t. He is doing a lot well. He has assists. His line is facing the best players all the time and neutralizing them well enough that the Canadiens are still playing hockey in May.
It’s not what Caufield wants, but if he simply gets back to putting himself in the best spots to take shots, then take them, his natural world-class shot will find the back of the net in due time. If he continues to stand in the corner, or pass up chances when he does have good looks, this frustration will naturally continue.
Wilde Cards
Strangely, it feels like it’s time for a refresher on where the Canadiens are in the grand scheme of championship building. There seems to be an overall feeling of almost failure among the fan base despite Montreal being one of the final eight teams still standing in the playoffs.
There was a stunning amount of negativity on social media, podcasts and talk radio for a club losing one game in the second round. Suddenly, all these heroes who dispatched the veteran Tampa Bay Lightning were bums who would never be able to get it done at this higher level. Everyone’s amygdala was full-clenched at 11.
Let’s invest some time on the logical, unemotional side of the brain for a moment or two.
Firstly, and by far most importantly, this is year four of a rebuild project that takes seven years usually from the bottom to the playoffs. The Red Wings would love to celebrate ‘year four’ success, because they’re in year 10 without the post-season. The Sabres playoffs entry this season ends a 15-year rebuild.
At only four years in, the project hasn’t fully matured. In fact, it’s in inning three or four of a nine-inning ball game.
The project is at such a nascent stage that even at this point, past trading deadline, management didn’t step up to get a second-line centre. They didn’t make a trade to upgrade because even they didn’t think this greatness was possible already. That was only three months ago.
The project is so much in its infancy that David Reinbacher, Michael Hage, Alexander Zharovsky and Bryce Pickford haven’t even been seen at this level. There’s no guarantee of the top level success of any prospect, but these players are all ranked as top-50 prospects by former NHL general manager Craig Button.
How much better can the Canadiens be with four top-50 prospects actually finding their ceiling? The answer is significantly better.
Also, the NHL has announced a $9-million augmentation of salary cap for next season, and there’s no GM in better position to use that money than Kent Hughes. The club has nothing but team-friendly contracts to help use an enormous amount of cap space to acquire top talent. When the Canadiens want to spend, they can win any sweepstakes for any player.
Free-agent hope usually isn’t that exciting because no one chooses Montreal — but everyone, it is known around the league, wants to play for Head Coach Martin St. Louis. Every free agent will consider Montreal for the potential of the team, the excitement of the Bell Centre, and the integrity of the head coach and general manager.
This is just the beginning, and the beginning has the team in the final eight of the NHL playoffs. There are already 22 teams jealous of Montreal, and there’s an extremely good chance in the next decade that it will be 29 fan bases who wish they were cheering for the Canadiens.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you on after each Canadiens game.