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In Hainsight: An Entertaining Win Signed Montembeault |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Following the loss of Jake Evans in Saturday’s defeat in Long Island, Martin St-Louis was forced to change his line-up, meaning that both Mike Hoffman and Michael Pezzetta were back up front, while Chris Wideman was scratched on the blue line. Being without Evans meant that the Canadiens only had 4 healthy centers, and that Kirby Dach was pulled off the first line to center the second.
Following a series of good games, Joel Armia earned himself a promotion to the first line with Suzuki and Caufield, while Mike “healthy scratch” Hoffman landed on his feet on the second line with Dach and Anderson. Drouin centered Dadonov and Ylonen while Dvorak ended up with Pezzetta and Slafkovsky. Honestly, I was disappointed to see the Slafkovsky-Anderson duo broken up and even more so since it was at the benefit of Hoffman, but there you have it.
The Habs and the Rangers came out in the first with guns blazing and attacking non-stop, but no-one was able to score since both goaltenders played lights out. Montembeault and Shesterkin made tons of saves not just in the first frame but all the way through the game, and without their performance, the score would have been much different. Montembeault stopped 38 of the 39 shots he faced for a .974 save percentage. In the end, the Habs won 2-1 thanks to goals from Dach and Caufield.
Dach had a really good game on all accounts aside from in the faceoff department, but he was dominating and instrumental in efficient zone exits and entries, he also took 4 shots and blocked 3. If the Canadiens had enough top-6 talent to fill up their top 2 lines, I dare say it would be time for Dach to center a line, but until they have more firepower, it’s almost pointless. There are some who believe that Caufield should be playing with Dach rather than Suzuki, but if you recall, there was one game around Christmas where that was the case and Suzuki looked completely lost out there. Still, with his 8th goal of the season, Dach got his 27th point of the year, a new personal best in just 44 games. There’s no denying that Kent Hughes’ gamble seems to be paying off so far.
As for Caufield, his 26th goal of the year turned out to be the game-winning goal and the more he scores, the more expensive he will get. At the end of the season, he will be a restricted free agent, but hopefully, he will be signed before then. This morning, the Minnesota Wild extended forward Matt Boldy to a 7-year, 49 million contract and that could be seen as a good comparison for Caufield. In 89 games, Boldy got 68 points and both players are core pieces for their respective team. The way I see it, it would make sense to extend Caufield for 8 years and give him perhaps a little bit less than captain Nick Suzuki who’s got a $7.85 M cap hit. Perhaps $7.5 M a year would work for both sides.
After losing Jake Evans during Saturday’s game, the Canadiens lost Juraj Slafkovsky last night. The forward left the game in the 3rd period and didn’t return. Apparently, he’s dealing with a lower-body injury and just like Evans, he’ll be evaluated in the coming days. Fingers crossed, they won’t both be out for too long. Evans’ tenacity will be sorely missed and Slafkovsky was progressing very well of late.
The Habs will be back in action tomorrow when they host the Jets at the Bell Centre.
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