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Hockey Hainsight
Canadiens’ fans could have been forgiven for thinking last night was going to be a long night after the Wild completely dominated the first 20 minutes of the game. Minnesota put 13 shots on net in the first frame alone while the Canadiens could only test Gustavsson three times. Matthew Boldy and Marco Rossi both scored on Samuel Montembeault and the local favorites went back to the locker-room with a 2-0 lead.
Whatever was said in the Habs’ room during the break worked as they came out swinging in the second, repeatedly attacking the net and playing a much better and cleaner defensive game. In fact, for the last 40 minutes of regulation, the Wild could only shoot nine times against Samuel Montembeault.
Once again, it was a defenseman who put the Canadiens on the board when David Savard stepped in closer to the net to complete the passing play of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. That goal once again put the Canadiens’ defensive corps at the top of the league standing for most goals scored by a team’s defensemen, alongside Cale Makar’s Colorado Avalanche.
Early in the third, Nick Suzuki sent everyone back to square one with a power play goal, but the tie was short lived as the Wild got a second power play goal on the night to take a 3-2 lead with 11 minutes remaining in regulation. The Habs relentlessly attacked though and with around three minutes left, Juraj Slafkovsky was able to deflect David Savard’s shot which then got a couple of lucky bounces and ended up behind Gustavsson to tie things up at 3-3.
It has to be said that the referring left a lot to be desired last night, and it was particularly obvious when Cole Caufield was assessed one of the weakest cross-checking call ever known to mankind with less than two minutes left in the game, putting the Canadiens in a really tough spot. Still, the Habs defended admirably, lead by captain Nick Suzuki who even blocked a shot with seconds left to the game closely followed by “Big play Dave” David Savard as Kirby Dach calls him. The veteran defenseman really did it all last night, putting two points on the board and skating for over 23 minutes. Mike Matheson also had yet another productive game offensively with two assists.
Emil Heineman made his NHL debut but the fourth line barely saw any ice-time, he only had a little under six minutes to prove himself and it's far too small a sample to evaluate him. I did notice him make one very solid open ice hit though. Hopefully, he'll have more opportunities to make his case...
The Caufield penalty carried over to the overtime period but the Canadiens’ penalty killing unit got the job done. Each team got a couple of shots during the extra time, and it was forward Kiril Kaprizov who settled the matter with his 8th overtime goal, a Wild franchise record. Just like that, the Tricolore once against lost in Minnesota meaning that they’ve now lost 16 of the last 17 games between the two sides.
Still, there are a lot of positives to take away from this game, the most important of which has to be how well Slafkovsky works with Caufield and Suzuki. The first line got 12 of the team’s 25 shots and created plenty of opportunities in the offensive zone. If Slafkovsky keeps on steadily improving as he has been this season, the Canadiens could have their most efficient line since Tatar-Danault-Gallagher ran the show, and has a bonus, it would be an offense orientated unit.
We also saw that Kaiden Guhle could handle himself last night, after he applied a bone-crushing but legal hit, he was jumped by Marco Rossi who wanted to protect his teammate but the Habs’ blueliner won the tilt by a county mile.
For the second time in a real short time, Justin Barron was the victim of a boarding incident and while one shouldn’t necessarily blame the victim, Marc Denis had a point when he said Barron needs to be more aware of who’s on the ice and what could happen.
The Canadiens will have very little time to process last night’s events as they are now in Chicago to face Connor Bedard and co tonight at the United Center. This will be Montreal’s last game before the Christmas break, and it is set to start at 8:30 PM. As always, I’ll be reporting on the Canadiens’ prospects playing in the World Junior Championship over the Christmas holidays. Owen Beck, Lane Hutson, Jacob Fowler and Filip Mesar will all be playing for gold in Sweden.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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