The Montreal Canadiens know now is the time to see if they have a chance this season. A trade this week to strengthen the roster plus starting their No. 1 goalie Samuel Montembeault for a ninth straight are indicators they know how big is this series with the Detroit Red Wings.

Montreal won the first game of a home-and-home in Detroit 4-3, but they needed a sweep at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens are not in a position to go win-one-lose-one. They need a winning streak, and they got it with a convincing 5-1 win.

Wilde Horses 

The Canadiens are putting together their best hockey of the season. The defence looks much more cohesive and organized while the offence is coming alive, especially on the power play.

They suddenly seem to have an unstoppable combination with the extra-man. Patrik Laine has taken residence in his office on the left half-wall and no one seems to have a solution for it. Laine now has eight goals in nine games this season, and they are all basically shots from the same spot.

Another Laine power play goal in the first period of this one. It wasn’t the usual bomb that he has been firing to the top-shelf. It was a pass meant for Juraj Slafkovsky that went off a Detroit defender.

It was a great period for Slafkovsky who seems to be gaining in confidence recently on the top-line. It’s the only place that Slafkovsky has looked like the first pick overall, so perhaps they should not try to fix what is not broken on that matter.

Slafkovsky scored on a deflection of a Nick Suzuki shot as the captain got back to gaining points after taking only his second game of the season off on Friday. Slafkovsky has four goals on the season. Suzuki finished with two points on the night.

Lane Hutson assisted twice in the first period. In the last month, Hutson is the leading scoring among defencemen in the entire league. He has 14 points in the last 12 games and is on pace for a stunning 62 points as a 20-year-old rookie.

The other goal in the first period was from Jake Evans who suddenly thinks he is a star in the NHL. He is holding on to the puck confidently. He is changing angles on shots. He is getting breakaways. Evans is a free-agent this season and it appears he is interested in a healthy contract at the age of 28.

It will be an interesting decision for management on Evans. He is playing superbly, but his replacements are also waiting in Laval and Timra in Owen Beck and Oliver Kapanen. Evans will have to maintain this pace to earn the contract he desires which is likely a three-year deal averaging $3 million per season.

Second period and the Canadiens continued their excellence. Emil Heineman with yet another tally. He has a wicked shot, and has a chance to carve out a nice NHL career, if he can find new ways to use it. Heineman with eight goals on the season. That’s an outstanding start to a rookie campaign.

Brendan Gallagher ripped a slap shot into the top corner for his first goal in 14 games as the Canadiens turned it into their second laugher in a week. It was an impressive 5-1 after two periods.

Wilde Goats 

No doubt the Canadiens know exactly what they need for the final 50 games to find themselves in the mix, instead of the basement. It could not be more obvious that the team needs two assets. One asset they can hide, but one need is in plain view every night.

The need they can hide is a back-up goalie. Cayden Primeau is an .835 this season and it’s becoming obvious they don’t want to use him right now. Montembeau went back-to-back to help the Canadiens in a vital game.

The need that costs them just about every game is on the second line. Laine is finding success, but it’s on the power play. The line itself is filled out by Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook. Dach is second worst in the league in plus-minus while Newhook is 20th worst.

If plus-minus is passé, then to analytics where it must be noted that all of the Canadiens lines but one had an 85 shot share, but the Dach line had a 35 expected goals shot share on Saturday night.

Dach seems to be making some inroads at times, but the first Detroit goal was, once again, that line not clearing the puck when they had a chance, and then not even close on defence after the missed clear.

In Dach’s defence, he was a minus-21 two weeks ago, so the minuses aren’t coming quite so quickly at minus-24, but he could seriously benefit from some easier match-ups while he gets his legs back.

It has to be said that Dach is working hard. He is early to practice and last to leave. He wants to find his old self desperately, but this may be a season when he is only able to make incremental improvements.

An interesting experiment could be Evans centring the second line considering he is playing so well. That would give Dach some easier match-ups for a while with responsible wingers Heineman and Joel Armia.

Wilde Cards

Watching the Canadiens play this season it is clear they still need two forwards to fill out their top-six. It is exciting for the organization to know that one is clearly on his way next year.

Ivan Demidov continues to shine in the KHL this season. When he gets a chance to play, he’s the best player on the ice. It’s nearly impossible to find anyone in the hockey community who doesn’t think the Canadiens hit the jackpot with the fifth overall selection. ESPN called Demidov the best prospect not playing in the NHL today.

In Russia this year, there are some politics involved with the owner and that has played a part in reduced ice time, but it hasn’t deterred Demidov. He rises to the occasion any chance he gets to perform. Demidov had a spot on the third line and he turned it into two goals in two games this weekend.

The Canadiens management team visited St. Petersburg this week to check out their prized possession. It appears that the visit did create some dividends because Demidov had been benched completely in some contests watching the entire game go by.

Montreal management got a tour of the new arena in Russia’s second city. That’s a natural event when you tell the owner that you want to get an insider’s view of Demidov’s day-to-day on his KHL club.

That was turned into a slight PR event by the owner who is also the coach. Roman Rotenberg issued a news release detailing Russia’s desire to play international games. Rotenberg said that the Canadiens could facilitate that.

No doubt this was news to GM Kent Hughes who doesn’t make those decisions, of course. All he wanted to do was watch his player and let him know that everyone was excited for him to come to Canada next season.

That is Demidov’s plan and no amount of political posturing is going to change that. Demidov is in an even better position to come over quickly than Matvei Michkov was to join the Flyers. Michkov had to negotiate the release from his contract. Demidov has no such issue. He is free to come to Montreal at season’s end and Montreal can’t wait.

The prediction here is that Demidov becomes by the age of 24 the first Canadiens player to score 100 points since Mats Naslund in 1986.

 

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.

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