After a strong home stand, the Montreal Canadiens next test is a four game road trip through the west. Night one was the struggling Calgary Flames who had only one win in seven games to start the season.
However, that also can mean that they know they need their best efforts soon. The Flames did play their best game of the season, but the Canadiens won it in overtime 2-1.
Wilde Horses
Head Coach Martin St. Louis is preaching meet the other team early in your attempts to stop their attacks. Check them in the offensive zone, check them again in the neutral zone, so you don’t have to check them where they can score in your zone.
An example of his mantra was apparent more than usual against the Flames in the first period when the Canadiens were all over the Flames. Montreal had seven high-danger chances in the first period: Juraj Slafkovsky with two, Zach Bolduc with two, Jake Evans with one, Oliver Kapane with one, and Ivan Demidov with one.
However, they only scored a single time. It was on the power play on an excellent feed from Nick Suzuki to Bolduc. Dustin Wolf made three quality stops, but the shooters also found his chest at least half of their glorious chances making him look good when all he did was stand in the middle of the net well.
Instead of 4-0, it was 1-0 despite numbers like 91 for the Kapanen line and 89 for the Suzuki line in Expected Goals Percentage. It was an absolutely dominant performance by the Canadiens for 20 minutes.
However, sports has an ebb and flow, and the Flames weren’t going to stay on the back foot that easily. Cue the defence for Montreal. The penalty kill had a solid night stopping all five of the Flames opportunities. Jake Evans was stellar. Kapanen is getting comfortable and using that big hockey brain. Josh Anderson was strong as well. Suzuki drew a penalty while shorthanded late in the third.
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However, the best penalty killer was Jakub Dobes who had another strong contest. Heading into the Calgary game, Dobes had a .939 save percentage. With a 36 save night, he is now .949. In goals saved above expected, Dobes was plus 2.0 for the game, and is now 7.8 for the season. That’s the third best goalie number in the entire league.
It went to overtime where the rookie Ivan Demidov made a play you simply can’t defend. He deked over and over again while backing away. He couldn’t be attacked. He couldn’t be poke checked. There was no strategy that would work except for cutting off his lanes.
However, Demidov kept changing the lanes until the pathway to Mike Matheson opened up back door. Matheson received the pass for a tap-in tally. The Flames never touched the puck in overtime with Suzuki, Caufield, and Hutson holding the entire time, then Demidov, Newhook and Matheson taking over and finishing it.
Wilde Goats
Dobes was doing absolutely everything possible to earn a shutout, but in the third period, a gigantic blunder was beyond what he could steal. Noah Dobson had a chance to shoot it out of the zone, but instead, he chose to carry the puck. He lost it to Adam Klapka.
Suddenly, Klapka had it on his stick from 15 feet and he scored easily to tie it up at one. It was just too good a chance to miss on it. Dobson has been stellar this season, but up only 1-0, it was too aggressive a decision to not clear the zone.
Overall, it was somewhat concerning how much of the game was spent in the Canadiens zone, but there will be another day to talk about that canary in the coal mine because the Canadiens are six and two on the season, and lead the league in points with 12.
Wilde Cards
It’s not a goaltender controversy. In fact, it’s not ever a goaltender controversy. It’s simply one goalie playing better than the other goalie, and there’s nothing controversial about that.
Goalies go through ups and downs more than other positions in the NHL. It’s not uncommon for even some of the best goalies to run hot and cold. The career of Jonathan Quick is a rollercoaster from .928 to .876, yet it also includes two Stanley Cups.
Samuel Montembeault has actually been quite consistent. He runs around .900 as a save percentage as predictably as Brendan Gallagher crashes the net on a rush. This is his first major angst as a Canadiens goalie at .857. That terrible number doesn’t mean controversy. It simply means he vacates the crease a bit more until he finds his game.
Jakub Dobes not maintaining his present pace is just as predictable as Montembeault finding his form eventually. Dobes has been excellent, and he believes that his form has improved a lot.
He does seem more still and calm than before. He is technically better. However, he isn’t a .949. If he finishes the season above .900 taking a good share of the workload, it’s a massive winning season solidifying himself as a regular for years to come.
When the short sample turns into a long one, it may just be that they are both .900 goalies. If that’s the case, there’s nothing controversial about that. It’s actually exactly what is hoped for – that every night you have a chance to win and both goalies are always well rested.
That’s not a controversy. That’s a Godsend.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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