One way to tell if you are truly a better hockey team is not by beating skilled teams as a surprise but by beating bad teams as an expectation.
That was where we stood on Saturday night as the Montreal Canadiens faced the Senators in Ottawa. Yes, the Habs have beaten one of the league’s best — twice — in the Penguins, but could they win on the road against an expected minnow this season?
Great teams don’t waste opportunities early in the season to show they truly are great. So far, the Habs have passed all the tests, but Ottawa has also been surprisingly good. Only one of these teams is likely to overachieve all season long.
Wilde Horses
- Artturi Lehkonen, Phillip Danault and Paul Byron. When three players combine as beautifully as these three did early in the first period, you make sure that you give them a little time together to see if they can keep showing a chemistry as stunning as their goal. The passing was sensational, as the Senators had all the numbers they should have needed in defence, but the puck was moving so rapidly between the three players that there was no one who could keep up with it. The Senators could have had seven players trying to defend and they still wouldn’t have been able to move as fast as that puck did. It was Danault who finished it with a gorgeous shot upstairs — truly one of the best goals, passing-wise, that you are going to ever see. The coaching staff should leave them together to see if that was a one-time thing or if these three truly have that type of vision for each other.
- Jesperi Kotkaniemi was back again, looking like he should stay beyond nine games; it’s going to be an extremely difficult decision for the organization. For two games last week, it looked like he was a little out of his element, not being a part of the play much. However, his intelligence has come through in the last two games, and his vision is 20/20. He made a superb, three-foot pass that left you wondering how he even saw his teammate. The play continued and resulted in a third goal. Joel Armia passed to Byron for his second point of the game. But it was Kotkaniemi who had the moment of truth on the goal as his pass started possession — a pass that not many players have the presence to make, let alone an 18-year-old in his first dozen NHL games. You try not to overreach in your comments about an 18-year-old, but it’s extremely difficult; his ceiling looks so high.
- Jordie Benn is a faster skater this year than last year. He was the Habs’ best defender in Ottawa. If you’re looking for a reason that he is succeeding more, look no further than that. His stride looks strong, his pace is not inferior in any way. He’s getting to loose pucks first, too. It could be weight loss or it could be that he is injury free, but Benn looks much more like year one and not at all like year two. The Habs have found success with a lot of players showing their better selves this season. Benn is another one of those pleasant surprises. In fact, all of the pleasant surprises have come on defence. Mike Reilly has been stellar. Noah Juulsen does not look like a rookie. Jeff Petry is more consistent. Xavier Ouellet has had some strong efforts. When five of your six are playing better than expected, you have wins adding up.
- Max Domi played yet another strong game for the Habs. He opened the scoring early in the first period, but what he really excels at is zone entries. He weaves well and creates space for himself then finds a spot to relax the play and build some offence. Domi has been a revelation. This simply is not the player that we all saw in Phoenix. Domi is also developing chemistry with Jonathan Drouin, who had a tough season last year. This means the trade not only brings Domi, who is playing centre without seeming challenged defensively, but is waking up Drouin. That’s a win-win.
- Lehkonen is a player who constantly deserves praise for the myriad small things that he does right. He respects where he is on the ice all the time. He respects where his opponent can hurt him most. He respects his angles. He never cheats a foot of the ice. He gets criticized when it doesn’t go right for him offensively, and he is a bit streaky, but he is such a complete 200-foot player that you wonder how is it possible he didn’t become a centre with a complete awareness like that.
Wilde Goats
- One doesn’t want to make too much of a single mistake, but the first Ottawa goal was last season’s Karl Alzner. He has it on his stick and casually lost it behind the net. Then, to compound his mistake, he didn’t hustle very well to get back into the play. Eventually, the goal was pretty much all on Alzner. He played strong in his debut after a strong camp, but time is your enemy when you aren’t quite the same player as when you were a younger, faster man; your mind gets fatigued because your legs have gotten fatigued. The radar is back up and back on for Alzner. You can’t cost your team that much at the NHL level. The game was 2-0 and quite in command but then suddenly things changed. Alzner over a healthy Victor Mete was one roster mistake, and the other mistake ruined the rolling of the four lines.
- Nicolas Deslauriers got his first chance to play after injury and was weak. It also brought out more weakness in his linemates, Matthew Peca and Andrew Shaw. Nikita Scherbak is still not playing, and Charles Hudon was also not playing, despite scoring and looking effective. These are not talent-first decisions. Deslauriers has been a journeyman his entire career who got on a hot streak last season, but make no mistake: he’s a journeyman. You know who else had a hot spell for the Habs and parlayed it? Dale Weise; he was a journeyman player. Michel Therrien kept throwing him out there over and over again, and he turned that into a major deal with the Philadelphia Flyers. After that, he was not essentially heard from again in any significant way. Deslauriers is limited. People get excited over a limited player getting hot for a spell like he’s suddenly become a significantly player in his mid-twenties. It rarely happens. The “speed kills” Habs should be exclusively putting their best talent out there to win. That’s their motto this year: that they can skate faster and push the play. How, in any way, should we expect Deslauriers to push the play? He can’t. Point final.
- The Habs need to practice three-on-three and see who knows how to play it. The overtime was abysmal. Excitement is, fun but there are spacing rules and man back rules. You can’t just run three guys at the other net. You have to make sure that you don’t over-commit; the Senators were far superior in that aspect of the contest. It was kind of embarrassing how bad it was. Also suspect was the choice of participants. Byron must be playing in the overtime — he must. He’s the fastest skater, which is exactly what three-on-three is about. How can you not see Byron? If you get caught up, you need to have speed to get back. That’s Byron. Again, with Armia getting a nod? Someone explain, please. This player should not be on the power play, nor the penalty killing, nor three-on-three. Get in the video room, Habs, and watch the Oilers play three-on-three, and you will get how it is supposed to be done. It’s not that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are talented alone, it’s that they wait for their opportunity and then pounce. McDavid thinks defence first in overtime, then he takes his chance when he gets it. McDavid and Draisaitl don’t put themselves in dangerous positions by trying too hard. The Habs were behind the play for the entire overtime. The Senators had three breakaways and two three-on-one opportunities. You have to respect the defensive zone, too. It is the counter-attack that is more dangerous in three-on-three, not the attack. Honestly, it is hard to believe how bad that was overall. It was like nine-year-olds were out there.
Wilde Cards
- The Habs just might have pulled off one of their greatest trades only a month ago. The Vegas Golden Knights have not enjoyed the best of Max Pacioretty so far, while the Habs’ best forward has been Tomas Tatar. Not only that, the Habs also have a second-round pick in the draft next year and Nick Suzuki to measure against the former Habs captain. Suzuki looks like he is going to be a good one. He’s got two high-scoring seasons in the Ontario Hockey League already and a third is well on the way. He has played only 10 games for the Owen Sound Attack this season, and he is lighting it up with 17 points already. Suzuki had a four-point night on Friday with two goals and two assists. He had two more assists on Saturday. He possesses a lethal shot and a great scoring instinct. It is easy to see Suzuki on the right side of Kotkaniemi next year or the year after for some of the best natural talent the Habs have had on the first line in a long time. The future was quite grim last year, but we can see how quickly it changes when you allow your head scout to actually make some draft choices. Trevor Timmins has done an outstanding job the last two years. Marc Bergevin has been a GM who has delegated well. He’s made good hires of assistant coaches. He’s also made some outstanding trades to turn around what won’t be nearly as long a rebuild as previously thought.
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