The second round of the NHL playoffs for the North Division has the third-place team and the fourth-place team, just like we all predicted.
The Montreal Canadiens had the clear disadvantage in terms of fatigue, with the Jets have waited around for a week to see who they would face. The Canadiens, meanwhile, played only two nights ago with the shocking upset in Toronto.
Game one in this round was rust versus rest, and rust had trouble as Montreal won 5-3.
Wilde Horses
Win the middle, win the game. For two decades, it was the formula the Canadiens lacked, meaning they usually suffered early round defeats in the playoffs. Without centres to control the ice, it’s hard to find success in the playoffs. Champions in this league 95 per cent of the time have at least one outstanding centre to lead the way. GM Marc Bergevin knew he had a big issue down the middle four years ago, and though it took some time, the future finally looks so much better than the past due to a good trade and a good draft pick.
Nick Suzuki was a point-per-game player in the final dozen of the regular season, and in the playoffs, he has been solid as well leading the club. Suzuki is still only 21 years of age. He scored an absolute beauty in the first period. He held on to it on the rush, and just did not panic, until he finally had outlasted Connor Hellebuyck sweeping it by him when Suzuki was actually behind the net with his feet. Amazing goal. Suzuki is in his second season.
For Suzuki, it was his seventh goals in 18 career playoff games. Pretty good, but not as good as the other young centre continuing to play strong hockey in his second playoff.
Again, one must remember that these are practically children leading the way for the Canadiens down the middle of the sheet. Kotkaniemi opened the scoring with a redirection of a Jeff Petry point shot/pass. Kotkaniemi now has eight goals in 17 games in the playoffs.
Kotkaniemi struggled so much in the regular season that he didn’t even start the playoffs in the line-up. One day, playoff Kotkaniemi and regular season Kotkaniemi are going to meet in the middle, and that will be fine.
Kotkaniemi started his career in Finland, where they play half the games as North America. He has always gotten tired by mid-season in the NHL, but he’ll adapt. These two kids can be so much better than they are now. They have so much natural growth ahead of them through the years. If they are like most, they will peak at 25 to 27 years of age. One can see remarkable hope in this roster some nights. The youth is very young, and very talented, and leading the way.
Two more kids make hope float, as well. Cole Caufield, though he is second guessing himself a bit on when to shoot or pass, is so involved in the play that good things are going to definitely happen for him. He and Suzuki have such great chemistry together; it is almost as if they are forgetting Tyler Toffoli on their line. Most of the night it felt like Suzuki to Caufield, Caufield to Suzuki, and nary a mention of Toffoli. Caufield is feeling his oats as he grows his game. He’s learning and not learning through mistakes, either; simply learning and gaining experience, getting better along the way.
And the look at the young guns concludes with a mention of Jake Evans. Such an intelligent hockey player in every facet of the game. He is the perfect complement to Philip Danault and Brendan Gallagher in a defensive role on that line that tries to shut down the opponent’s best. Evans was injured during much of the series against Toronto, but when he returned, the Canadiens won three straight games.
One cannot forget to talk about the veterans, either, though. That was the best cycle that Eric Staal has been able to generate since he came to Montreal. Staal and Corey Perry showed all that veteran savvy to make it a 2-0 game for Montreal. Perry took it right to the net knowing he was going to get slammed. He did. He still found Staal on the other side of the crease for an easy tap in. Staal with three points in four periods.
He was exhausted down the stretch when the club was regularly playing four games in six nights and five games in eight nights, but maybe, just maybe, he’s got his energy back. You can’t deny that he does look better. The other member of the line Joel Armia is also playing extremely intelligent hockey.
Now to the defence, led by Carey Price who continues to play the best hockey we’ve seen from him since the last time he played in the post season. In fact, you have to go back to around his MVP year to find a season when he was better in the regular campaign than the playoffs. Last three playoffs for Price are .933, .936, and the .929 of this season.
Price made two remarkable saves. First period, it looked like Mark Scheifele was going to get an easy one, but somehow Price came all the way across the crease to stop the one-timer with his blocker. Just as amazing was the stop on Kyle Connor who has always been a thorn in the side of the Canadiens this season.
The defenders also shone. From Shea Weber leading a breakaway rush on a Brendan Gallagher rebound goal, to Jeff Petry with a gorgeous pass to Kotkaniemi in front of the net.
However, the flowers must be thrown most for Joel Edmundson, who may have had the game of his life. In the third period, his stick broke at the Jets blue line, and it looked like trouble. Instead, Edmundson broke up the rush in his own zone without a stick. Edmundson had two assists. He was plus one. He had over 24 minutes of ice, and every one of those minutes he was in complete control. This is the Edmundson that won a cup in St. Louis. He also had nine shot attempts.
Wilde Goats
The Canadiens have found a good balance in their lines at this point as every line is contributing with offensive pressure and holding their own against the strength of the Jets game — their top six forwards. They have two defensive pairings set well, too, but the third did have an odd moment of weakness as Erik Gustafsson did not have a strong game. He gave away the puck on the Jets first period goal, losing it at the Jets blue line and was ahead of Adam Lowry at that moment, but then lost a race for speed and Carey Price was beaten on a breakaway. Gustafsson made a number of other errors as well.
Alexander Romanov is still waiting for his first playoff game. It would seem a good time to bring him into the line-up. All the rest of the other attempts to bring in youth have worked amazingly well with the young guns often being the best players on the team. If they are afraid of an error, all they have to do is remind themselves of the errors committed by the player that he is replacing.
The big goat is Mark Scheifele. This player was in a rage the entire game hunting heads. He finally found one in the last minute when Jake Evans scored the empty netter to make it 5-3. Scheifele had no play to make. The puck was going in and he could not impact it. He flew down the ice at some 30 miles per hour and led with his elbow to absolutely crush Evans who directly limped to the ice. Evans was concussed as he hit the ice where he gave no resistance, then he hit his head a second time as he landed.
Scheifele did not attempt to make a hockey play. He was not interested in the puck even in the slightest. He was hunting a man’s head and he found one. He was assessed a game and a five minute major penalty. Evans will not return for this series. He was stretchered off the ice after a 10-15 minute delay.
Scheifele should be suspended for the remaining games of this series. This was a disgusting predatory hit. This is a real challenge for the Department Of Player Safety who will be asked to be responsible. A man skated from centre ice with no intention of playing hockey. He did not slow down even in the slightest. He led with his elbow. It was not a hockey play. It is impossible to imagine an excuse that could fly for the DOPS to not be strict.
And for Evans, with yet another concussion, we hope for his health.
Wilde Cards
The NHL held its draft lottery on Wednesday night with the worst team in the league, the Buffalo Sabres, keeping their number one pick overall. The Seattle Kraken won the lottery moving from the three pick to the two pick.
Interesting for Canadiens fans who were so upset that the club fell from the ninth pick last year by actually winning a play-in round against Pittsburgh. They still got a solid hockey player dropping down into the mid-teens getting defender Kaiden Guhle. He played outstanding in the World Juniors, and early looks say this was a great pick.
This year, the Canadiens finished 18th overall and were the lowest ranked team to make the playoffs, so they will pick 16th, or at least you don’t hope they do. If the Canadiens win over the Jets in this series, then they are in the final four and are therefore picking at the end.
The Canadiens would pick from 28th to 31st depending on how they did in the final two rounds. There are 32 teams in the league, of course, but not 32 picks in the first round as the Coyotes had to forfeit their pick for league violations concerning NHL combine testing.
Picking near last shouldn’t be a big issue this season because more than any other year, each head scout’s list will be different. There was so little hockey played for the draft age players that it this year is a crap shoot. If you’re going to pick 28th, this is the year to do it.
So cheer away, Habs fans. This is a remarkable opportunity for this team to hit a lofty height.
And maybe this time Chris Kreider won’t bowl over Carey Price, and the Canadiens can head to the league semi-finals with their number one goalie in the net.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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