The Montreal Canadiens had four straight losses heading into their Saturday night affair at the Bell Centre against the Nashville Predators.
It was a wide-open contest with Nashville dominating the first period and the Canadiens taking over from there for a 6-3 victory.
Wilde horses
It’s about time. The Canadiens put it together for the first time in nearly two weeks. The first period was all Samuel Montembeault. If not for the goaltender’s excellence in the first period when the Canadiens were still shaken, nothing good would have followed the rest of the way.
There were some standout performances from some players that have to excel for the team to move forward with any success, and some standouts who weren’t expected. Jonathan Drouin was strong for Montreal. On the key goal of the contest, it was Drouin who forechecked hard to get a stick on a clearing attempt. That led to Josh Anderson setting up Christian Dvorak.
A couple of minutes later, it was Drouin with the puck on the power play. He laid out a sublime pass through three Predators to Brendan Gallagher, who only had to tap it home for a 3-0 advantage.
After that, it was Ryan Poehling using the little ice time that he gets to score two goals in 37 seconds. Poehling now has three goals in six games. That’s a heck of a start for the former first-round draft choice. Some players take longer than others to get comfortable, and if this is Poehling’s arrival, that would be a typical arrival date in the NHL. Poehling is only 22. Why we suddenly are treating 22-year-olds like they’re done and not able is one of the ridiculous trends in player evaluation in the last five to 10 years.
Everything fell nicely into place in this one. Even Artturi Lehkonen was able to score his first goal of the season. He worked hard in the blue paint to pick up a rebound with a checker all over him.
Tyler Toffoli had a goal and two assists in the contest. He also had a breakaway late in the second period that he almost connected on. In the third period, he scored into an empty net. Toffoli was around the puck a lot, more like last season for him.
Anderson didn’t like a Predators player crashing Montembeault and he protected his teammate by winning a hugely lopsided fight. It’s not the player in the fight here, but the fight in the player.
Jeff Petry played with a lot more tenacity. He’s been AWOL this season, and the Canadiens need Petry badly for any success at all. He’s that important.
Nick Suzuki didn’t get a point in the first two periods, but he was 11 for 11 in the faceoff circle. That’s an area he needs to grow his game, and he’s making strides.
It’s said that the NHL is a race to three goals. The Canadiens are proof of this adage. Montreal has only five wins this season and they have scored three or more goals in all of them. In all of their losses, the Habs have two goals or fewer.
It was a strong effort from Montreal, which had a 5-0 lead before a nervy, but cosmetic, comeback from Nashville.
Wilde goats
The Canadiens were extremely weak in the first period defensively, but their goalie Montembeault held them in while they found some confidence. It was a night that you could see how much confidence is an issue. Early, when the Habs were struggling, they needed a goalie badly. After getting their second tally, you could see how they played with more belief and that translated into a better Canadiens team.
Confidence is a funny thing, because it is, in truth, how able you are 90 per cent of the time. You really can’t be confident when you are actually bad at something. However, there is a small percentage of the time when talented players suddenly don’t feel talented anymore. They lose their belief and they play like it.
Are the Canadiens super-talented? No, probably not. But all you have to do is look at the historical resume of the players on the Habs to know that they are not close to this season’s level of horrific. Anderson, Drouin, Gallagher, Petry, Toffoli, Suzuki, Ben Chiarot and others have a long history of putting up strong offensive numbers.
They didn’t all forget how to play hockey. That’s confidence — a loss of it and you can play way lower than your level. The good thing is it usually does even out in the longer run. Perhaps this game can spark the club to play with more confidence, and to a more honest level of their talent. Hopefully, the Predators’ late push won’t leave the club feeling fragile again for the next one.
Wilde cards
Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin has a symptomatic case of COVID-19. In an interview with Sportsnet’s Eric Engles, Bergevin said he is certainly feeling the difficulties of the virus. Bergevin is grateful that he was double-vaccinated and imagines a scenario much worse if he were not.
Bergevin is suffering from night sweats and the shakes, where he indicates that he is unable to get warm. He is also suffering from headaches and body aches.
Bergevin does feel as if he is turning the corner. This despite being diagnosed only on Thursday. He said that it began then as he didn’t feel well at the game, and as a result, he did not go into the room after the game, nor even talk to the head coach. That was a wise decision as he felt worse the following day.
It is eye-opening that someone as healthy and active as Bergevin can be double-vaccinated and suffer the effects so significantly. Over 90 per cent of people 12 and over in Quebec have received the vaccine.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.