The fourth start for Martin St. Louis at the helm of the Montreal Canadiens. No wins in the first three, but a more competitive and entertaining club under the new head coach.
It all came together for Montreal on Thursday night in a thriller as Montreal won 3-2 in overtime.
Wilde Horses
Though it was the fourth game for Martin St. Louis at the helm, this was the first game that what he is trying to bring to the club is actually in the mix. St. Louis had only one practice in the first three games, so he hadn’t really been able to develop his techniques enough for the players to absorb them.
In this one, after some serious learning practices all week, the Canadiens did look like a different club. Jeff Petry was leading rushes with abandon. Alexander Romanov followed up and took it hard to the net without fear of reprisal. Nick Suzuki was nifty and confident. Even Joel Armia looked engaged in the contest.
But more than anyone else under St. Louis, Cole Caufield looks like a new man. Caufield, elevated to the first line to play with Nick Suzuki and Josh Anderson, was excellent. Caufield was dangling with the puck. He wanted the puck. He craved it and created with it. Under Dominique Ducharme, Caufield did not play like this. He played like he was afraid.
In the last minute with the Canadiens looking to force overtime, there he was on the ice. What does that mean for a young man? Everything. Caufield with his third goal in four games with eight seconds left int he contest standing alone and waiting for the pass.
In overtime, the head coach made decisions like he wanted to win the game. Under Claude Julien and Dominique Ducharme, it was always so perplexing why defensive players were being called on. It made no sense. The one point was already in the bag and no one could take that point away, yet offensive players couldn’t get on the ice.
Under Martin St. Louis, Caufield was on again to get the goal and he did just that. Jeff Petry made an exquisite pass to a streaking Caufield who scored his fourth goal in his last four games — all under his new head coach.
Nothing has changed about Caufield. He didn’t change his DNA. He’s the same player. He’s the same man. However, he’s being encouraged to try moves and use his instincts, and it is making all the difference in the world.
When someone is playing afraid, nothing works. It’s a recipe for disaster for a young player to be afraid of making errors.
Freedom is a big buzzword in the world these days. On the ice, freedom is everything. Offensive momentum is created because of freedom. Your mind turns to what you can do on the ice, from what mistake you’re afraid to make. A player’s brain must be full of possibilities. The hockey dreams we had as children are what spur moments of magic as adults. If a player can’t envision it, he can’t do it.
This is what Martin St. Louis is selling, and the players are buying it. They’re still limited by their own talents overall, certainly, but the transformation is still impressive within the confines of the lineup they actually have.
What a terrific moment for Paul Byron in the first period for the Canadiens. A late draft pick because of his size, and almost on his way to the KHL because he was not wanted in North America, Byron played his 500th NHL game on Thursday night.
With his family in attendance, Byron scored Montreal’s first goal. It was his first goal of the season in his sixth game after fighting back from a serious injury to keep his career going. Byron fought through excruciating pain, cortisone shots and then surgery to stay in the game.
Byron is a fighter, and to see him score in his milestone game was a feel-good moment for the Canadiens in a season with feel-good moments that you can count on your one hand.
There must be a mention of Brendan Gallagher in the last minute of the contest, with the Blues leading 2-1.
They were about to strike for an empty netter, but Gallagher dove face-first towards the goal, and he just got his stick on it before it crossed the line. In this nothing game except for pride, Gallagher showed all of the pride that he always has. He knows only one speed no matter how awful the script he is living.
It was an impressive moment that no one would have really remarked on, if the Canadiens did not come back to tie. They did, though. There was no Caufield as hero after without Gallagher’s sacrifice before.
Wilde Goats
The St. Louis Blues are 28-14 and 5. That’s the 10th best record in the NHL. This would have been an embarrassment only two weeks ago. The Canadiens would have been out of the game by the 10-minute mark.
Regardless of whatever the result would have been, this was an entertaining game, and the Canadiens were with the Blues every stride. St. Louis had only 13 shots after two periods. In Denver, and in Dallas, and in Vegas, that was the total halfway through the first period that the Canadiens had given up.
They are playing so much better. The young players look comfortable. The defenders don’t look so confused. The Canadiens are taking baby steps forward, so this section is empty by merit.
It’s not that they won the game. It’s that they look like a hockey team.
Wilde Cards
Carey Price has not skated for over seven days. His knee continues to plague him even after off-season surgery and his future is in doubt. This would be the third setback for Price as even light skating has been too much for the knee to handle. The latest word from the organization is that Price is working his knee out in the gym.
This raises the possibility that he may not play again and his career is over at 35 years of age. If this is the case, the question immediately arises: what does that mean for the Montréal Canadiens?
There is good news in this horrific news. Price would receive all the money remaining in his contract. When Marc Bergevin signed him for eight seasons at an average salary of $10.5 million, he knew of the dangers that contract brought. Price playing all the way to 40 years of age was always a gamble.
However, Price receiving all of his money, but being put on long-term injury reserve is truly only terrible for the man who has to pay him that money — owner Geoff Molson.
Fans need not worry about what Bergevin’s decision costs Molson. That’s their business. And for Price, though enjoying the great passion of his life would be disappointing to be cut short, he takes solace in the fact that he can be healthy as a regular citizen enjoying his family and all the rest of his days after one of the greatest careers in hockey history.
From a Montreal hockey point of view, it’s a simple and good moment for the men trying to rebuild the club of Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes. The salary is removed from the cap. It’s as if it isn’t even there. It means the club has $10.5 million more at their disposal to rebuild the Canadiens properly.
They’re not likely to spend it right away. It doesn’t make any sense paying top dollar for unrestricted free agents when a club is trying to rebuild its base. The truth is that the club will want to remain in the bottom third of the standings for some years. However, when the money is ready to be spent to ice a top-quality club, it will be available.
This is all speculative at this moment. Management is holding out hope that Price plays again this season. The hope is Price somehow recovers, so he can be one of the best goalies in hockey again. For now, though, he can’t make it through a practice. We can pretend that this is not true and he is a super-human who will somehow recover, but the truth is that he had this surgery a long time ago and he still cannot play.
What could possibly happen in that knee that it suddenly turns around? History has taught us that time does not move counter-clockwise. The damage is done. Hope is not science. The damage being undone is difficult to imagine, barring another surgery to see what is happening that perhaps can be discovered to change the present path.
No one who loves Carey Price — which is basically everyone — wants to hear this, but in the second half of February, this is the hard and difficult truth. We can come to grips with it slowly or quickly, but we are going to have to face this difficult moment.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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