Montreal broke their two-game losing skid in Philadelphia on Sunday with a Rem Pitlick shorthanded marker in the last minute, then a Cole Caufield OT absolute ripper for a 4-3 win.
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When the Canadiens traded Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights for a second-round draft choice, Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki the reaction was initially negative. The fan base and experts agreed that the Canadiens needed to hold out for Cody Glass.
Glass had the higher ceiling, most everyone in hockey believed. Glass was taken sixth overall and with his size and skating skills, he was supposed to be the star. However, Glass remains in the American Hockey League with only ten goals for the Milwaukee Admirals this season.
The Golden Knights have already given up on Glass. He is now a member of the Nashville Predators organization. Vegas is waiting to see if Nolan Patrick can find his junior game at the NHL level instead of in a three-way deal.
Meanwhile, Suzuki is turning into an NHL star. He’s signed an eight year contract. He’s went to the all-star game as the best player on the Canadiens, representing the club in Vegas this past February. He seems to be getting better with every game, and now has found two steady and strong line-mates in Josh Anderson and Cole Caufield.
In the last 11 games, since the line was put together, Suzuki has 16 points. Seven are goals. This is the pace of a star. If Suzuki can keep up this pace — how he has played more freely under coach Martin St. Louis — he could be an 80-90 point scorer.
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It’s been a long time since Montreal had a player this exciting. Suzuki had two goals in this contest, and he looked so silky smooth in counting them. It feels as if Suzuki is slowing the game down beautifully. He seems to have so much time to make a play. He patiently waits. He holds it as long as he pleases. He gets dispossessed so rarely.
It’s exciting to think of Suzuki in a Canadiens jersey with Caufield at his side for the next eight seasons. They will go through ups and downs, of course, but this is an exciting foundation that the club has not had for ages.
The foundational play for this club have been on the safe side of the puck for so long with players like Carey Price and Shea Weber. Stopping goals is great and all. However, leaping out of your seat is about Suzuki and his sidekick, Caufield. The kind of leap-out-of-your-seat goal like Caufield’s delivery of the puck into the top corner off the water bottle in overtime. This is why we watch.
While the rebuild is going to take a while, it’s exciting to finally have some offensive gems to celebrate like this on a Sunday night.
As the contest progressed, St. Louis opted to switch the lines up and Suzuki again was the catalyst for good. He lined up with Brendan Gallagher and Mike Hoffman, and they dominated. Whoever Suzuki plays with, he drives the line. That’s the sign of a talented centre in the NHL. Centres decide the tenor of the contest, and the Canadiens finally have a great one on both sides of the puck. If they get another one in this year’s draft, things will look up faster than expected.
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The sour notes in this one are, once again, health issues. There have been many moments that the concussion history of Jake Evans has been a concern. It remains a concern, as Evans seems to get hit a lot, and blind-sided often as well.
Add to the list, another centre in the organization who has had far too many concussions, especially at such a young age. It appears as if Ryan Poehling has suffered another brain injury. He took a suspect hit in the second period and did not return for the rest of the contest.
It’s terrible timing for Poehling as he is doing a lot of little things right, and improving his game nicely, though he does not yet have the points to show for it. On the first Suzuki goal, Poehling set a solid, smart screen on the power play. He’s driving to the net hard as well, and he’s strong on his skates in one-on-one battles.
All of that is in a holding pattern as we wait to see how he recovers. It’s officially an upper body injury, so he may be back soon. Though it could be a week or two before Poehling returns to the ice.
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Concussions are a plague on the game, but they won’t be dealt with whatsoever with the rule book written as it is. A hit to the head is just fine for ‘Player Safety’ as long as it wasn’t the principle point of contact. This not how the NFL assesses it anymore. The NHL remains behind the times in allowing the head to be contacted freely without a penalty.
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It’s college hockey playoff season, and while many players still active are Canadiens property, there is one in particular that we are keeping an eye on — Jordan Harris. In the Hockey East quarter-finals, the Northeastern Huskies defeated Boston College 3-2 in a number one seed versus number eight seed match-up on Saturday.
The Huskies now face the University of Connecticut in the semi-finals at TD Garden in Boston in the conference’s Final Four tourney next weekend.
If Northeastern wins their tourney, they have an automatic bid into the national tournament. If they lose, they will likely still get an at large bid as a top team this season in a top conference.
Why is all of this so important? Because Canadiens fans are anxious to learn what Harris will do when his college hockey career is over. Hope is that he will sign with Montreal. The top defensive defenceman in the conference and an all-star in his fourth college season will make his decision after his hockey season is finished.
It appears that we will have to wait until the end of the Frozen Four on April 9, as it is hard to imagine that Harris won’t be in it. The latest word from the Canadiens is they are now feeling more confident that Harris will choose Montreal.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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