At the top of the Metropolitan Division sits the New Jersey Devils. Heading into their Bell Centre visit, the Devils had won nine of their last 10 games.
The Montreal Canadiens were also hot. There could be no greater test for Montreal than the Devils right now.
Montreal found out where they stood, and though they competed well, it was a convincing 5-1 Devils win.
Wilde Horses
The rejuvenation of the career of Brendan Gallagher continues. The numbers are not quite there yet, but the game certainly is improving.
Head Coach Martin St. Louis indicated in his first season with the Canadiens at the helm that he wanted to see Gallagher be a more cerebral player. Gallagher is known for being the biggest small bulldog in hockey. As soon as the offensive zone is won, Gallagher heads to the front of the net.
That’s worked a lot in his career, and now he is adding more elements. In the first period, Gallagher was the best Canadiens player. He created his own chances, and he made a fantastic feed to Christian Dvorak that very easily could have been the first goal of the game. It was gorgeous.
Second period, Gallagher made a one-timed head man pass in the neutral zone that was gasp-inducing. Just a gorgeous play that Mike Hoffman was unable to convert with a clean look.
It isn’t just being more cerebral that has Gallagher making a comeback to better days. It’s also health. Gallagher for the first time in a long time entered the season rested and strong. He had an off-season strength and conditioning regimen that would impress anyone.
That strength will never never remove a tool box worth of screws from his hand, but it has made him feel strong and confident about his play.
It feels like only a matter of time that the floodgates will open for Gallagher on the scoresheet. He’s playing his best hockey under the new head coach since he lost his centre Philip Danault.
The confidence that Kirby Dach is playing with is a revelation. On the top line, the Canadiens actually have three different players who can take the puck up ice and win the zone without resorting to a weak dump-in and hopeful retrieval.
Dach will be a centre in the NHL at some point. He simply has too many skills that are right for the position. In the second period, as the winger, he was leading rush after rush and winning the zone. He seemed absolutely determined on one shift to not give up the puck until he had won the zone, and he did.
It has been said here before, and it will be said again and again, this trade is an absolute theft. Whether you want to compare the trade to Alexander Romanov who has hit his ceiling as a three or a four defender, or whether you want to compare it to who may have been taken 13th overall like Frank Nazar, it does not matter.
Neither of those two outcomes, the 13th pick or Romanov, is a better outcome than Dach. You cannot win in hockey without centres, and the Chicago Blackhawks gave one away. They gave away the third overall pick at the age of 21 when he was injured for a complete season.
It’s astounding. Dach has point-per-game potential as a centre. There were 18 in the league last year. That’s a small number and the Canadiens just might have two who can claim the talent level to reach it.
When Dach moves over to centre, if he can click with two wingers like he clicks with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, then the Habs are in the business of winning with two strong NHL lines led by two point-per-game centres.
The rest is filler. The filler is easy, comparatively speaking. Put six more capable forwards in there, perhaps led by a very intelligent third line centre Owen Beck, and that’s the recipe for a winning 12.
The emergence of Kirby Dach makes all of this feel so much closer to sustainability in the W column. The rebuild has a foundation.
Wilde Goats
A league-leading 10th minor penalty for Arber Xhekaj in the first period. No suggestion should be made that he has not deserved the bulk of them, but on the other hand, putting this as the 10th minor of his under a magnifying glass presents an issue.
It’s an issue either with Xhekaj or the officials of the National Hockey League. The penalty was called boarding, but the only thing that was boarding about it is that the player, Jesper Boqvist, fell against the boards.
Xhekaj put about as much into the hit as he would pushing a glass of water across the table to a friend. Xhekaj seems to have a strength problem. He doesn’t seem to know how much he can use to not make a player crumble like a double crust apple pie.
Seriously.
Xhekaj can’t keep taking strength minors like this. This hit did not implicate his stick in any way. He did not take a run at the player in any way. He only pushed with one hand on the play. Not sure what to suggest for Xhekaj. He can’t just look at Boqvist three feet from the boards and give him a free lap around the perimeter of the offensive zone.
Here’s hoping that nothing becomes of this too-much-strength issue, but that is 10 minors already. That’s too big of a number for success at the NHL level.
Shea Weber used to do this one-handed push about 60 times per game. The forward fell about 60 times per game. Weber got called for it zero times per game. In fact, Weber had to pretty much pull out a ball pean hammer to get a penalty, he had earned so much respect with officials.
And that might be the bottom line to this: Xhekaj has earned no respect. Something has to give. For Xhekaj’s sake, let’s hope it’s the officials.
Wilde Cards
It was a magnificent interview with executive vice-president Jeff Gorton on the Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro on Monday night. It’s not often that a one-on-one is given, so take notice when it is because the future of the club’s direction is often revealed.
In the last year, general manager Kent Hughes has usually been the voice for the club, but he and Gorton are working hand in hand to get a better rebuild done, and it was great to hear from Gorton as well.
There were general feelings from the interview and specific news.
Specifically, Gorton promises that a long-term deal with sniper Cole Caufield is in the works. No date was given, but to those fans who are nervous that he may move on to an American team, Gorton says that Caufield will sign in Montreal.
Gorton also indicated that he can see the day that Kirby Dach becomes the second-line centre on the club. Right now, Dach is having an offensive explosion for the first time in his career playing on the wing with Caufield and Nick Suzuki as that line is driving most of the scoring on the team.
Gorton also revealed that the organization thinks of Suzuki as a number one centre and a cornerstone piece for the future. Suzuki is on pace for 100 points, and Gorton admitted to being pleasantly surprised just how good Suzuki is.
The general feeling from the interview is that the club doesn’t want to just rise out of this as a middle of the pack team, but a team that can have sustainable success at the top level of the NHL. That sounds like it means that the club feels that more top quality pieces need to still be attained.
That is the feeling at the Call of the Wilde as well. Any sustainable success is garnered because of depth in the top six at the forward position and top four defencemen. The club still needs more talent.
Montreal has two first-round draft choices this year. They would like a third has been indicated. Somewhere along the line, the team needs a bona fide puck-moving defenceman who has first pair talent.
Judging by Gorton’s comment about Dach, they already feel he has the 2C talent to make that position strong for a sustainable future.. Gorton believes Martin St. Louis’ discovery of Dach succeeding at wing for a while is a win-win moment and opens up options for many years to come.
The overall sentiment in the Gorton interview was one of confidence that this rebuild is coming together nicely. You’ll get no argument here on that.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.