Habs Weekly: Caufield Comes up Clutch
Montreal’s first home stand of the year featured some very close games with the Habs trailing late in all three of them. However, they were able to come back to win two of them to sit in a tie for first in the division.
The Week That Was
Oct. 14: Canadiens 5, Kraken 4 (OT) – For the first half of the game, it didn’t look like either team would get to 20 shots while legitimate scoring chances were rather limited. After that, the floodgates opened. Montreal blew three separate one-goal leads, allowing Seattle to take the lead in the third. However, Ivan Demidov scored late just after a power play expired, paving the way for Cole Caufield’s overtime marker to give the Habs the win in their home opener.
Oct. 16: Canadiens 3, Predators 2 (OT) – At one point, the game looked as if it might be a case of first goal wins as again, it was not a particularly back-and-forth affair early on before again, things picked up in the second half. Oliver Kapanen tied the game early in the third but Nashville got the lead back five minutes later. Then, with a little over 20 seconds left, Lane Hutson blocked an empty-netter before sending a feed to Caufield who beat Juuse Saros off the rush to send the game to overtime. Then, with just two seconds left, Caufield fired home a feed from Nick Suzuki to give Montreal the improbable win.
Oct. 18: Rangers 4, Canadiens 3 – Early on, the Habs were in great shape. Juraj Slafkovsky scored early and Suzuki potted his first of the season soon after, giving Montreal a two-goal lead not even four minutes in. But from there, they couldn’t muster up much offensively. Meanwhile, New York potted three in less than six minutes to start the third, giving them a two-goal edge. While Noah Dobson got one back soon after, there was no third straight late comeback to be had.
StatPack
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | PIMS | SOG | ATOI |
| 8 | Mike Matheson | 3 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 2 | 4 | 25:20 |
| 11 | Brendan Gallagher | 3 | 0 | 2 | E | 0 | 7 | 14:07 |
| 13 | Cole Caufield | 3 | 4 | 1 | +4 | 2 | 7 | 19:23 |
| 14 | Nick Suzuki | 3 | 1 | 2 | +5 | 0 | 7 | 20:51 |
| 15 | Alex Newhook | 3 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 5 | 15:42 |
| 17 | Josh Anderson | 3 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 2 | 3 | 14:06 |
| 20 | Juraj Slafkovsky | 3 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 2 | 3 | 18:35 |
| 21 | Kaiden Guhle | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 3 | 19:07 |
| 45 | Alexandre Carrier | 3 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 2 | 1 | 16:31 |
| 47 | Jayden Struble | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 15:07 |
| 48 | Lane Hutson | 3 | 0 | 3 | +2 | 0 | 4 | 24:02 |
| 53 | Noah Dobson | 3 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 0 | 6 | 22:30 |
| 62 | Owen Beck | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 1 | 8:42 |
| 71 | Jake Evans | 3 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 15:37 |
| 72 | Arber Xhekaj | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 7 | 3 | 10:10 |
| 76 | Zachary Bolduc | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 5 | 14:43 |
| 77 | Kirby Dach | 2 | 1 | 0 | E | 0 | 4 | 16:09 |
| 90 | Joe Veleno | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 2 | 9:44 |
| 91 | Oliver Kapanen | 3 | 1 | 0 | E | 0 | 4 | 12:02 |
| 92 | Patrik Laine | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 0 | 2 | 11:27 |
| 93 | Ivan Demidov | 3 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 4 | 5 | 15:55 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 35 | Samuel Montembeault | 1-1-0 | 3.97 | .818 | 0 |
| 75 | Jakub Dobes | 1-0-0 | 1.89 | .895 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Cole Caufield (5)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (7)
Points: Caufield/Suzuki (8)
+/-: Nick Suzuki (+4)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (11)
Shots: Cole Caufield (17)
News And Notes
– With his two overtime goals, Cole Caufield is the fastest player in NHL history to reach 10 overtime tallies. He’s also now tied for the franchise record with Howie Morenz and Max Pacioretty.
– The injury bug finally caught up to the Habs. Kaiden Guhle suffered a lower-body injury against Nashville that will keep him out for four to six weeks. Meanwhile, Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach are also dealing with lower-body issues but are listed as day-to-day.
– To get to having 18 skaters available for the New York game, Owen Beck was recalled from Laval on an emergency basis.
– The Lane Hutson contract ‘saga’ is over as he signed an eight-year, $70.8 million contract extension which will begin next season.
– Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton also received new deals, inking respective five-year extensions. Gorton has also been promoted (officially) to President of Hockey Operations.
Last Game’s Lines:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Kapanen – Demidov
Bolduc – Veleno – Beck
Anderson – Evans – Gallagher
Matheson – Dobson
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Carrier
The Week Ahead
Monday vs Buffalo – The Sabres got off to a brutal start but have turned it around a bit since then with big wins over Ottawa and Florida. They’ve also done so without several key players including their starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, centre Josh Norris, winger Jordan Greenway, and defenceman Michael Kesselring. (They have three other players hurt, too.) Zach Benson has five assists in just two games since coming back from a concussion while newcomer Josh Doan also has five points through the first five games.
Wednesday at Calgary – Last season, Dustin Wolf was Calgary’s MVP, nearly carrying them to the playoffs while being a finalist for the Calder Trophy. His sophomore year has been quite rough, however, as he leads the league in goals allowed and has a save percentage of just .854. Meanwhile, they’re dead last in goals scored although getting Jonathan Huberdeau back this weekend should help a bit on that front.
Thursday at Edmonton – The Oilers have been quiet out of the gate with a 2-2-1 record. And no, it’s not because of their goaltending which has only allowed 13 goals which is eighth-fewest in the league. But they’re scuffling offensively, ranking 27th. Connor McDavid hasn’t scored a goal yet while Evan Bouchard, one of the top offensive blueliners in the league, is still looking for his first point. Meanwhile, noted Habs killer Zach Hyman (who has more points against them than any other team) is on LTIR and won’t be available for this one.
Saturday at Vancouver – After a tough showing last season, Thatcher Demko looks to be back in form, giving the Canucks one of the top (and more expensive) goalie tandems in the league. Despite not having the deepest of rosters, they have a pair of offensive lines doing well while Kiefer Sherwood, who shattered the NHL record for hits in a single season last season, already has three goals. That’s helping to offset Elias Pettersson’s struggles (the centre, not the young defenceman with the same name) as the coaching change to Adam Foote has not improved his fortunes.
Final Thought
Early in the season, teams typically don’t allocate much time to special teams. They’re still working on getting their regular systems in place and in Montreal’s case, restructuring their defensive structure. That takes priority so it comes as no surprise that Montreal hasn’t done much at practice in these situations. It’s about time they start.
When it comes to the power play, the top unit looks out of sync with players in spots they’re not accustomed to. Yes, Zach Bolduc is at home in the bumper spot but they look more interested in making 10 passes to set up a shot. They’re not that good to be that selective just yet. Meanwhile, the second unit – which isn’t playing much – hasn’t gotten much going either. The end result is a below-average 18% success rate.
Then there’s the penalty kill. With Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia, and David Savard gone, growing pains were to be expected as they try to find replacements. And boy, have there been growing pains. The Habs are barely above a 70% success rate shorthanded and the early returns on players like Alex Newhook and Oliver Kapanen are hit and miss. This one is going to take some time but this segment needs to be better.
At the moment, five-on-five play is decent so it’s time to dedicate some practice time to trying to shore up these elements. They can still show some patience with the setups they have (that means keeping Ivan Demidov on the lower-pressure second wave for now) but sooner than later, some results will be expected. Giving them more practice work will undoubtedly help on that front.