The Montreal Canadiens want to prove this season that they can change poor patterns that have plagued them for a long time. The Canadiens haven’t beaten the Minnesota Wild since 2019. That’s nine straight losses. In their last two contests, the Canadiens didn’t even score.
Montreal was rested for this one. In this season’s condensed schedule, three days between games is rare. The Canadiens also enjoyed the return of Kirby Dach, but lost, due to injury, the services of Alexandre Texier.
The Canadiens finally solved the Wild with a thrilling last-minute victory.
Wilde Horses
It was one of the best first periods of the season for the Canadiens. The Wild are a great club, and they were dominated in the opening 20 with Montreal enjoying a 14-2 advantage in shots. They were flying.
Montreal opened the scoring on a big moment for Phillip Danault, who finally scored his first goal of the campaign. Kaiden Guhle shot it from the point. Danault streaked in perfectly to to time the rebound on a fly-by. The relief was obvious as he celebrated enthusiastically.
The Canadiens then took the lead with the red-hot Alexandre Carrier continuing his shocking goal scoring. Four goals in the last five games for Carrier. He deflected a point shot perfectly from Mike Matheson.
Ivan Demidov assisted, as well. Demidov was Montreal’s best player in the first. His line was dangerous every shift they had in the opening frame.
It’s only 45 games into the career of Demidov, but it feels that he is levelling up already. The comfort level to take the puck and simply own it is coming. He’s simply discovering what he can do, and he can do a lot. A light bulb goes on over time when the greats realize that “they can’t take the puck off me.”
It’s happening for Demidov. He skated around the entire defensive zone of Minnesota as if he was playing keepaway with amateurs at an outdoor rink. Another tremendous moment: he had the puck in the high slot, and it seemed so certain that he would shoot. His attention to the goalie was that laser-focused. Instead, he passed to the right to a wide-open Lane Hutson for the goal.
Last season, in his record-breaking Calder-winning season, Hutson had six goals. He is already at nine. He had 66 points. He is already at 51. He’s a point-per-game defender in only his second campaign. GM Kent Hughes hasn’t just built a talented team; he’s built a team with some of the most exciting players in hockey.
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Looking at the entire decade of the Canadiens, Alex Kovalev was the only one who could truly make the fans rise up in excitement, with a side order of PK Subban. This team is a collection of Kovalevs: Hutson, Demidov, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky. There’s a Kovalev on the ice nearly every shift.
And on the last shift of the game, one of Power Five came through with the winner. Cole Caufield seems to have excitement in his DNA. With 15 seconds left, Caufield fired home the winner after the Canadiens had pressure in the Wild zone for 45 seconds. Caufield has 25 goals on the season. He leads the NHL with seven game-winning goals.
How the Canadiens handled the final seven minutes of the game showed that they are learning to take it to the opposition when it’s on the line. Nothing teaches like experience.
Wilde Goats
This was a delight to watch. The improvement is coming in some of the areas that have plagued them. No goats on a night when they finally solve the Wild.
Wilde Cards
What happens to Bryce Pickford in his attempt to become an NHL player may just be the most provocative draft pick in the last decade for the Canadiens.
A counter-argument to that thought will, no doubt, be the 62nd overall pick Lane Hutson, but the 81st overall choice Pickford is even more interesting as a dismissed and disrespected draft pick.
Hutson’s success shouldn’t be surprising at all. He excelled in every competition, and every level. At Boston University, he was the top college defender in the country. At the World Junior Championships, Hutson won a gold medal, was an all-star, and led the tournament in ice time. Hutson was disrespected at the draft, but everyone respected his talent and his results.
However, Pickford is another story, as even now he can’t get any respect. Pickford was passed over in the NHL draft when he was eligible, so he went back into the draft the following season as an over-ager. It’s impossible to get ignored more than that.
This season, Pickford is setting records not seen this century on the blue line in the Western Hockey League, and he couldn’t even get an invite to the World Juniors. Canada’s WJC blue line ended up being pathetic, but Pickford didn’t even get a sniff. He couldn’t get on the ice for tryouts in London, Ontario to prove his worth.
Pickford leads the WHL in goals with 33 in 41 games. He is third in all scoring with 62 points. He is only seven back of the league leader Cameron Schmidt who is, of course, a forward.
Pickford is also second in the league in plus-minus at plus 44. He’s so dominant in the WHL that on some shifts he looks like he is in the wrong league. He will routinely take the puck behind the net, then go 200 feet to score.
It makes no sense that a player excelling this significantly is disrespected this much. Are the scouts this smart, and the rest of us are this stupid? How are Nick Bobrov and his staff the only people willing to take a chance on the most dominant defender in the WHL in years?
This is why it is all so very compelling. If this kid is legitimate, and translates this sensational play to the NHL in any capacity, there must be a giant plate of crow for NHL scouts to eat.
The crow won’t go down easy, but, no doubt, Pickford will be happy to supply some salt and pepper.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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