Call of the Wilde: Minnesota Wild edge the Montreal Canadiens in overtime
The Montreal Canadiens with their second biggest test of the season Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild.
An opportunity to see where the Canadiens stood in the overall league structure with Minnesota, and they are standing just fine. It was an evenly played game which is positive for Montreal as they establish themselves in the upper echelon.
The final 2-1 Minnesota in overtime.
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Only when the Canadiens face the Hurricanes does one get the sense that the Canadiens haven’t arrived yet. Against the second ranked team in the league, and one of the top Corsi teams as well, Montreal was their equal.
Nick Suzuki got the assignment most of the time to face the Wild’s top line of Joel Eriksson-Ek and Matt Boldy. When Suzuki, along with Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield, can handle the pressure of top talent, the depth of the rest of the line-up can shine.
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The Suzuki line finished the night with an Expected Goal share of 88 per cent. The Eriksson-Ek line had a 22 per cent share.
Call of the Wilde: Suzuki returns with a big win for the Canadiens
Another huge match-up is what Quinn Hughes achieved compared to what Lane Hutson achieved. Two of the top defensemen in hockey both showed off their exciting skills. Hutson had an Expected Goals share of 72 per cent, while Hughes had a 62 share. If your eye test said the two dominated, you’re right.
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The contest also featured the top-two goalies in the entire league in Goals Saved Above Expected. Jesper Wallstedt entered the game first and Jacob Fowler was second. It’s not hard to see why both of these teams have shone this season with net minding like this. Fowler had a GSAE of .91, while Wallstedt had a 2.64.
Overall, it was a tight contest with not much ice for either club. Two periods passed without a goal. It was going to come down to one break, and it was the Wild who got the first one, before the Canadiens got the result they deserved forcing overtime.
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It was a wild scramble with the extra attacker out. Cole Caufield threw it at the net from a bad angle where it crawled down the back of Wallstedt. Nick Suzuki jammed at the rebound for his seventh of the season pushing it just over the goal line.
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It was the type of hockey that wins titles. Almost no mistakes with so little between the clubs. It was easy to see how well everyone is coached and positioned. It also was obvious that it’s important to be strong all the way down the line-up.
The excellence of Adam Engstrom and Arber Xhekaj on the third pair was vital. The ability to defend and win ice just as vital for a fourth line like Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen and Kirby Dach. It takes an entire team to win a night like this one.
When the hockey gets this tight, it’s so little that makes the difference to the final score. Early in the third, the Canadiens had just finished 90 full seconds in the Wild zone buzzing to score, but then a turnover, and a breakaway for Bobby Brink to finally count against the run of play.
Nothing to fret about in a game like this. The Canadiens wanted to see how they stood against the second best and they fared beautifully. No goats competing beautifully against a great team.
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When the Canadiens passed on Matvei Michkov at number five in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Montreal hockey fans were enraged. They couldn’t believe that such an obvious star-in-the-making was taken for David Reinbacher.
Fast forward three years later, and Reinbacher continues to learn his trade in the American Hockey League, while Michkov is the Flyers top scorer with ten goals in 20 games. However, there’s a catch.
Back in the day, the Canadiens were looking for a right shot defenceman, and they had anxiety about the attitude of Michkov overall. If General Manager Kent Hughes has regrets about his choice, he can correct it now, if he is interested.
Michkov has told the Flyers that he would like a fresh start somewhere else. Michkov has been in and out of the line-up because he doesn’t play the type of hockey that Head Coach Rick Tocchet likes. Sadly, he doesn’t play the way many head coaches like as it’s difficult to get him interested in defending.
Michkov is in the final year of his entry-level contract, and he does have the right to hold out as a restricted free agent for a better environment. Not sure that any serious environment forgives a 100-foot hockey player, but that’s where it stands.
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It’s a provocative story, because there are many tales of a player not having much of a team-first attitude at 21, but grows into a more mature stance as the years pass. Add to that, this is the second major player to not want to play in Philadelphia as Cutter Gauthier was also disgruntled with the organization for a reason that remains a mystery.
A second issue exists for the Canadiens as they have made it quite clear that they want to get bigger and harder to play against and don’t favour acquiring smaller players at the moment.
It will be interesting to see what Michkov fetches in a trade. He’s talented, but any whiff of an attitude problem makes any GM think leave him for the next guy, so it might be a tough trade for General Manager Daniel Briere, especially since he just got backed into a corner.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sportswriter, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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