Call of the Wilde: Cole Caufield scored in overtime yet again as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Utah Mammoth
The Montreal Canadiens were relieved to welcome the return of Nick Suzuki to the lineup on Thursday night. The captain wanted to help stabilize the defensive structure that was faltering without him.
Suzuki’s return was the key as he counted three points as the Canadiens beat the Utah Mammoth in overtime 5-4.
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The Canadiens seemed shell-shocked for most of the first period before they finally woke up. They were led by Suzuki who scored the opening goal to get the Bell Centre rocking again. Juraj Slafkovsky with a tremendous setup to find Suzuki alone.
The goal woke up the Canadiens who then dominated the rest of the first period. Arber Xhekaj absolutely wired a shot upstairs with Oliver Kapanen setting a perfect screen, then Xhekaj fought Liam O’Brien in a spirited tussle. The mood of the game changed.
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Slafkovsly was terrible on Tuesday. Perhaps, his weakest game since his rookie year. He responded positively Thursday with his best game of the season. He was around the puck all night. He felt so at ease with Suzuki back. The first line was dominant with a 67 per cent Corsi share.
After poor games against both Winnipeg and Pittsburgh, the Canadiens started to find themselves in this one. They dominated the second period against a strong five-on-five hockey club. Utah is top-five in Corsi in the league, so the Canadiens beating them in that aspect is crucial growth after stunning recent weakness.
Justice found the scoreboard in the third period as Kirby Dach finally counted his first goal of the season. Dach was on the power play because Cole Caufield had just taken a penalty. He took advantage by working hard in front of the net to get a rebound.
Midway through the third period, the Mammoth had only 16 shots. Utah is one of the best offensive teams in the league. The Canadiens got the memo about being tighter defensively, though the four against didn’t look like it.
It looked like an unfair loss with only five minutes until a moment that Adam Engstrom will never forget. Engstrom scored his first NHL goal and it was a beauty shot. Dach did some great work in front of the net creating a screen.
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In overtime, justice closed the book on the night: The Canadiens deserved to win, and they won. Cole Caufield with the 15th overtime goal of his career. Suzuki won the puck to Lane Hutson who fed Caufield for a two-on-one. Caufield won it with a perfect shot into the top corner.
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After the debacle of Tuesday, the Canadiens wanted to be a lot tighter, but it started horribly. The first chance that the Mammoth had all early had two glaring errors. Engstrom played a one-on-one awfully soft as Logan Cooley skated beyond him easily.
Cooley then went across the net to undress Jakub Dobes who played it terribly. Dobes essentially slid into the corner as Cooley was crossing into the middle. It was bizarre to se Dobes think that he needed to cover the near side when the obvious and easier move is to go to the centre of the net across the crease.
The second goal by the Mammoth was simply outstanding trickery. On the power play, Utah showed the common back-pass that everyone in the league uses. However, just before they executed it, Cooley broke for the blue line. Nick Schmaltz gave him the stretch pass for an easy breakaway, and an easier goal on Dobes. Everyone was fooled.
The Canadiens power play is 30th in the league. The obvious reason is take away the talent of Suzuki and Ivan Demidov, and it’s simply not going to be as creative. However, the club doesn’t have a presence in front of the net too often.
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As lovely as it is to throw the puck around with five players, the more effective idea is to throw it around with four players, and the fifth parks his body in front of the net and doesn’t move. That player then takes a defender with him. Now the power play is an easier four-on-three.
An example of the issue is Zachary Bolduc took a power play shot from 25 feet and Sebastian Cossa made an easy save. He saw the shot easily. There’s no way that is going in the net.
Imagine the scenario of that shot by Bolduc, but this time there is Kreider or Slafkovsky in front of the net. The Canadiens forward takes the eyes away of Cossa, or he deflects it on purpose, or it hits him somewhere on the body and the rebound is complete chaos.
They need to get a bit dirty on the power play. Someone has to have the courage to stand where it isn’t a lot of fun. The zone has been won. There will be a shooter clear and free on the four-on-three at some point. When he shoots, add three scenarios to make it tricky for the goalie: deflection, screen, or chaos rebound.
There’s far too much talent on this team for the 30th ranked power play.
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Dobes is still not in his highest form this season. The Mammoth were outplayed. They had only 16 shots when they scored their fourth goal of the night to take the lead. He is ranked 65th out of 74 goalies in save percentage. He needs to find his game soon.
This league has far too much parity to survive it with weak goaltending, even though they did on Thursday due to dominance territorially.
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Hockey fans around the world were shocked by the latest four goal comeback in the history of the NHL on Tuesday night. However, the truth is that the Canadiens didn’t deserve a result that night. They were outshot 47-22, and getting even a point for an overtime loss was a gift.
The goaltending of Jacob Fowler with the second best Goals Saved Above Expected in the entire league is masking a lot of issues with the team recently. They’ve been relying on Fowler far too much, and the strong two-way play that they had been showing has recently fallen apart.
The Canadiens Corsi was as high as fourth in the league at 56 per cent. The club, in a remarkably short amount of time has fallen to eighth in the league at 52 per cent. In Expected Goals, the Canadiens were fifth and now they are twelfth.
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In the Winnipeg loss, the Expected Goals were 4.99 to 3.25, so as much as it seemed Fowler fell apart late, the actual macro-view of the entire night shows that Fowler didn’t even have a tough outing. He let in exactly what he was supposed to let in by night’s end.
The Canadiens have won only one Expected Goals battle in their last five before Thursday. Of course, one doesn’t have to look too deeply into why they have deserved to win only their game against the Dallas Stars in the last ten days.
Welcome back, Nick Suzuki. You were missed.
There’s no chance the Canadiens would have allowed four goals in the last four minutes against Winnipeg, if Suzuki had taken two shifts to bring that game home. No team can withstand, over a long time frame, losing the Selke Award winner as the league’s best defensive player.
Let’s revisit the Expected Goals and Corsi scenarios two weeks from now to see if the Canadiens are back to putting in strong numbers with his return. Night one with Suzuki back was much stronger five-on-five for Montreal.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sportswriter, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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