With 5 straight victories for the primary time this season, the Montreal Canadiens confronted a tough problem for quantity six.
It’s virtually their archnemesis within the Tampa Bay Lightning. Every time all the things appears to be going proper, the Lightning deliver the kryptonite.
It at all times appears to get away from the Canadiens once they play Tampa. Not this time, although, as this Canadiens group is totally on hearth.
Montreal posted a 4-1 win.
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Juraj Slafkovsky turned 22 on Monday. It’s tough to imagine that he’s so younger, as a result of it looks like he’s been round so lengthy. His profession is simply getting began, but he’s already put terrific numbers on the board. That is clearly his breakout season.
He had 4 objectives in a shortened first season, then 20, then 18 objectives. He began slowly all three years, and he vowed that he was going to be able to roll proper from the opening faceoff this yr, and he was true to his phrase.
Slafkovsky has turn into the participant that the group believed in once they made the daring option to not go together with the consensus Shane Wright first total. Within the first interval, on a five-on-three energy play, it was Ivan Demidov to Slafkovsky and he ripped his wonderful one-timer.
It was purpose quantity 29 for Slafkovsky. He wasn’t carried out. Within the second interval, Slafkovsky went for a skate down the left facet. He’s studying the best way to defend the puck, so the defender had zero probability to take it from him. Slafkovsky then discovered Cole Caufield streaking down the facet for a simple tally.
GM Kent Hughes hoped on the age of 25 that Slafkovsky might give the Canadiens a 30-goal season. He’s on the verge already the day after he turned 22. It was a completely very important second for Nick Bobrov, and the pinnacle scout obtained it proper.
Credit score to Trevor Timmins for getting some selections proper as nicely. Caufield is near your best option from the 2019 draft taken at 15. Caufield’s marker was his forty seventh of the season. He has eight video games to get three objectives. The final time a Canadiens participant hit the 50-goal plateau was Stephane Richer in 1990.
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It was one other stellar evening within the internet for the primary star of the week within the NHL, Jakub Dobes. He has answered the decision because the group’s primary in a surprising method. He’s successful a few of these video games nearly by himself. His final two begins he was a 2.84 Targets Saved Above Anticipated in opposition to Columbus, then adopted it up with an much more outstanding 3.79 GSAE over Carolina.
Dobes is now seventh within the league in GSAE. The group’s weak point isn’t any extra a weak point.
In some unspecified time in the future, definitely, he has to look human, however it wasn’t in opposition to the Lightning as he saved it going. It was a GSAE of three.09 as he stopped 36 of 37 pictures.
Dobes has at all times been athletic, and he’s used that athleticism to get to the NHL. Nevertheless, in opposition to the perfect shooters on the earth, technical expertise are wanted as nicely, and within the final month, the enhancements are huge.
Beneath Marco Marciano, Dobes is trying totally completely different. His positioning is super. He’s chopping down the angles intelligently. He’s sq. to the puck. He’s up and down and again up with excellent stability which means he’s prepared for a second shot.
There are occasions when the rebound management on lengthy pictures might be barely higher, however, total, this can be a a lot better goalie.
Wilde Goats
A win over the Lightning in Tampa Bay once they’re battling for first place within the Atlantic Division is solely a outstanding achievement. No goats.
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The Canadiens have misplaced the providers of Alexandre Service to an upper-body damage for the subsequent two to 4 weeks. It’s an uncommon announcement from the group, contemplating Service performed over 19 minutes on Sunday in Carolina and didn’t miss a shift.
What’s extra uncommon, although, is who GM Kent Hughes referred to as up from Laval as a alternative. Service is a right-shot defender, so this was the completely good alternative to name on David Reinbacher to make his debut within the NHL. Reinbacher is the one participant among the many prime 13 picks from the 2023 draft to not have performed a recreation within the NHL but.
Nevertheless, the brass went to Adam Engstrom for the backup position. Engstrom is powerful. It’s not a slight in opposition to him to recommend that he shouldn’t have been referred to as up. It’s merely that Reinbacher is the plain selection, and so they refused to make it.
Engstrom is a left-shot defender. He’s a kind of defenders that may transfer over to his flawed facet and nonetheless play a robust recreation, although. This has been an enormous theme contained in the Canadiens for a very long time — that they’ve to make use of a participant on their unnatural facet of the ice to fill out their top-six.
In reality, when attempting this with Mike Matheson, it was an absolute nightmare. They’ve tried it with Kaiden Guhle as nicely with related dangerous outcomes. Lane Hutson is the one one who maintains some degree of the identical ability set when transferring throughout the sheet.
A weaker proper facet is an organizational problem, and it’s one of many causes that the Canadiens even drafted Reinbacher. That they had an opportunity to attenuate the problem Tuesday, and so they didn’t select it.
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The more than likely motive to move up the chance to deliver up Reinbacher is that the call-up isn’t more likely to play lots, contemplating Arber Xhekaj attracts in because the sixth defender, leaving Engstrom within the press field anyway. Anybody watching proceedings this yr is aware of although that the best way they really feel about Xhekaj, Engstrom is more likely to play finally within the subsequent month.
Hughes could really feel as if Engstrom’s tutelage within the minor leagues is over whereas considering Reinbacher can nonetheless profit from the ice time in Laval. They might not need Reinbacher to sit down for 2 to 4 weeks not taking part in. It is a minor concern in itself, as why is Reinbacher not prepared but of their minds?
Nobody has the reply to that one, and nobody goes to get that reply by asking. It’s merely a matter of wait and see on Reinbacher. He’s taking part in nicely in Laval. He in all probability desires the NHL take a look at now, however apparently, it’s nonetheless time for sowing, and never time for reaping on this decide.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports activities author, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after every Canadiens recreation.
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