There was a certain harmony to the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames last night.
It’s not like there weren’t some iffy moments. Jake Allen would probably like to have Andrew Mangiapane’s goal back. Allowing goals against the first five minutes of the game isn’t exactly a recipe for long-term success either.
But it was the way that so many elements of the Habs game fed into each other that made it feel as though the win over Calgary could be a stepping stone to further success.
A fourth line with an identity drawing the penalties that led to both power-play goals. Defencemen playing their most complete game as a collective unit. Winning the special teams battle. And through it all, teammates willing to pay the price for one another in crunch time.
Yep, it was a rare night to feel good about the Montreal Canadiens as a hockey team. Even though they improved to just 4-10-1 on the season.
Here are your five takeaways from the Habs 4-2 win over Calgary.
Slick Nick Suzuki Energy
Let’s go back 12 days, shall we?
The Montreal Canadiens wrapped up their West Coast road trip with a record of 1-3 after losing to the Anaheim Ducks 4-2.
“I always put a lot of pressure on myself to contribute. Throughout my whole career, I want to be a go-to person. But today I wasn’t really doing much to be honest. It was probably one of my worst games. I’m very disappointed…”
That was Nick Suzuki being extremely hard on himself as the Habs continued their downward spiral in California. With a new, big money contract set to kick in next year and Suzuki struggling to establish himself as the team’s top centre it would have been natural to assume the 22-year old was set to take a step back this season.
Five games later and the rumours of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Suzuki’s nine points over that stretch have coincided with some of the best hockey the team have played this miserable season. He capped it off with a cheeky, game-winning goal off the back pad of Jacob Markstrom last night. Against the Flames, he was a constant threat at even strength and on special teams. Not to mention his underrated physicality and combativeness.
While the Canadiens continue to search for a leader, it just so happens that Suzuki has already been leading them.
Special teams specialty
For the first time this season, the Montreal Canadiens aren’t in the bottom three of the league on both the power-play and penalty kill.
Specifically, the Habs have improved drastically on the first wave of the man advantage. With Chris Wideman replacing Jeff Petry up top, the puck moves rapidly from Mike Hoffman to Suzuki at the top of each dot. Unlike Petry, Wideman specializes in ensuring that his shots get through on net.
Furthermore, Hoffman and Suzuki have started to interchange spots on the power-play to create extra pockets of space. Hoffman in particular has brought a much-needed shooter’s mentality to the unit. He is constantly looking to either shoot to score or shoot for rebounds for Brendan Gallagher or Tyler Toffoli to pounce on.
On the other side of the coin, the penalty-kill was only called into action once last night. Allen had to make a big glove save on Johnny Gaudreau in the slot. But for the most part the Habs got into shooting lanes and recovered secondary pucks quickly.
There hasn’t been a phase of the game that the Canadiens haven’t found difficult yet this season. Eliminating getting torched on special teams would be a good start towards fixing that.
The greybeards on the back end
Alright, they aren’t exactly four Gandalfs. But Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot, David Savard and Brett Kulak seem to have started to gel.
Petry wasn’t exactly an offensive dynamo last night and continues to search for his first goal of the season. But he was certainly more active and confident joining the rush. It was a welcome sight seeing number 26 holding onto the puck as he drifted deeper and deeper into the Flames zone.
Someone who has been a shocking offensive juggernaut is Chiarot. Well, that is a tad tongue in cheek but with his goal last night he is now tied with Hoffman for the team lead in goals with four.
Ben. Chiarot. Leading. The. Team. In. Goals.
To be honest, we still haven’t seen the best of Chiarot but his production can only help to feed his confidence.
After a disaster performance as a pairing against the Islanders, both Savard and Kulak have markedly improved. Kulak’s skating stood out last night while Savard’s passing was the best it’s been all season.
Alexander Romanov has been fantastic since being made a healthy scratch. Maybe the older guys are starting to catch up.
If the veterans on the team continue to build their game, maybe the leadership void on this team doesn’t continue to be the black hole it’s been so far.
Bottom-six identity
For Habs fans who are praying to see youth play an important role on this team, Ryan Poehling was clearly the catalyst for the fourth line last night.
If anything, it was nice to see him get a shift here and there with Gallagher and Josh Anderson. But that’s besides the point. In Poehling, Pezzetta and Belzile the team not only has three players who have established chemistry together in the AHL. They have an identity as a line on a team that has struggled to identify exactly who they are as a group. They won’t draw two penalties against every night that the team will score on. But by being physical down low and a pain to play against, the trio can carve out a niche on the team in the short-term.
Ditto for the line of Jake Evans, Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia. While Evans impressed again with his speed and work ethic, the other two weren’t particularly noticeable. But together, their line has an idea of exactly how they want to play.
Without Jonathan Drouin, there is a serious lack of skill up front for the Canadiens right now. With a bottom-six ready to bring their hard hat and lunch pail to the game, games like last night against Calgary can set the tone for the Habs to return to being a hard-working, blue collar club.
Gassing their goaltender
The Montreal Canadiens are going to have to start trusting Samuel Montembeault, starting with Saturday night in Detroit.
Jake Allen’s best games of the season also happen to have coincided with 80 percent of the team laying multiple eggs early on. With the team starting to look like a semblance of themselves, it’s not ideal that the first cracks have started to appear in Allen’s game.
Vegas’ Dylan Coghlan’s goal from the point on Saturday night. Kings forward Alex Iafallo’s goal from a bad angle to start the third period on Tuesday night. Andrew Mangiapane’s backhand goal last night.
With the Habs rarely scoring more than three goals per game, they can’t afford to have a bad one against every game. Allen has played the most amount of minutes of any goalie in the league. With Carey Price’s return date undetermined, the Habs will have to start to balance keeping the Fredericton native fresh with the immediate need for wins.
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The … More about Marc Dumont