{"id":407178,"date":"2026-01-14T12:59:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/407178\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T12:59:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:59:33","slug":"call-of-the-wilde-montreal-canadiens-bring-the-fight-to-washington-fall-3-2-in-ot-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/407178\/","title":{"rendered":"Call of the Wilde: Montreal Canadiens bring the fight to Washington, fall 3-2 in OT – Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday night was a night when the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> wanted to measure their improvement over last season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Canadiens were handled in five quick games in the playoffs last season by the Washington Capitals. The Habs had to travel overnight after playing Monday, taking on a rested team waiting at home.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens fought the fatigue to play an extremely competitive game before losing in overtime 3-2.<\/p>\n

Wilde Horses\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Canadiens have been winning most of their games with an unstoppable offence recently, but it\u2019s time to shine some light on some of the improvements defensively.<\/p>\n

The arrival of Phillip Danault has caused huge changes in some important categories that influence winning.<\/p>\n

The penalty kill of the Canadiens was one of the worst in the league before Danault\u2019s arrival. It sat at 75 per cent. Danault\u2019s first game with the Canadiens was against the Boston Bruins just before Christmas. With the five-for-five kill number against the Capitals, the penalty kill is 86 per cent with Danault in the lineup.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Danault hunts like a dog on the kill. He is relentless. It isn\u2019t just that, though. He also makes superb decisions about when to cut off the play to have the opportunity to clear the zone.<\/p>\n

However, even more important than that is the best way to start a good kill \u2014 to win the faceoff.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Sports
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Danault has quickly become the best faceoff man on the team. As a Canadiens player this short time, Danault is 59 per cent in the circle. It\u2019s a vital statistic that Montreal was not faring well at since Danault departed to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

For the first half of the season, the coaching staff was searching for a replacement for Joel Armia to kill penalties. They found it in Josh Anderson whose work on the kill was outstanding in this one. Anderson also scored a short-handed goal. Danault was the decoy on that two-on-one.<\/p>\n

Danault was also on the ice for the second goal as he took a pass from Zachary Bolduc, who had forechecked effectively to win the puck. Danault then passed to Brendan Gallagher who silenced the critics for a couple days with the 2-0 tally.<\/p>\n

The final piece of the puzzle to kill penalties well, and to win games, is goaltending. Samuel Montembeault has been back from Laval only four games, but he does look like a goalie who has had a lot of pressure, and bad technique, lifted off of him. Montembeault was outstanding, stopping 40 of 43 shots.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Montembeault has a .921 save percentage in his starts since the stint in the American Hockey League. It\u2019s a big enough and strong enough sample size to suggest that the move to a two-goalie system in Montreal will likely return soon. There are two young goaltenders who need to see the net more to help their development.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWilde Goats\u00a0<\/p>\n

The youngest team in the league is in the process of learning how to win in the toughest scenario possible. It\u2019s the road game with a lead in the third period, and the opposition is pushing the play all they can. There\u2019s an art to killing the game with that lead to leave the opponent feeling they simply won\u2019t get the chance to get the game back.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pucks deep. It\u2019s no odd-man rushes against. It\u2019s being on the defensive side of the puck. It\u2019s being careful to not take a penalty. It\u2019s clearing the puck out of the zone instead of trying to make cute plays. It\u2019s communicating well. It\u2019s staying calm, and keeping the heart rate down.<\/p>\n

This process takes a lot of time to learn. It doesn\u2019t happen in 10 games or 20 games. It actually takes seasons to get that maturity to kill a game. It may seem like the Canadiens don\u2019t have it figured out when they got bombarded in the third period, but just being in the mix over and over again for this experience is what counts.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Washington fired 16 shots in the final 20 minutes to tie it. The Canadiens were on their heels. It\u2019s not even that important right now if the Canadiens succeeded or didn\u2019t succeed to hold the lead. It\u2019s that they learned during the final frame these valuable tactics.<\/p>\n

Case in point is the winning goal for Washington. Juraj Slafkovsky had Connor McMichael as his check in front of the net. Slafkovsky didn\u2019t box him out for just that one little moment, but it was enough. The rebound went free, and McMichael had inside position. That\u2019s all it takes. Slafkovsky won\u2019t make that mistake again. Nothing teaches like disappointment.<\/p>\n

Every time they face this tricky scenario, they\u2019ll get a little better at it. They\u2019ll draw on some aspect from their experience and use it to be slightly better the next time. This is not a time to lament. It\u2019s a time to be thankful that this is the process they\u2019re trying to figure out already in the pursuit of greatness.<\/p>\n

Wilde Cards<\/p>\n

It was last season at this time that the heavy favourite to win the Calder Trophy was Macklin Celebrini over Lane Hutson. Both are outstanding players, but Hutson was starting to put up historic numbers for a rookie blue liner, yet was being largely ignored. As the season progressed, the tide shifted when Hutson\u2019s assault on the record book finally could not be denied.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Leave Iran now,\u2019 Ottawa urges Canadians as protests, crackdown intensify\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tOttawa\u2019s gun buyback pilot was \u2018successful,\u2019 destroyed 25 guns: minister\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

One year later, it\u2019s the same path \u2014 so far \u2014 with another Canadiens player. This time, with forward Ivan Demidov.<\/p>\n

The Russian rookie is well behind Matthew Schaefer in oddsmakers preference at bookmakers in Las Vegas. The Islanders defender is -500 while Demidov is +500. It\u2019s literally a carbon copy of last season with Celebrini and Hutson.<\/p>\n

Schaefer is the darling because what he is doing just out of the draft for a defenceman is outstanding. No one should deny his excellence. However, if Demidov continues his recent pace, no one will be able to deny his points.<\/p>\n

With three assists against the Canucks, Demidov now has 39 points on the season in 46 games. He is in the points-per-game territory of the winner of the Calder two years ago, Connor Bedard, and the runner-up last season, Celebrini.<\/p>\n

Recently, however, the line with Slafkovsky and Kapanen has picked up its pace. Slafkovsky has a whopping 18 points in the last 12 games. The line is unstoppable and that\u2019s exciting considering all three players are barely out of their teens.<\/p>\n

Demidov has 13 points in his last 11 games. He\u2019s on pace for 70, but focusing on the recent run, he can clearly surpass that total.<\/p>\n

What Demidov actually needs is a little more ice time. At five-on-five, Demidov is a stunning 12th in the entire league in points per 60 minutes. He\u2019s a force at even strength which is the bedrock of success in the NHL. He deserves more ice time.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Last year, it was said here all season long that Hutson would win the Calder. Even though Demidov\u2019s numbers are Bedard-like, that prediction won\u2019t be made here yet.<\/p>\n

Schaefer will have to slow down considerably, and Demidov must have a point total that can\u2019t be ignored. Demidov will need to be at around 82 \u00a0points in 82 games. That\u2019s the mood of the moment, fair or unfair.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a monster total of points for a rookie. It hasn\u2019t been done since Matt Barzal had 85 in 2018.<\/p>\n

Look for a 25-point gap over Schaefer as well. It will take that level of dominance. Right now, the gap is 10 points. The targets seem unreachable, but he\u2019s Ivan Demidov. A light bulb to much higher point totals will go off eventually. It\u2019s just a matter of when.<\/p>\n

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on<\/a> globalnews.ca<\/a> after each Canadiens game.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4:56
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCall of the Wilde: Habs dominate Blackhawks\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\tPrevious Video<\/p>\n

\t\tNext Video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday night was a night when the Montreal Canadiens wanted to measure their improvement over last season. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[3382,265,5,264,21,5147,40,4,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-407178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-call-of-the-wilde","9":"tag-canadiens","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-montreal","12":"tag-montreal-canadiens","13":"tag-montrealcanadiens","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115893578604222187","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}