With four straight wins heading to Carolina, the Montreal Canadiens are playing their best hockey of the season. The Hurricanes on the road, though, would be their toughest test. Carolina is the favourite to win the East, so it was a great marker for the Canadiens.
They went back to Jakub Dobes in net, and he was sensational as the Canadiens posted a 3-1 win to sweep the Hurricanes.
Wilde Horses
Only four Canadiens players have ever hit 100 points in a season. Guy Lafleur achieved it six times. The last time was 1986 when Mats Naslund was a member of the century club. Nick Suzuki has a shot at 100 points after counting three in Carolina.
The Canadiens were having a difficult time, but talented players don’t need a lot to change the fortunes of a game. Montreal’s first real chance of the game came midway through the second period: Lane Hutson freed Cole Caufield, who delayed before catching a streaking Suzuki for his 25th of the season.
Still in the second frame, it was Suzuki with the slick feed to Caufield. He ripped it home for his 46th goal of the season in pursuit of 50. The last Canadiens player to hit 50 was Stephane Richer in 1990.
They weren’t done in the second period. With five seconds left, they just started a power play. Quickly, it was Ivan Demidov to Juraj Slafkovsky to Suzuki and in the net. Just like that. The line turned the entire game around. They have 25 goals in 13 games since being reunited.
Suzuki now sits at 91 points. He has nine games to get nine points. It’s a point-per-game, but Suzuki has done better than that all season, so there is real hope he can break the 40-year streak. That would be an exclusive club to join and a remarkable achievement.
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Quietly, Hutson had two points as well, as he tries for a point-per-game. Hutson has 73 points in 73 games. He’s not even playing on his correct side. He’s a phenomenal young player with a will to compete and make a difference that is unequalled.
Demidov moved back into the scoring lead among rookies as well with a 57th point. He is one ahead of Matthew Schaefer and Beckett Sennecke. Demidov won’t win the Calder Trophy, but in another year, he could have. This is just a very strong year for rookies.
Josh Anderson was unable to dress because of illness, so it produced an interesting decision from the head coach. Martin St. Louis chose Arber Xhekaj to play wing. He showed that it can be a good decision with some practice at the position.
Xhekaj isn’t a liability, naturally, defensively, because that’s his position. It probably seemed fairly easy, handling only the defenceman at the point as his responsibility.
It’s on offence, though, that is most interesting. Xhekaj, as the first forechecker, can be a massive menace. He can pound defencemen against the boards to the point they don’t want to go get the puck. Xhekaj could also be quite dangerous in front of the net, parking his immovable body there.
Xhekaj’s first attempt at forward had some ups and downs, but there is potential there. He understood the assignment as he looked to hit everything that moved.
It was another tremendous day for Jakub Dobes. In the last three weeks, he has become one of the hottest goaltenders in the league. Dobes is regularly capturing between two and three Goals Saved Above Expected in each game he starts.
In this one, the Hurricanes maintained their idea that any shot is a good shot. Dobes was up to the task again. He stopped 34 of 35 shots. His GSAE was a stunning 3.79. He’s been tremendous as his confidence and his technical skills continue to grow. New goaltending coach Marco Marciano has done a tremendous job with Dobes.
Wilde Goats
The Canadiens just went back-to-back home-and-away, taking two games from the best team in the Eastern Conference. They just won a season-high fifth straight. Clearly, no goats.
Wilde Cards
The Canadiens will have to wait for Michael Hage for a couple more weeks. In the regional final in Albany, the Michigan Wolverines advanced to the Frozen Four in Las Vegas in two weeks with a nervy 4-3 win over Goals Saved Above Expected.
Hage played only a limited number of minutes with a leg injury that he suffered last week against Ohio State in the Big 10 final. Hage’s first shift was on a power play, then he played only the odd shift as a 13th forward the rest of the way.
If the Wolverines fell on Sunday, Hage would have likely been signed to play the last couple of weeks for the Canadiens. However, now that Michigan will play right until the Canadiens are about to play in the post-season, it’s not a comfortable spot to place a new recruit, no matter how talented that recruit is.
If they sign Hage after the Frozen Four, his first game would be the final game of the regular season in Philadelphia. It’s now a very interesting decision for the organization whether they want to bring Hage into that environment right away. They did it for Demidov last season, so there is a chance, as Demidov played the final two before the playoffs.
In the Western Hockey League playoffs, it was a surprise in Medicine Hat for prospect Bryce Pickford. The Tigers should be able to dominate the Regina Pats, but that series is going back to Saskatchewan, even at one game each after the Pats posted a 4-2 win in Alberta.
Pickford did play in the contest after suffering a minor injury in game one. Pickford had a quiet night being held off the scoresheet. The series heads back to Regina for game three on Tuesday night. Despite the game two hiccup, the Tigers are still big favourites to take the opening round series.
