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The Habs had a trio of games against the West last week.  It didn’t start off particularly well with some more bad news after that.  However, they rebounded well to win the next two and come out with five of six points, albeit now with a big hole down the middle for the time being.

The Week That Was

Oct. 20: Sharks 4, Canadiens 3 (OT) – The Habs continued with a couple of recent tendencies in this one.  They did particularly well at five-on-five, had some second-period success to take a multi-goal lead into the third, and then shot themselves in the proverbial foot the rest of the way.  The top line each scored for Montreal but Michael Misa and Tyler Toffoli tied the game in the third before a Jakub Dobes interference penalty gave San Jose a power play in overtime, where Macklin Celebrini’s second of the night got the Sharks the extra point.  And Nick Suzuki suffered a hand injury, to add injury to insult.

Oct. 23: Canadiens 4, Blackhawks 1 – The first two trends from the last game continued, strong five-on-five play and suddenly resurgent play in the middle frame.  But after getting burned by some unnecessary mistakes in the third against the Sharks, the Habs were much better in the third.  They slowed the game down and played about as boring a period as a road team can play.  And that’s exactly what they needed.  Jake Evans had his first two goals and points of the season, the latter being a shorthanded marker that held up as the winner.

Oct. 26: Canadiens 2, Jets 1 – The Heritage Classic made for a game that, well wasn’t really a classic.  (Outdoor games rarely are.)  Montreal started strong and once again, got a pair of goals in the second period, this time from Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle, who potted his second in as many games.  That seemed to wake Winnipeg up as they really started to take control from there.  Jacob Fowler was tested plenty in this one and aside from a late goal from Isak Rosen, he shut the door to secure the victory.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (6)
Assists: Hutson/Suzuki (7)
Points: Nick Suzuki (12)
+/-: Nick Suzuki (+6)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (16)
Shots: Cole Caufield (36)

News And Notes

– Chris Kreider played in his tenth game of the season against Chicago, locking in a $2 million bonus as part of his contract.  If the Habs don’t have that much in cap space at the end of the season (to say nothing of other bonuses other players hit), the overage will be charged on the 2027-28 cap.

– Jacob Fowler was the NHL’s Third Star of the Week with his two victories.  He’s also the youngest goalie to ever start and win an outdoor game.

– Through 11 games, the Habs have yet to trail after the first period.

– Noah Dobson is now the active leader for assists and points by a defenceman in an outdoor game.  He’s up to four of each.

– Owen Beck and David Reinbacher were sent down mid-week to Laval.  Beck was recalled following Suzuki’s injury while Reinbacher wasn’t, with Mike Matheson returning to the lineup in Chicago.

Last Game’s Lines:

Caufield – Kapanen – Slafkovsky
Kreider – Newhook – Anderson
Bolduc – Danault – Texier
Dach – Evans – F. Xhekaj

Hutson – Dobson
Matheson – Guhle
A. Xhekaj – Carrier

The Week Ahead

Tuesday at St. Louis – As expected, the Blues have been a middle-of-the-pack type of team out of the gate.  How they’ve gotten there is a little more surprising, however.  Newcomer Mason McTavish leads the way offensively while new captain Robert Thomas, their top centre, is sitting at just one goal and five assists in 11 games.  Jordan Binnington has struggled mightily early on, making them lean much more on Joel Hofer.  Former Hab blueliner Logan Mailloux is currently on IR and won’t play in this one.  He was replaced by waiver claim Justin Barron, another former Hab.  He was a healthy scratch for three games but has five points in eight appearances.

Thursday at Dallas – The Stars are without a pair of key veterans for this one, centre Matt Duchene and defenceman Esa Lindell.  Their goaltending has been elite thus far, with a team save percentage of .929 (the league average is under .900), largely thanks to Jake Oettinger.  Offensively, Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson are pacing the way as expected while Tyler Seguin has returned after missing most of last year due to injury to provide some much-needed secondary scoring to a group that’s surprisingly in the bottom ten league-wide in goals. 

Saturday vs Pittsburgh – Injuries have been piling up for the Penguins, at a much faster rate than Montreal, by comparison.  Still, they’re hanging around in the tight Eastern Conference.  Erik Karlsson is averaging a point per game so far in a contract year while Nick Robertson has six goals in a dozen games in his first season away from Toronto.  Goaltending has been hit or miss at about a 50/50 rate with a pretty young goalie tandem.

Final Thought

The biggest news of the week was Nick Suzuki being sidelined for two to four weeks with a hand injury.  Not only did he lose his ironman streak within striking distance of the franchise record, the Habs also lost their best forward.  Yes, it’s a shorter-term injury but it’s still probably enough to change how the next few weeks should be evaluated.

After a so-so start results-wise, the original hope was they could chip away over the next few weeks.  Now, it feels like the hope should be just hanging around.  The Habs can handle losing a key winger in Ivan Demidov with a deep group of wingers.  They can’t handle losing Suzuki, their only above-average centre, remotely as well.  There will almost certainly be a regression in their overall five-on-five play which will obviously make it harder to win.

That’s why, for the next little bit, I think the realistic goal is now to tread water.  Hang around .500 in Suzuki’s absence and they’ll still be within a handful of points of a playoff spot by the time he returns, if not a little better.  No, that’s not fighting for a division title as some feel should be the expectation this season coming off a Conference Final appearance but that’s a lot harder to do with key pieces out of the lineup.

In the meantime, this is a glorious opportunity for a few players.  Alex Newhook can cement his status as a full-time centre if he steps up while Suzuki’s out.  Oliver Kapanen can stake his claim to Newhook’s spot if he makes the most of his time on the top line.  And Kirby Dach seems bound to get a bigger shot at some point.  Making the most of that chance obviously sets him up much better in a contract year.  Let’s see if one or more of them can make the most of Suzuki’s absence.  Through two games, it hasn’t happened just yet.