MONTREAL — It was fitting that Arber Xhekaj put the finishing touches on this game by throwing a heavy hit on Keaton Middleton before trying to engage him in a fight.
Because what would a Canadiens-Nordiques game be without that?
Oh, you could feel the emotions rushing back from the second the Colorado Avalanche took to the ice in those sky-blue jerseys opposite the home reds worn by the Canadiens. Those fleurs-de-lys prominently displayed, the igloo in the centre of them rarely ending up as the only red on the material after a game between once-great rivals.
There were no bloodbaths nor line brawls like back in the day, though, despite Xhekaj’s desire to stir some up Wednesday.
But this game was a throwback of sorts, with a charged atmosphere overtaking the Bell Centre, and with 47 hits exchanged.
When Xhekaj went into the launch that last one on Middleton, he was just doing what he always does.
He’s a six-foot-four, 240-pound menace, who plays the type of intimidating brand that would fit perfectly in a Canadiens-Nordiques game if the Nordiques still existed.
But you know what else Xhekaj did in this 7-3 win for his team? Late in the second period, after Jake Evans and Kirby Dach scored within 40 seconds of each other to put the Canadiens up 5-1, Xhekaj pinched in and crunched Gavin Brindley before passing the puck to Juraj Slafkovsky for Montreal’s cleanest scoring chance of the night.
What it showed was that even the Canadiens’ sixth defenceman has the versatility to impact the game in several ways.
Oh, the 24-year-old has been a lightning rod for debate in these parts this season. He’s been short-shifted, used sporadically, sometimes not used at all, and the discussion around that has centred on perceived friction between him and Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis, despite both player and coach defining the dynamic between them as father-son.
In truth, Xhekaj’s limited time on ice has been as much about a defence corps that’s as deep and strong as any in the league as it has been his own foibles.
“I take our seven guys over anyone in the league,” said Nick Suzuki after scoring two goals and registering an assist to get to 62 points in Game 54 of the season.
On Thursday, six of those seven—with Jayden Struble watching on from the press box—made that statement feel… well… not quite as hyperbolic as it sounded.
It helped that Devon Toews missed this game for the Avalanche.
With him healthy, Middleton wouldn’t have been playing, and the Canadiens would’ve had to also contend with one other threat on top of Cale Makar (a defenceman trending towards GOAT status), Sams Girard and Malinsky, Brent Burns and Josh Manson.
If you’re wondering why this team is up at least seven points on the next-best one in the standings, look no further than that magnificent group.
They’re mobile and in constant motion. They’re physical and imposing. And they can all mix and match with each other to create different combinations that’ll give their opponents as hard a night as they’ll face in this league.
You match that with experience, the explosive offensive talent Nathan MacKinnon and co. have up front, and two good goaltenders, and you have the makings of the singular Stanley Cup contender for this season.
The Canadiens, just like everyone else, will need time to catch up in nearly every department.
Except for one.
“Mike Matheson is very mobile, but he’s very physical, too,” said St. Louis earlier on Thursday. “Lane is very mobile, and he’s very physical too, (though) not the same way. So, I think you’ve got to be both, and when you’re both, you’re hard to play against on both sides. I feel our D plays with a lot of pace. Defensive pace, but offensive pace, too. We’re not just a finesse D-core. I feel like we have a great mix of not just players, but those players themselves can do a lot of things. Like, an (Alex Carrier) can defend well, he’s got good enough feet, he can be physical, but he also can keep the offence going, too.”
That’s what Carrier did to put this game out of reach in the third period.
Late in the 42nd minute of play, he took a heavy hit behind his own net and bounced back up. Early in the 43rd minute of play, the same thing happened. But he stuck to his man in both instances and helped transition the puck away from the Canadiens’ end.
And then, less than three minutes later, Carrier rushed the length of the ice to score the goal that put this game out of reach, to finish a shift that started with him blocking a three-on-two pass from MacKinnon to Martin Necas.
Those guys spent the whole night frustrated by Matheson and Kaiden Guhle, who were paired together to neutralize them and did their job to perfection.
St. Louis took Noah Dobson away from Matheson and watched as Dobson took advantage of his first offensive-zone start of the night to score his 10th goal of the season.
It came 56 seconds into the game, after partner Lane Hutson walked right down the middle of the ice and gave up a clean look at a shot from the slot to offer Dobson an open net.
By the end of the night, those two were each plus-2, despite each being on the ice for at least one goal against. That plus was representative of how they defended together, but also of how they forced the Avalanche to defend with Matheson and Guhle taking the toughest matchup.
“I really like what we have back there and, depending on matchups, we’re able to change things up,” said St. Louis. “And I think the guys are comfortable with that. They understand why we’re doing it…
“When you put Lane and Dobber together, they’re probably going to get more offensive touches, so to speak, but they still need to defend when it’s time to defend. Same thing with Mike and Guhles. When their assignment is to neutralize guys on the other side, they can still play offence. So it’s not like we’re just, ‘You play at that end, and these guys play at that end.’ We just play hockey.”
Like the Avalanche, the Canadiens can do that.
They have lethal forwards and offensive depth, too.
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Suzuki isn’t quite MacKinnon, but he’s good enough to be playing alongside him with Team Canada at the Olympics next month.
Barring injury to another player, Cole Caufield won’t be there for Team USA. But he’s as dangerous as they come, even if he was held out of the goal column to end a six-game streak Wednesday.
Ivan Demidov had two more assists, though, to get to 45 points and recapture the lead in the rookie scoring race. And former first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky scored his 20th goal of the season after the goals from Evans, Dach and Carrier came.
Behind all of them, Jakub Dobes earned his fifth straight win.
He made 26 saves—a handful of them were world-class—and was fortunate to have the defence step up in front of him.
Guhle played a team-high 22:56, interrupted briefly by a vicious hit from Manson.
He left, and then returned a shift later before delivering one of the most punishing hits of the year on Artturi Lehkonen.
With Matheson beside him, Guhle was the best version of himself.
Dobson and Hutson showed why they should maybe be paired together more often. They’ve played only 143 minutes side-by-side, but they’ve formed one of the most potent combinations in the league over that time—with a 64.9 per cent expected goals to show for it.
And then there’s Carrier, who now has five goals in his last nine games.
“He’s obviously someone that’s very trustworthy and can be a little bit of a Swiss Army Knife and support a lot of different pairing options and stuff like that,” said Matheson. “Definitely a kind of wears-his-heart-on-his-sleeve type of guy. He’s willing to sacrifice. All those great things that make a great teammate and make a great team, the more you have of that.”
Xhekaj has that, too, and the guts to pick a fight with a six-foot-six, 240-pounder in Middleton.
At least he tried to give this Montreal-Quebec thing a proper ending.
