This was a gutsy win, earned on the second half of a back-to-back, against a rested Dallas Stars team, and it showed just how well the pieces have fallen into place for the Montreal Canadiens.
If it wasn’t obvious through the first six games of this road trip, over which the Canadiens collected eight of 12 available points in the standings, it was crystal clear after they earned two more points in this final game. There’s flow to their lineup, roles have been well-designated and are being properly filled, special teams are coming up clutch at key moments, and the goaltenders are doing their jobs.
On Sunday, it was Samuel Montembeault. He stopped 24 of 27 shots to earn his second win in as many starts on this trip.
Jacob Fowler and Jakub Dobes each went 1-0-1 in their starts, further proving the extent to which balance has been achieved in all areas.
It’s that balance that enabled the Canadiens to win 4-3 in Dallas and cap a 4-1-2 record on this long trip segmented by the short Christmas break.
“You have 20 players in uniform, and it’s been rare that any of them have been passengers,” Martin St. Louis said to reporters at American Airlines Arena.
That was right after the coach said, “We’ve been giving ourselves a chance, and it’s because of our intentions. I find we’re organized, we’re connected, and we’re bringing the attitude and staying on task. We haven’t played any perfect games, but we’re playing good hockey in general. I’d say it’s pretty much that. It’s not one thing.”
It’s many.
It’s the emergence of a second line after more than a year of searching for one; the sudden semblance of a third line since losing one before the start of the season; the timely power-play goals and penalty kills; the big saves, like the hat trick denying one from Montembeault on Wyatt Johnston in overtime; and the big plays from Lane Hutson.
He scored the game-winner Sunday after notching the 35th assist of his season—the 97th assist of his 126-game career—on the power-play goal Juraj Slafkovsky scored to make it 3-2 in the 39th minute of play.
That was Slafkovsky’s second point of the game, making it his fifth multipoint game of the road trip, which he finished with five goals, six assists and a plus-6 rating.
Slafkovsky’s line, with rookies Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen, was Montreal’s best in the game by the numbers. Heck, his line, which is Montreal’s second, was the Canadiens’ best on this road trip—outscoring the opposition 8-2 while running positive numbers in nearly every advanced statistical category at five-on-five.
Over the final two games of the trip, Brendan Gallagher, Phillip Danault and Zachary Bolduc handily won their matchups, controlling 61 per cent of the shot attempts and earning 59 per cent of the expected goals. They deserved more than just the one that got the Canadiens on the board in Dallas.
Gallagher had six shots on net in a 2-0 loss to the Blues Saturday and followed it up by scoring on one of eight shot attempts he had against the Stars.
You think he was happy to be back with Danault?
“It’s been a lot of fun, obviously,” Gallagher said. “Some of our best years were together…He’s a very easy player to play with. I understand the way he thinks the game, and he does a lot of things to help, so it’s been nice.”
Danault has clearly enjoyed it, too.
The 32-year-old centre came to the Canadiens after 30 tough games with the Kings feeling miserable. He had produced zero goals and five assists and talked about how he had lost all relevance to the Kings.
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But after six games with the Canadiens, Danault must be feeling very important.
If he wasn’t before registering an assist on Gallagher’s goal, which would’ve been his had it not clipped Gallagher’s leg in front of Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, he must’ve been after digging deep to win the overtime face-off that led to Hutson’s game winner.
Danault pulled back 10 of 15 against the Stars to improve to 59 per cent in his six games with the Canadiens. They’ve killed off 78 per cent of their penalties over that time, with Danault helping them fill a major void left by Jake Evans, who got injured the day after Danault was traded for.
Joe Veleno, Owen Beck, Samuel Blais and Alex Texier have done their part to help fill the other holes left by injuries to Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach, Patrik Laine and Josh Anderson, while Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble and Adam Engstrom made a big contribution to the Canadiens win in Carolina without Mike Matheson.
Those three defencemen aren’t solely responsible for it, but they’ve helped the Canadiens accumulate 19 of the 23 wins they’ve notched without Kaiden Guhle.
The six-foot-three, 202-pounder has missed all but five games this season, but he could be back for the next one the Canadiens play.
It’ll be against Calgary, on Wednesday, at the Bell Centre, where the Canadiens will be lauded by their fans for the team they’ve been over their last two weeks away from home.
The Canadiens netted a 4-1-2 record over that time to get to 23-13-6, and they did it with the pieces of their lineup—and their game—falling correctly into place.
