Habs Weekly: Plenty of Milestones

It was a week of milestones for the Habs as several of their core players all set personal bests or reached totals rarely seen in recent years.  On top of that, they managed to pick up three of four wins to give them a shot at home-ice advantage in the first round although they sustained a key injury along the way.

The Week That Was

Apr. 7: Canadiens 4, Panthers 3 (SO) – Considering that Florida’s list of missing regulars was larger than their list of available ones, this should have been a much easier game for the Habs.  It wasn’t.  Instead, Florida led for most of the game and it took some late-game heroics from Montreal to get it to overtime.  With under 30 seconds remaining, Lane Hutson skated into Florida’s zone and managed to get Daniil Tarasov to chase him outside the crease, creating a seam for him to send a pass to Nick Suzuki to tie it up.  After they couldn’t score on the power play in overtime, Cole Caufield and Alexandre Texier scored in the shootout to get the extra point.

Apr. 9: Canadiens 2, Lightning 1 – In a potential (probable?) first-round preview, both teams were intent on sending some messages.  That resulted in more after-whistle scrums than there were scoring chances for a lot of the game.  But the goals were certainly big ones.  Caufield picked up his 50th and for a while, it looked like that would be enough.  Darren Raddysh tied it late but less than a minute later, a turnover behind Tampa Bay’s net allowed Suzuki to set up Juraj Slafkovsky for his 30th of the season; that one held up as the winner.

Apr. 11: Blue Jackets 5, Canadiens 2 – Slow starts have been an issue for the Habs lately and they had largely been getting away with them.  They didn’t in this one.  Columbus was up by two early and really never looked back.  Caufield scored on a tight-angle shot in the power play in the third to make it slightly more interesting but frankly, this was a game the Habs weren’t in almost from the get-go. 

Apr. 12: Canadiens 4, Islanders 1 – Montreal started a little slow again but didn’t pay for it.  Meanwhile, in a must-win game, New York (with Peter DeBoer taking over behind the bench) didn’t have a particularly strong game either.  Then, the Habs had one great minute, scoring three times (the first being Suzuki’s 100th point) to grab a hold of the game.  They played rope-a-dope in the third but only allowed one, allowing them to exit the weekend still having an outside shot at winning the division.

StatPack

Skaters:

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIMS	SOG	ATOI
8	Mike Matheson	4	0	0	-1	6	6	22:47
13	Cole Caufield	4	2	1	+1	0	9	17:55
14	Nick Suzuki	4	2	4	+2	0	10	19:49
15	Alex Newhook	4	1	1	E	0	5	15:48
17	Josh Anderson	4	1	0	E	13	3	13:50
20	Juraj Slafkovsky	4	1	5	E	0	13	19:38
21	Kaiden Guhle	1	0	0	E	0	2	26:05
24	Phillip Danault	4	1	0	E	0	7	14:20
42	Adam Engstrom	3	0	1	E	2	3	14:08
47	Jayden Struble	4	0	0	-2	12	3	16:49
48	Lane Hutson	4	0	4	+3	0	3	26:09
53	Noah Dobson	3	0	1	-1	0	5	20:35
64	David Reinbacher	1	0	1	+1	0	2	11:17
71	Jake Evans	4	0	1	-2	12	3	14:59
72	Arber Xhekaj	4	0	0	-2	6	2	13:12
76	Zachary Bolduc	2	1	1	E	0	1	14:41
77	Kirby Dach	4	0	1	-2	2	2	13:10
85	Alexandre Texier	4	0	0	+1	14	5	12:08
90	Joe Veleno	2	0	0	E	2	1	12:11
91	Oliver Kapanen	4	0	0	E	2	2	11:54
93	Ivan Demidov	4	2	0	E	6	10	16:34

Goalies:

#	Player	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
32	Jacob Fowler	1-0-0	1.00	.970	0
75	Jakub Dobes	2-1-0	2.94	.893	0

Shootout – Skaters:

#	Player	G/ATT
13	Cole Caufield	1/1
85	Alexandre Texier	1/1

Shootout – Goalies:

#	Player	SVS/SF
75	Jakub Dobes	2/2

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (51)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (72)
Points: Nick Suzuki (101)
+/-: Hutson/Suzuki (+37)
PIMS: Arber Xhekaj (116)
Shots: Cole Caufield (248)

News And Notes

– Defenceman Noah Dobson sustained an upper-body injury against Columbus.  He’ll be re-evaluated in two weeks which is not the same as saying he’ll be back in two weeks.  Two weeks from now, they’ll have a better idea of how much longer he’ll be out for (and perhaps if surgery is required).

– David Reinbacher was recalled from Laval as a result.  He made his NHL debut against the Islanders and picked up his first career point.  Adam Engstrom also got his first point earlier in the week.

– Lane Hutson is the third defenceman in Canadiens history to record 75 points.  He’s tied for the most assists by a Montreal blueliner with 66.

– Cole Caufield’s 50th goal was his 30th go-ahead tally of the season, the second-most in league history.  Brett Hull (39) is first.

– Nick Suzuki is the fifth Hab in franchise history to reach 100 points and the first captain to do so.

Last Game’s Lines:

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Texier – Newhook – Demidov
Bolduc – Kapanen – Dach
Evans – Danault – Anderson

Matheson – Guhle
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Reinbacher

The Week Ahead

Tuesday at Philadelphia – At the time of writing, the Flyers have a chance at locking down the third seed in the Metropolitan Division on Monday and if that happens, they’ll likely rest several players.  By then, the Habs will have a better sense of where they could finish which could affect their lineup plans as well.  If the Flyers need a point (or a win), it’ll be Montreal’s third straight game facing a team in a must-win situation.  Porter Martone has been an impactful addition since signing at the end of his college season, collecting seven points in as many games.

The playoffs start this weekend with three games on Saturday and four on Sunday.  Speculatively, with the Habs off on Tuesday (many teams are playing later), they may land one of the Saturday slots.  They’ll find out over the next couple of days who they’ll play against.

Final Thought

Michael Hage’s decision to not turn pro caught a lot of people off guard.  At a time when the team was apparently offering him a chance to burn a year of his contract even though he wasn’t in playing shape, Hage decided to stick with the long-term approach, believing that another full year in college is best for his development.

It’s a surprising decision but one that might be the right one for him in the long run.  He does need to fill out his frame and it’s easier to do that in the NCAA when there are fewer games and more time for the weight room.  That’s not to say he couldn’t fill out in the summer but a more gradual build-up is probably better.  I’m also hoping that he gets to see some defensive minutes to work on that side of his game and help make a better case to stay at centre.  Heck, staying at centre for the full season (he spent a chunk of time on the wing) would also be ideal.

Offensively, there really isn’t much left for Hage to accomplish at the college level.  But if the goal is to really work on his all-around game and get his frame more pro-ready, it could be time well spent next season.  And then, when Michigan is eliminated, he’ll sign and burn a year right away.  Will the one-year delay be worth it?  We’ll have to wait quite a while to find out.