Call of the Wilde: Injured Montreal Canadiens rally but New York Rangers prevail
Call of the Wilde: Injured Montreal Canadiens rally but New York Rangers prevail
It was a difficult night for the Montreal Canadiens to keep the winning streak alive. The New York Rangers visited the Bell Centre Saturday, but that wasn’t the big challenge – it was that the club suffered three injuries in the Nashville Predators game.
Kaiden Guhle is gone for four to six weeks with a lower-body injury. Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach are also out with lower-body injuries, but listed as day-to-day. Joe Veleno drew in for Dach, and Owen Beck was an emergency call-up for Laine.
The substitutes were good, but the Canadiens goalie struggled in a 4-3 Rangers win.
The forward injuries forced alignment changes for Head Coach Martin St. Louis. The first power play unit remained the same, but the loss of Dach and Laine meant someone had to help the second unit. It was a stroke of genius that the head coach simply put his best player on both units.
Nick Suzuki and Ivan Demidov finally got a chance to play together, and the results were immediate. On the first shift together, Demidov was on his usual right-hand side as a left-hand shot. He found Suzuki on his off-side as well for a one-timer and an easy goal.
Only 93 seconds in, it was Cole Caufield leading a two-on-one with Juraj Slafkovsky. Caufield is the goal scorer, so he received so much attention that a pass to Slafkovsky was wide open. Credit to Slafkovsky as he one-timed the pass. Any goal scorer worth his salt knows that a one-timer is a must.
The goal for the last three seasons for Slafkovsky has been faster, faster, faster. There’s no time to glide and think. The objective is skate and react. When we see Slafkovsky processing the game at higher speeds, that’s when the size will make him unstoppable.
The Canadiens were off to a quick two-goal lead in the most wide-open game of the week. Veleno looked strong in his first game. He has the footprint that the Canadiens head coach wants. He’s a fast skater and makes decisions at top speeds. When all the forwards are healthy, it would be a difficult call who to sit instead of Veleno, but he deserves a spot based on this look.
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