The Canadiens’ start has been a strange mix of promising hockey and frustrating endings. Montreal hasn’t looked outclassed, and it certainly hasn’t lacked for chances. The problem is that so many of those good moments have vanished in the details, leaving the club seventh in the Atlantic Division.
Over the last four games, the Canadiens have piled up shot after shot and still come away with too little to show for it. Against the Nashville Predators on Oct.
8, Montreal fired 33 shots on target in a 5-2 loss. Cole Caufield led the way with six shots, Juraj Slafkovsky had four, and neither managed to score.
Caufield finished minus-1 and Slafkovsky minus-2, with two empty-net goals making the final line look even rougher.
The next game, against the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 10, was less about misses and more about goals that never counted. Montreal put 30 shots on net in a 1-0 shootout win, but three Canadiens goals were disallowed, including one in overtime.
None of the calls should have stood, but the larger point was clear: the puck was around Detroit’s net plenty often enough to make this one interesting. Caufield had six shots again and still didn’t score a goal that counted.
Then came Buffalo on Oct. 13, when Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen took over. He stopped 35 of 38 shots and delivered a series of highlight-reel saves in a game that Montreal might have won if not for a key block with seconds left in regulation. The Canadiens created enough to force the issue, but Luukkonen slammed the door.
The trend continued in Washington on Oct. 14, even in a 5-4 loss that saw Montreal score four goals in regulation on 30 shots. Charlie Lindgren answered with some huge stops, including a remarkable rebound save on a Chris Kreider chance in the middle frame.
The shot total kept climbing. The results did not.
All told, Montreal put 131 shots on net across those four games and scored nine times, which works out to a 6.87 percent shooting efficiency. That number gets a little better when you include the five-goal outing against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 3, bringing the overall rate to 10.5 percent.
Even that would still rank no better than 23rd in the NHL. Last season, the Canadiens finished second at 12.9 percent.
One of the more encouraging signs for Montreal is that the offense is not coming only from the usual names. Josh Anderson has been one of the club’s most productive players this month, with six points - four goals and two assists - and he has also been denied by goaltenders several times in these games. Zachary Bolduc has continued to force his way into the conversation, sitting fifth on the team in scoring with five points, including three goals and two assists, and a plus-2 rating.
That production matters because some of Montreal’s other pieces are either quiet or limited. Ivan Demidov has been dealing with an injury since Oct.
- Slafkovsky has one goal and a minus-2 rating.
Caufield has three goals, one assist and a minus-1, solid enough, but not the kind of punch that changes the mood of a game every night.
The goalie situation has become another layer of the discussion. Samuel Montembeault is injured, Jakub Dobes has taken criticism, and Jacob Fowler is drawing plenty of attention.
Dobes’ numbers through four games - a 4.63 goals-against average and an .841 save percentage - are not pretty, and he should have stopped Alex Tuch on that second-period shorthanded chance. At the same time, this has not been a story about the goaltenders alone.
Montreal keeps getting beaten from distance. Nashville scored twice that way, Buffalo three times, and Washington’s winner came in similar fashion.
Those chances are often the product of deflections or screens, which leaves a goalie trying to make a read he can barely see. That’s on the team as a whole, not just the last line of defense.
The encouraging part for Montreal is that this does not feel far off. The numbers are workable.
The eye test is mostly decent. Fowler looks good.
Nick Suzuki looks good. Even with that, the Canadiens are still stuck because the margins keep tilting the wrong way.
Only two of their seven games have been decided by more than one goal, and in both of those cases the separation came through empty-net goals. That’s how thin the line has been for this team so far. The Canadiens are close enough to see what a better record could look like - but not close enough yet to make the fine details work in their favor.
In Other News...
Sabres Escape Road Trip With A Point But One Issue Still Hurts
The Sabres left Montreal with a point after their third straight road game, and there was enough in the performance to suggest the trip was not a total loss. Buffalo managed to rally in the third period to force overtime, and the lineup tinkering along the way gave the coaching staff a few things to sort through, including an early look at Ryan McLeod on the top line with Tage Thompson shifted to the wing. Jack Quinn continued his strong start with a goal and a notable defensive play, while the teams special teams again made life harder than it needed to be.
Still, the bigger concern from the road swing remains the same one that has followed this group for stretches of the season. Buffalo found a way to earn four of six possible points away from home without Rasmus Dahlin, but the power play and penalty kill did not give the club the kind of cushion it needed in a tight game. The late adjustments helped unlock the comeback, yet the Sabres are left knowing there is more work to do if they want those close road nights to turn into wins. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Scoring Surge Cant Hide Buffalos Biggest Early Problem
Buffalos recent offensive uptick has given the Sabres some much-needed life, but it has not been enough to cover up the bigger issue sitting behind it. Even as the goals have started to come more regularly, the overall shape of the team still looks fragile, with the defense struggling to hold up its end and too many chances turning into problems the other way.
The absence of captain Rasmus Dahlin has only sharpened the concern, because Buffalo has looked even less stable without its top defenseman on the ice. Add in the uneven play from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Colten Ellis in net, and the Sabres are left with a familiar early-season dilemma: the scoring can keep them in games, but unless the defensive side improves, it will be hard to make the surge matter in the standings. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Suddenly Have A Goalie Market Twist Worth Watching
A few goaltending ripples around the league suddenly matter to the Sabres, even if the biggest names involved are wearing other sweaters. Connor Hellebuyck is set to become eligible to rejoin Winnipeg after his suspension ends on Oct. 23, and the situation around his return is drawing plenty of attention because the reception has not been universally smooth. For Buffalo, it is the kind of development that can shift the market quickly, especially when clubs are trying to sort out their crease early in the season.
There is also movement elsewhere that could change the way the Sabres shop for help. Dylan Larkin has reportedly asked the Red Wings for a trade, with a deal said to be close, while the Maple Leafs are looking hard for a major defense upgrade and appear willing to pay premium assets to get one. When teams at different points on the contention ladder start making aggressive moves, it tends to create dominoes, and Buffalo has to keep an eye on whether the goalie market becomes more crowded or more expensive in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]