Martin St-Louis is still searching for the right mix, and Thursday night against the Nashville Predators showed both how close the Canadiens are and how much remains unsettled.
The coach did make changes, even if the result wasn’t the one Montreal wanted. Since the start, he’s been trying to settle on the right combination, but the plan keeps getting interrupted.
Oliver Kapanen was supposed to return at second center, but he wasn’t available. Then, after just two games, Ivan Demidov had to step away because of an injury.
One move St-Louis could lean on was restoring Juraj Slafkovsky alongside Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. That trio looked comfortable right away, almost like they had never been separated. They ended up helping generate the Canadiens’ first goal, though it came at four-on-four and Slafkovsky was not on the ice for it.
Another change gave Montreal a different kind of energy. Putting Chris Kreider with Alex Newhook and Josh Anderson created a fast, aggressive line that hounded the puck.
Kreider and Anderson are both big bodies, and when they’re coming at you with speed behind your own net, that’s trouble. That pressure led directly to Anderson stripping Adam Wilsby and setting up Newhook in front for the second goal.
The group also had a Kreider goal wiped out early because of a missed offside call.
St-Louis liked what that unit brought. “A lot of pace, heavy forecheck, physical.”
He also said they use their feet on both sides of the puck and that when they’re out there, the opposition has very little room. In his words, it’s a disrupting line.
The coach also kept Zachary Bolduc, Phillip Danault, and Alexandre Texier together on his third line, and he made clear that wasn’t accidental. “I really like Danault’s line so far, what I’ve seen, and tonight what I’ve seen with Kreider, Newy and Andy together.
So, it’s a puzzle, you know, that’s going to take its form, and it can change; it’s so volatile. Some things you can’t control, so you have to reshape the puzzle.
I liked the intention we had going in and what it looked like.”
He described that group as a possession line that can help extend time in the offensive zone, while still being capable of forechecking. Bolduc has started strongly, bringing plenty of jump to his game, and he seems to have carried lessons from playoff-style hockey into the early part of the season.
St-Louis said they didn’t have passengers in that game, but he was less revealing about the fourth line. Florian Xhekaj, Jake Evans, and Kirby Dach made up that unit, though the ice time told part of the story.
Xhekaj played just 6:24, mostly because he doesn’t kill penalties or work the power play. Dach logged 7:42, including 1:05 on the man advantage.
On paper, Dach does not look like a fourth-liner. But game after game, his performance keeps pointing in that direction, even if it leaves the line without a clear identity. No matter where St-Louis places him, it seems difficult to make the fit clean.
So the picture is coming together, but two key pieces are still absent, and they’re the ones the coach would most like to get back. Even so, the Canadiens aren’t in the worst spot. The Florida Panthers have already lost Aleksander Barkov for six to eight weeks and Brad Marchand for an unknown period of time.
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What makes this one stand out is the backdrop around his arrival, which has turned the Canadiens home date into more than just another test on the schedule. TVA Sports reporter Anthony Martineau noted the growing conversation around how Larkin might be received in Canada, and whether the atmosphere inside the building could end up mattering beyond one night at the rink. [Read more 🡒]