The Montreal Canadiens are piling up wins, and they did it again Saturday night with a 5-4 decision over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre. It wasn’t tidy.
It wasn’t controlled. But it was their fifth straight victory after a four-game road trip that brought home all eight points.
What stood out most was the pace Montreal brought on offence. The Canadiens were buzzing, and the scoring started deep in the lineup.
Florian Xhekaj moved the puck up ice to Owen Beck, who set up Oliver Kapanen for a one-timer and his first goal of the season. Just 24 seconds later, Josh Anderson blasted one into the top corner under the cross bar for the first of his two goals.
Montreal kept the pressure on in the second period, striking twice in 27 seconds. Lane Hutson opened that burst by winning ice and finding an outlet, then delivering a spinerama pass to Alexandre Texier for a beauty.
Right after that, Chris Kreider did what he does best, camping out in front, taking an initial stop, and then sliding in the rebound on his own persistence. That gave the Canadiens four goals in the first half of the game.
The fourth line was a story of its own, especially with Kirby Dach out because he was ill. Florian Xhekaj was a force around the net, Beck delivered a punishing hit, and Kapanen added pressure that made the group a constant nuisance.
That kind of line can matter in a big way, and the Canadiens’ version has a chance to be more than just a checking unit. With Beck and Kapanen both strong defensively, and Florian bringing the edge, there’s some real promise there.
Beck, notably, has the best Expected Goals on the team, even if he still hasn’t earned much respect.
Still, the night had a familiar home-ice problem for Montreal. The Canadiens have looked far more composed on the road, where they won four straight and played with discipline, especially in Dallas.
Aside from a rough third period in St. Louis, they stayed organized, respected the blue line, and didn’t give up many dangerous rushes.
At home, though, it opens up. The Bell Centre gets loud, the pace gets wild, and the Canadiens start taking chances all over the ice.
That showed up in the defensive details. Alexandre Carrier made an extremely ill-advised pinch in the first period, and Arber Xhekaj had a giveaway on the third goal when he tried to flip the puck out but didn’t get enough on it.
Nobody picked up the man after that. The result was a sloppier, more chaotic version of Montreal than the one that has looked so strong away from home.
Jacob Fowler had to deal with the fallout. He allowed four goals on 29 shots, dropping his save percentage from .942 to .932. Even so, his Goals Saved Above Expected rose to a league-leading 10.2.
Not every Montreal line held up. The unit of Alex Newhook with Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky had a rough night after being excellent in Dallas. Against Sidney Crosby’s matchup, they were overwhelmed and finished with just 20 per cent of the Expected Goals share.
Nick Suzuki, meanwhile, remains close to returning.
There was also a broader contract lesson tucked into the night. General managers are always paying for what comes next, not what came before, and the source of that warning was the familiar danger of getting attached to a player’s past. Marc Bergevin once signed Brendan Gallagher to six seasons while emotional about everything Gallagher had already meant to the Canadiens, but that kind of loyalty can turn costly fast.
That idea is now hanging over Tampa Bay, where Julien Brisebois is dealing with the possibility of Nikita Kucherov wanting six years at $20 million per season. At 33, the next six years are not likely to resemble the last 12, and Brisebois understands that. Talks have broken down, and Kucherov has asked for a trade.
Kent Hughes, the Canadiens’ GM, is being viewed through that same lens. Rumour is that Kucherov has Montreal on his ten-team list of cities to accept a trade, but Hughes is not expected to chase that kind of deal.
He already inherited major contracts for Shea Weber, Carey Price, and Brendan Gallagher, and he has shown he understands that a contract has to make sense for the future. The message is simple: Hughes isn’t Bergevin.
In Other News...
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Penguins Just Created A New Opening For Rutger McGroarty
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For the Penguins, the assignment is less about closing the book on McGroarty than keeping him in the mix. He has been productive in the minors across two seasons, and his development remains one of the more interesting subplots on the roster. The open spot in Pittsburgh adds another layer to watch as the team continues to manage its forward group and decide when the next opportunity should come. [Read more 🡒]