Starting off a Super Bowl weekend back-to-back, the Montreal Canadiens were hosting the Central Division leaders in the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon. Though the Habs hold a win over the Stars from their most recent meeting, it was of the variety requiring insane goaltending from Samuel Montembeault. Far more important than winning for the Habs would be showing that they can skate with a team like the stars, and keep it close without relying so heavily on goaltending.
They were able to do that this time around, and while they still had to get some solid goaltending, it was the top line that really helped keep the game close.
Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky have established themselves as a trio to be reckoned with. Even against a true contender like the Stars, they were excellent, finishing the game with an expected goals-for of 66.84% at even strength. To have success like this even with a relatively weak lineup behind them is very impressive. They’re the offensive focal point for the Habs every game, opposing teams are well aware of it, and they still can’t keep them from finding the net.
Caufield is now on an 11-game point streak, suddenly appearing as a very capable playmaker, racking up assists left and right. Slafkovsky is on a four-game streak of his own, with four goals and five points in that span. Suzuki has nine points in his last give games, 13 in his last 10, and stands poised to set yet another career-high if his nearly 80-point pace holds up. They’re on a wild hot streak even though they’re playing on a team ravaged by injuries in the lineup below them. They’re the real deal.
And it should be noted that they’re really just getting started. They’ve only played parts of this season together, and appear to be getting better as a unit the more time they spend as one. If the return of Alex Newhook provides some more secondary threat, which appears to be likely, we could just be seeing the tip of the iceberg for the top line.
Their chemistry is about the best possible news this team could get for the rebuild other than winning the draft lottery this offseason. Having a reliable top line is extremely important in building a winning team, and they have that right now. Once the team gets healthy, and makes some other additions around them, it should be interesting to see how far they can take it.
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