Coming off a lopsided loss to the St. Louis Blues, the Montreal Canadiens needed something positive from their Tuesday night game against the Anaheim Ducks. Wins aren’t all that important for the Habs at this stage of the season, but finding some positives to build on will be crucial for them through their remaining games. They need to leave this season with some lessons learned, and some positive developments.
Well, Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki put on a show, and they overcame a serious hurdle they’ve been unable to clear this season; holding a lead.
It was hard not to make this BSM subject the exploits of Suzuki and Slafkovsky for what feels like the eighth straight game. They were indispensable in building the lead for their team, and have been on a tear that feels like the start of something special. But we’ve seen this movie too many times this season; the team plays some great hockey, gets some production from their stars, and then set fire to whatever they built by abandoning every good aspect of their play.
But there was none of that this time around. They kept playing, and doing so as if this were a game that truly mattered. This, at least in part because it really does for some of them, who are still trying to solidify their status as NHL players.
Kaiden Guhle sought out a fight with Adam Henrique late in the game, with the fire of someone who had a point to prove. Johnny Kovacevic had a similar tilt with Sam Carrick. The Habs didn’t just score a few goals and hope their goaltender would do the rest, they were fighting, literally and figuratively, until the very end of regulation.
It is tempting to look at the result and go “well, it’s the Ducks, that’s how it should go.” However, the Habs’ inability to hold leads this season hasn’t discriminated in the slightest on the basis of the strength of their opponent. It has felt at times like even against middling AHL rosters, they’d be in trouble the moment they get up by two or three goals. Their early penalty kill in the third period was clutch, and from there it never felt like they were in danger, because they kept playing sound hockey.
Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. While the 5-0 win isn’t something they’re likely to replicate very often from here out, the consistent effort is something they should be able to draw inspiration from. They’re capable of holding a lead, and not falling into the same
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