Montreal Canadiens vs. Minnesota Wild
How to watch
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Wild region: Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Wisconsin Extra
Streaming: ESPN+
There was an air of optimism surrounding the Montreal Canadiens as the NHL entered the second week of its regular season. The Habs had taken three out of a possible four points in their first two games. More importantly, they looked visibly better than a year prior. Kent Hughes’s off-season acquisitions hit the ground running — Alex Newhook notched a pair in game one, while Tanner Pearson hit the twine in game two. The youngsters, from Juraj Slafkovsky to Arber Xhekaj to Kaiden Guhle, all looked more poised and confident with and without the puck. Finally, Cole Caufield was doing Cole Caufield things. It might not be Auston Matthews’s 164-goal pace, but 82 isn’t such a bad consolation.
Sure, there were still problems and growing pains: a couple of softies from Jake Allen, the top line not quite firing at even strength, David Savard spending a little too much time learning to swim on ice, Brendan Gallagher looking like a shadow of his old self, and general issues when it came to holding leads. Still, the fact remained that the Habs started the week having only trailed for 5:10 — best in the league.
Monday morning has a way of ruining things.
The team announced that Kirby Dach, anchor of the team’s best line so far, would be out long-term with a “significant” lower body injury. Further rumours that the injury could be a season-ending ACL and MCL tear surfaced in the late afternoon. The ramifications of Dach’s absence were immediately felt, as head coach Martin St-Louis announced that Newhook would be moving from wing to centre to compensate. Further, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard is reportedly moving from the fourth to the first line, Josh Anderson is likely dropping to the second, and Michael Pezzetta will slot into the lineup in a fourth-line role. At this juncture, it looks like only the third line of Pearson, Gallagher, and Sean Monahan will remain intact for the upcoming tilt with the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild, however, will not be shedding any tears for the home team. Long known for their team defence, Tuesday’s visitors suffered a serious blow in the pre-season as captain and defensive linchpin Jared Spurgeon went down with an upper-body injury. Spurgeon, currently listed as week-to-week, was sorely missed on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In a game that Minnesota controlled the balance of play at five-on-five, the Leafs put seven past Filip Gustavsson due to a combination of defensive lapses and poor discipline.
Alex Goligoski, in particular, drew the ire of head coach Dean Evason. In the lineup because of Spurgeon’s injury, the veteran admitted to telling referee Dan O’Rourke to “make an effing call.” For his trouble, O’Rourke sent Goligoski to the penalty box at 6:43 of the third period, with the Wild only down by one at the time and pushing the Leafs on their heels. The Wild spared Goligoski’s blushes temporarily by killing off the penalty, but the momentum had turned. Calle Jarnkrok scored a minute after the penalty expired. Thirty seconds later, Matthews completed his second hat-trick in as many games. Ninety seconds after that, William Nylander made it 7-3. Game over.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Wild |
|---|---|---|
| 1-0-1 | Record | 1-1-0 |
| 43.4% (27th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 40.7% (29th) |
| 4.00 (8th) | Goals per game | 3.00 (18th) |
| 3.50 (18th) | Goals against per game | 3.50 (21st) |
| 16.7% (19th) | PP% | 20.0% (14th) |
| 81.8% (17th) | PK% | 66.7% (25th) |
| 0-2-0 | Head-to-head record (’22-23) | 2-0-0 |
Goligoski may have committed the most obvious mistake, but the Leafs also exposed the lack of depth on the Wild blue line. Spurgeon aside, Minnesota also lost Mathew Dumba and John Klingberg from their 2022-23 playoff roster. They replaced them for this year with Goligoski and Calen Addison, neither of whom played in last year’s post-season, and Jon Merrill, who was a routine healthy scratch. Saturday night, Brock Faber, playing his fourth NHL game, enjoyed a phenomenal outing (+3 in a three-goal loss) next to long-time stalwart Jonas Brodin. Behind them, Addison was on the ice for two goals against, Goligoski and Merrill for three, and Jake Middleton for four.
During the game itself, Minnesota was resorting to a tactic Montreal fans know well: sheltering Goligoski and Merrill by splitting up the pairing and playing them with Brodin and Faber. To further complicate matters going forward, according to long-time Wild reporter Michael Russo, the Wild’s salary cap situation allows them only one option to replace Goligoski — 29-year-old journeyman Dakota Mermis. The more likely option for Evason is to reshuffle the cards already in his hand, something that the head coach already hinted at in his post-game scrum in Toronto.
However, Mermis will likely be in the lineup for Tuesday anyway. Star forward Matt Boldy will be unable to play, as the 22-year-old is week-to-week after sustaining an injury from a check by Morgan Rielly. Rather than recalling someone from the AHL, the Wild are expected to go with seven defencemen and 11 forwards — a move that Russo believes will allow the team to double-shift the electric Kirill Kaprizov.
Make no mistake, for all of the concerns about their blue line, the Wild are still a legitimate playoff contender trying to push themselves to the next step. A team with Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, and Joel Eriksson Ek. A team with a strong veteran presence that will be keen to show that Toronto was simply an anomaly.
A team that Montreal has not beaten since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tuesday will be a good sign of just how much the Canadiens have (or haven’t) closed the gap.
