It would be difficult to call the Montreal Canadiens’ season a disappointment, even if that’s the emotion invoked by the team’s 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night. Luckily, the bright side was easy to see in the five games against the Caps.
There’s a reason that management wanted this team to play important games through March and April, and a reason they wanted this team to be “in the mix.” All of those moments are opportunities to learn. And nothing shows Martin St-Louis’s commitment to teaching and learning moments more than the Montreal Canadiens’ power play and how it became the brightest spot of the Habs’ final three games.
Losing Patrik Laine after Game 2 was a double-edged sword for the Habs. His 20 goals in 52 games are undeniable, but Laine’s hot shot had cooled by the end of the season, scoring just 0.22 goals per game through the final 14 games of the regular season, compared to his 0.45 in the previous 38. This was possibly due to the unconfirmed hand injury that took him out of Games 3, 4, and 5 [per Karine Hains].
Losing Laine meant Montreal lost its number-one option on PP1, but it also meant opportunities for two different forwards.
Cole Caufield graciously gave up the office he was quickly getting accustomed to when Laine arrived this season, and rightly so. Laine’s shot is that of legend, while Caufield’s ceiling for opportunistic offence is significantly higher than that of the 6’4″ Finn. While Caufield may have been able to play the new role asked of him for the majority of the season, the statistics say that he probably would have preferred to be in his office.
While Laine was out in the fall, Caufield scored seven power-play goals in 23 games. Laine returned on December 3, and Caufield only managed three power-play goals in the remaining 59 games. With Laine sidelined, Caufield could retake his spot at the left circle and provide the Habs with a different set of tools than Laine could, with one in common.
The hole in the power play also gave an opportunity to someone else: Ivan Demidov. In the four games that Demidov played with Laine in the lineup, the Russian phenom slotted into the second unit, which he immediately became the driving force of. With Laine gone, Demidov was bumped up into the spot that Caufield had just vacated, the right circle. St-Louis was willing to go all-in on youth, something he’s never shied away from, but this was when it mattered most. During the biggest games of the year, he was betting on the kids.
We saw our first look at the new PP1 in Games 3 and 4. The unit had an average age of 21.6, the youngest of any playoff team (the Ottawa Senators are the next closest, with an average age of 23.8 on their top unit).
The result? Four power-play goals on home ice, and the Habs went 4/11 in the series’ final three games, a clip of 36%. Demidov assisted on two of those four goals and was impossible to ignore on the right side, giving Hutson another option to incorporate in his plays. The special teams also shone in Wednesday’s loss to the Capitals, and though the Habs didn’t get the desired results, it certainly wasn’t for a lack of chances generated by the young talent.
Though fans and players alike certainly can’t help but feel disappointed, it’s impossible to look at this series as a whole and not feel anything but optimism. The kids are alright, and St-Louis knows better than anyone that the only way from here is up.
Post-game, he spoke about the joy he experiences in watching his young players grow. I think the coach will be a happy man for the next few years.
