The Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers clashed at Madison Square Garden Thursday night in a tilt with more implications for the visitors than the home squad. The Rangers, having already been eliminated, played without much life through the first two periods, then made the match interesting in the third with greasy goals on Jacob Fowler that jolted Montreal out of their two-nothing lead stupor. Montreal won the game on a Cole Caufield shot that Igor Shesterkin would want back every day of the week, exemplifying precisely the type of season the Blueshirts have had this year.
The overall pace of the game was slanted in favour of Montreal, a factor that has not been the case over the rest of the road trip. Despite the third-period scare, Montreal came away with another two critical points in a 3-2 victory and did not break under the pressure of losing the lead. They kept their composure – including the head coach – and focused on the task at hand: draw up a play and get the puck in Caufield’s hands. A winning play, it appears, as once more Caufield’s marker was the difference between victory and two lost points.
Montreal’s Lines
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Kapanen – Demidov
Bolduc – Evans – Anderson
Veleno – Danault – Gallagher
Hutson – Struble
Matheson – Dobson
Guhle – Xhekaj
Jacob Fowler
10 Thoughts
1) The first few minutes of the match were endured by the scattered fans in attendance (plenty of red was visible from the overhead angle) as both teams worked their way into the game with icings and choppy plays in the neutral zone. Around the 12-minute mark, as Montreal was beginning to string some shifts together in the offensive zone, Juraj Slafkovsky was struck by the mighty whistle of the officials, a force truly known for its integrity and reliability. While carrying the puck and fighting off his defender, the young Slovakian got his stick shaft into the cheek area of Vladislav Gavrikov, apparently enough to draw blood and cause a four-minute power play for the Rangers.
2) An early clear for the penalty killers nearly sprung Joe Veleno but the puck was just ahead of him as he skated through the neutral zone. Jacob Fowler was solid during the first two minutes in the three shots, and was positioned perfectly to check Mika Zibanejad. The Rangers came streaking back in after another clear and passed around Montreal’s defenders, but could not hit the net on two deflections and loose pucks with at least half of the net available. Noah Dobson got his stick on J.T. Miller’s to stymie a cross-crease pass, and Will Cuylle rattled the crossbar as the penalty expired.
3) Montreal drew an advantage of their own shortly thereafter; Oliver Kapanen took the hook from Noah Laba as he tried to cross the middle of the slot. The top power play unit whipped the puck around the zone with one-touch passes and nearly scored immediately when Ivan Demidov sent the puck to Cole Caufield at the far post, but the 47-goal-scorer put the puck back into Shesterkin’s pads. The second unit struggled to get anything going, and the Rangers capitalized on turnovers and unsupported rushes along the boards by clearing the puck back down to Fowler. Just as the penalty expired and five-on-five play resumed, a deflected shot got up into Josh Anderson’s face, drawing the whistle when he collapsed. Following the TV timeout, Anderson remained on the bench, seemingly without permanent damage.
4) To end the period, Mike Matheson early knocked a loose puck into the net behind Fowler after Cuylle nutmegged Dobson cutting in from the right wall, and Fowler had to actually make the pad save on Conor Sheary when a bouncing puck came to him at the goal line. With zeroes on the board in the hit column for most Rangers, Montreal enjoyed a much more laid-back period than in Tampa Bay on Tuesday but had blown opportunities to get ahead by at least one.
5) A close-up view of Anderson’s face to start the second period showed the extent of the damage and Anderson’s own “hockey guy” aura. A sizable purple and red blotch of bruising was sported across his right cheek, but it did not keep him from pursuing pucks and feeding Zach Bolduc for a two-on-one. Lane Hutson’s one-timer failed to beat Shesterkin, but Alex Newhook’s snapshot did. Newhook won a faceoff to Shesterkin’s right to Oliver Kapanen, who tied up his man and made space for Demidov. Newhook blocked a pass toward the middle from the Rangers and Demidov picked it up at the top of the circle, carried for a moment, then fed Newhook with a perfect lateral pass.
6) The top line hit the ice after the goal and immediately imposed its will. Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Caufield connected for Caufield’s 48th goal of the season, but it was Arber Xhekaj’s hard hit below the goal line to keep the play alive in the zone. With the puck still moving near the goal line, Caufield was nearby and whipped the loose puck to Slafkovsky opposite him in the far corner. Slafkovsky held on for a moment, then dropped the puck off for Caufield who crossed behind him and then himself sent the puck to Kaiden Guhle at the point. Guhle waited, then took a shot into the crowd that got deflected back out to the previous corner, and Suzuki was first out of the scrum to retrieve. The captain rang the puck behind the net and Slafkovsky made a prescient one-touch pass through his legs into the middle of the ice, where Caufield blasted the puck into the top left corner, demoralizing the Rangers even further in the period.
7) During another gritty shift, Bolduc took a high stick from Will Borgen as a result of swinging his arm out wide and dragging it into his own face, similarly to a scuba diver retrieving their lost regulator. Montreal’s first power play unit continued to dart the puck around the zone and stretch New York’s defenders, but a hot pass and rolling puck lost them possession and the zone. Demidov was driven into the post on a rush to end the next play, but no further call was made and the second unit fared no better with their 45 seconds of opportunity.
8) With approximately 6:30 remaining, Demidov hopped onto the ice and skated the width of the rink before realizing he was the sixth man in white. He sat in the box for the too many men minor, and Phillip Danault earned a quick shorthanded chance after winning the faceoff in his own zone. Montreal had a scare when the Rangers pounced on a broken play and tried to hit the far side on a stretching Fowler, but hit the side of the net instead. Fowler was there for the stop on the next play, extending his right pad to stonewall a glorious opportunity by Alexis Lafreniere on the backdoor. Fowler kicked out the left pad again on a Miller chance with two minutes to go as the Rangers played a relentless forechecking shift that pinned Montreal’s top line in their own zone to finish the period.
9) The Rangers finally got on the board after exchanging glancing chances and rushes throughout the first eight minutes of the third period. Their top line crashed the net after working the puck around the perimeter, and without a freeze, the puck was able to bounce out to the open flank. Adam Fox crept down from the blue line and jumped on the loose puck when it appeared, sending a looping wrist shot into the open cage above a downed Fowler. New York doubled down in the third period when Cuylle again drove into Fowler following up on a shot into his pads from Jonny Brodzinski. Dobson failed to close off and box out his man during the rush, leaving plenty of gap for Cuylle to force the issue on net and unmoor Fowler enough for the puck to squeak through his pads. Montreal called timeout to ponder a challenge for interference but opted not to do so.
10) With 5:05 left in the third period, Cole Caufield struck like lightning. Suzuki won the faceoff in his own zone to Fowler’s right, and Matheson quickly shot the puck behind Fowler and around the length of the boards. Caufield had already vacated the zone and caught the puck in stride along the bench area in the neutral zone before carrying into the zone with pace. He took a few strides, then cut to the middle and flipped the puck to himself before firing a delightfully light wrist shot between Shesterkin’s legs and putting Montreal back ahead. Fowler had to be sharp as the Rangers pulled their own goaltender with two minutes to go, but couldn’t break through the shot-blocking and clearing machines of Guhle and Matheson and Dobson.
HW Habs 3 Stars
1st Star: Cole Caufield
What can we say? Goal Caufield truly is Montreal’s star this season, reaching 49 goals on Thursday and nipping at the heels of the former Hart winner that is also twice his size. When the Canadiens need a goal, he is there to score, and usually with a flair unmatched in many years. Will Caufield have another season as good as this one has been? Who knows. What we do know is that we wouldn’t trade him for anyone else in the league these days or anytime in the future just because of what he has already done.
Stats: 2 goals, +2 rating, 7 shots, 16:20 TOI
2nd Star: Jacob Fowler
Capping his night off with massive saves at the end of the third period, Fowler was instrumental in maintaining Montreal’s lead during the game. Despite a modicum of unsteadiness during the third period as enormous forwards came skating towards his head that let a couple of pucks dribble through his pads, Fowler was positionally sound and lightning fast down low. He made the saves he needed to at the right times to either keep the lead or give Montreal one more shift to re-establish their dominance in the game.
Stats: 21 SV, 2 GA, .913 SV%
3rd Star: Juraj Slafkovsky
Without Caufield, Montreal is not in the position they are. Without Slafkovsky, the Canadiens may not even have the shape of their identity that they play with each game. This incredibly driven and enthusiastic young player was drafted first overall in the tailwind of a rebuild and did nothing but keep moving forward – often headfirst – and build his game. He will undoubtedly be one of the NHL’s premier power forwards before long, and he is on every other team’s whiteboard as a point of focus to shut down in order to keep Montreal wrangled.
Stats: 1 assist, +2 rating, 4 PIMS, 2 shots, 1 block, 20:38 TOI