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The Montreal Canadiens needed to show their mettle even more than their talent on Saturday night in Vancouver. The talent wasn’t in question in Edmonton. The Canadiens outplayed the Oilers but lost due to some suspect officiating. The Canadiens wanted to show a robbery wasn’t going to impact their resolve. Montreal had dead legs with a third game in four nights, but they had talent to make up for it. Ivan Demidov counted three points in a 4-3 win. Wilde Horses The moment that Ivan Demidov likely won a spot on the first unit power play for good happened late in the second period. Demidov had a great opportunity to take a shot on net from 12 feet. He faked the shot to freeze Kevin Lankinen. Lankinen squared and bit hard on the fake. Demidov then slid the pass over to Nick Suzuki who had all 24 square feet available to slide it home for his second of the season. Suzuki now has a point in nine straight games since being shutout on opening night. To start the season, Demidov was on the second unit with Zach Bolduc taking the bumper spot on the first unit. With the five on the power play now, the Canadiens don’t have a natural at the bumper position, but if Demidov can make plays on the right side like that on the regular, then they have a far better power play overall. Demidov, Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Lane Hutson is likely the first unit power play for the next seven to 10 years. That moment of magic was only the second chance this group of five has had together. The next time they had a chance on the power play they scored again on more Demidov magic. It was the same scenario, as Demidov had a chance in front. Lankinen thought that he would shoot, but he slid it to a wide open Slafkovsky. It looked so easy. The Canadiens tied it up. Five-on-five, the Canadiens best player was Kirby Dach. It was encouraging to see how strong that Dach was on his skates and how aggressive he was on the puck. In his first game back after the lower-body injury, Dach was tentative. If Dach plays as well as he did in this one, there’s a spot in the line-up for him. It may not be second line centre. In fact, when the Canadiens get even stronger, Dach may move to the wing. He will be useful there with less responsibility. There’s a spot for this Dach in Montreal’s future. Dach didn’t get an assist on the 3-2 goal for Montreal, but he was instrumental as he did the fly-by that created a screen for Mike Matheson to score with a tremendous shot to the top corner. Back to Demidov who had his first three point night as an NHLer. Carrier fed him a one-time opportunity, and this time he didn’t look pass, but fired right away into the top corner. That’s nine points in 10 games for Demidov. It’s certainly looking like a Matthew Schaefer and Demidov battle for the Calder Trophy early this season. In net, Jakub Dobes stopped 28 of 31 shots he faced to solidify his claim as the go-to goalie right now. He made the saves late when the Canucks were pressing to tie it. He looked composed and calm. The extra tension didn’t change his approach. Wilde Goats The Canadiens had absolutely no legs for most of this game, but somehow stayed in it. It was reminiscent of so many Canadiens games against Tampa when Montreal played well, then Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point decided to turn it on and the Lightning went on to win easily. This time it wasn’t Kucherov and Point. It was Demidov and Suzuki. Montreal didn’t play particularly well, but talent usually wins out. The Canadiens now have some. They have seven wins in 10 games this season. Wilde Cards The future of Patrik Laine with the Canadiens took a surprising turn on Saturday afternoon. We learned that Laine was operated on at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York earlier this week. Laine needed surgery to repair a tear of a core muscle in his lower body. Initially, Laine was said to be day-to-day, so learning he needed surgery and will be gone for perhaps as long as four months is a giant blow to his career. The loss of most of the season could not come at a worse time for the Finnish winger. Laine is in his contract season. It’s a time when a player needs his best possible season to entice a team to pay top dollar for as many years as possible. With Laine’s recent history, it is possible that he doesn’t get a solid offer at all. He will certainly take a big pay cut from the $8.7 million annually that he earns now. Laine will return to the line-up in 12 to 16 weeks according to the Canadiens. He will need a final month of the season where he absolutely sparkles, but will the Canadiens have a spot assured for him at that moment? Laine only had one assist in the first five games of the season. He was on the fourth line. Joshua Roy and Owen Beck have not shone with their opportunities to win a full-time job in his absence. If the Canadiens continue to play as well as they have so far, then general manager Kent Hughes is quite likely to attempt to improve the team with a trade. Another high quality forward would make a huge difference to the club. The trading deadline is likely to come before Laine has a chance to prove that he deserves that spot instead of a player coming from another team. It may be that Laine has played his last game as a Canadiens player. That would be a shame for Laine who took this off-season seriously, practicing daily and working hard to be in top shape. Laine has put his best foot forward in Montreal also taking his mental health seriously. He loves Montreal and wants to stay in the cosmopolitan city, but he has not been fortunate. Laine had a serious knee injury before last season even began, and this season he made it only five games. Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
