Call of the Wilde: Canadiens inch closer to playoffs after OT loss to Maple Leafs

The Montreal Canadiens with another chance to earn a spot in the playoffs in Toronto on Saturday night. They missed an opportunity in Ottawa on Friday. This time, they played considerably better, but could not find a goal in falling 1-0 to the Maple Leafs in overtime.

Wilde Horses

After a poor effort in Ottawa, the Canadiens were considerably tighter on defence. However, that didn’t mean they didn’t have to rely on an outstanding Jakub Dobes. He showed the same fight that he did when he began his NHL career earlier this year.

Dobes fought for his life on many saves. His second effort was the difference on many of Toronto’s opportunities. The Maple Leafs were gifted a third period five-on-three power play and he worked his tail off to keep it scoreless.

That brings us to the penalty kill as it kept Montreal in the game. Jake Evans, and Joel Armia were particularly effective on the kill. Dobes had a goals saved above expected of 3.17. It was a tremendous performance.

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On offense, it was a strong game for Cole Caufield. If anyone was finally going to score, it was Caufield. He looked dangerous. He was hunting the target well.

The Canadiens could not muster a goal, but it was a productive day as the New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings were all eliminated. Only the Blue Jackets remain alive to catch Montreal. The Canadiens still need a win in their final two games or a Columbus loss in their final three games.

Wilde Goats

The hockey code has many good aspects to it. The fact that there are consequences for actions is part of the joy of the game. A little well placed revenge feels good to exact. However, there simply cannot be a hockey code for excellent play leading to be challenged to a fight.

Kaiden Guhle laid out two giant hits in the second period. They were both legal. There wasn’t even a smidgen of wrongdoing to either of the hits. The second hit he levelled John Tavares in a major way when he stepped up to meet him at the blue line and then dropped him. All legal.

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Five seconds later, Guhle was forced to fight Max Domi. This happens with every legal, big hit in the league. It is the actual goal to hit another player effectively. It’s in the mission statement of the sport, so why are there always fights after such a great play?

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Imagine if you would in the National Football League that a player makes an open field tackle to stop the running back in his tracks. The rest of the running back’s teammates don’t then come to seek revenge on the defensive player who made the strong tackle. That would be so ridiculous. How is it not ridiculous in hockey?

Guhle has concussion issues. He is up to three concussions that we know of. He probably has more of them that we don’t know about. When he gets a concussion, Guhle misses a week of playing time, at least. He can’t just keep getting concussions. The long term effects for him will be damaging for both his hockey life, and his life after hockey.

When a player lays out a hit and targets someone’s head, then make him pay for it. That’s the code conducted correctly, but the code of having to answer the bell for a perfectly good hit is a code for dummies.

Juraj Slafkovsky is constantly challenged to put some old habits behind him. The first three years of his career have seen outstanding growth, but there are times that he reverts back to some aspects of his game that he must leave behind or his career will not take off.

Slafkovsky says he wants to be a physical player like Brady Tkachuk, but that is not his instinct. He does not love hitting. It does not come to him without having to consider it first. He would rather just extend his stick and see if he can fish the puck out of a scrum.

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For Slafkovsky to have success, he has to use that big body to get in front of the net where he can’t be moved easily. Slafkovsky will find success with screens, deflections, and creating havoc where the goalie is trying to make a save. The amount of times that he is standing behind the net, or beside it is plentiful evidence of his instincts. Goals aren’t scored from there. Helping someone else to score goals doesn’t happen there.

There are other things that are a little more complex for Slafkovsky like improving his duplicity, but this basic thing is a giant thing. Get physical. Get where it is physical. Your genealogy gave you rare gifts. Get busy using them.

Wilde Cards

Unfortunately, our first chance to see Ivan Demidov on North American ice was not a good one. The Canadiens held only an optional workout, so only the players who didn’t play on Saturday night took to the ice just to keep their skating legs.

That meant only light drills and no real competition for Demidov. One simply cannot make an evaluation of how Demidov looked in that environment Saturday morning. It was too non-competitive. It would be like evaluating the speed of a runner while he is walking.

The expectation has been that Demidov would get his first start on Monday, but that surely can’t be locked in because of the lack of practice with the team and the condensed schedule.

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The Canadiens play the Blackhawks on Monday with still no playoff spot locked up. That also makes it a bit dicey for Head Coach Martin St. Louis who may not want to upset the rhythm of the club with such a distracting change in such a giant game.

In Laval, Jacob Fowler was able to get his professional first start in the net for the Rocket on Saturday. His scoreline looked a lot like his college hockey. Fowler stopped 25 of 26 shots to pick up the win as the Rocket took a 2-1 decision in Syracuse.

Fowler won the Mike Richter award on Friday as the NCAA’s best goaltender this season. Fowler had a .940 save percentage in 35 starts for Boston College.

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