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There is no bigger challenge for the Montreal Canadiens defensive corps than the Edmonton Oilers coming to the Bell Centre. The Canadiens have played better defensively in their last five games. However, the Oilers can score in bunches.
That's why a 3-0 shutout is the highlight of the season for Montreal. The Canadiens played their most complete game of the year.
Wild horses
After allowing eight goals against each other on Tuesday, there was a dark atmosphere surrounding the Canadiens. They were ashamed. The head coach was disappointed. Some media members wondered if the head coach needed help.
Martin St. Louis felt it was time to get sharper, and while the offense sometimes struggles to score with such an emphasis on defense, overall this better structure will be important for the young defense in the long run.
The Oilers, with some of the best offensive talent in the game, were the big test. Connor McDavid, fresh off his 1,000th career point, was in the mood to get his team going after the struggles it has had this season, but McDavid found an organized Canadiens team defensively.
Nick Suzuki and his linemates have received a lot of criticism this season for sub-par work. The Suzuki line's expected goal share was abysmal: just 33 percent for October. Lately, however, he has been at least 50, and once even had a share of 70.
What about McDavid, though? The expectation was that the Canadiens' top line would get a hockey lesson, but that's not how the evening went. Suzuki had a share of 88 with Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach. This is a remarkable development for a line that was struggling so much.
In the third period, with the Canadiens leading on a goal from Brendan Gallagher, the Oilers needed to tie the game, but the Canadiens kept going. They never retreated for a moment.
For all the whining this season about how bad Suzuki has been, he's at one point per game offensively, and his defense looks similar to last season, when he was in the top ten in the league in the second half.
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Overall, the club has also turned its 33 share in October into a 50 expected goals share in the last five games, including a 58 share against the Oilers. They're figuring it all out. After a beginning where they looked truly lost in their own ending, they now hold their ground.
It should bode well for the group as they gain experience and bring Patrik Laine into the fold. He is skating and it looks like it will be about three weeks before he returns to action.
It was suggested here that the low point of the entire rebuild could be the first two months of this season. It's starting to look like it. It certainly looks like it.
Wild Goats
The second period was perhaps the Canadiens best period of the season, and in the third period they did not give up, but maintained an aggressive stance against the Oilers. They increased the lead on the Kaiden Guhle tally and an empty-netter from Jake Evans.
On a night where many expected the Oilers to put half a dozen on the board, the fact that they were blown out with 30 saves from Montembeault means there is absolutely no goat in this game.
Wild cards
The Montreal Canadiens rebuild is in year three and there appears to be only one hole left. In the field of grid and defense, the solutions are already within the organization.
Jacob Fowler might be the best goalie not in the NHL today. Fowler has been dominating at Boston College since he was 19. There are probably still two or three seasons to go before he takes a shot at the Canadiens roster, but the organization does have an answer in store.
The defense argues that the club does not have a real number one. That can be accepted. There is no Cale Makar in the mix, but there is a viable top four, that is the goal. Pairings of Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher and Kaiden Guhle and Logan Mailloux make the top four look extremely competitive against all the other 20-23 year old defenders in the league. It's just a matter of the four with more experience finding their ceiling.
The goal moving forward is obviously a strong top six full of goals. The top line has competed at the NHL level. Last half of the season, the Nick Suzuki trio with Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield scored 53 goals. That was the top five of the competition.
The goal now is to find three more attackers who certainly belong in the top six. Ivan Demidov should be the most obvious choice for the second line at this point. He has been ranked as the top prospect outside the NHL by ESPN. The other winger from the top six is in a mix of Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook and even Patrik Laine in the short term. The wings are set.
However, the organization lacks a bona fide 1A center with the same or even more talent than Suzuki. Outside of the St. Louis Blues Cup run, finding a champion without a dominant first-line center is a difficult task. Often the center stamps a double-sided full-ice footprint, such as Alex Barkov and Jack Eichel, as recent examples.
Montreal needs that 100-point star, or a dominant shot share winner due to excellence at both ends of the ice. The Canadiens don't have that player yet. It's the biggest hole in the rebuild, and they need to fill that hole before they can jump out of the rebuild.
It will be a big challenge to find that player if he isn't in the draft. While it's always possible to pull off a trade of such significant value, or land an unrestricted free agent in Montreal, the most likely way to get to the final piece of the puzzle is through the draft .
Hope lives. Michael Hage could be that player, but a 21st pick is a 50-50 proposition to make the league, and a gamble to become a star. Owen Beck has had an excellent start to his AHL career, putting up points at a strong clip while being great in the defensive zone. However, his attacking advantage is limited, so again it is unlikely that he can fill that leading role. Both options are for the strongest optimists.
After all these sacrifices, the Canadiens cannot simply return to the middle of the standings. That will probably happen without winning the middle bracket on a larger scale than is currently possible.
Another upper echelon target to hit.
Montreal sportswriter Brian Wilde brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after every Canadiens game.
Brian Wilde
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