Call of the Wilde: Canadiens take 2-1 series lead with overtime win against Tampa Bay

As much as overtime in game two was disappointing to Montreal Canadiens fans, the goal in Tampa Bay was to achieve a split. The next target was to hold home-ice advantage through the weekend.

Game three is often the first game where the eventual momentum that will carry the series begins. Not in this case, as these two teams couldn’t solve anything between them, forcing an overtime for a third straight game.

In overtime, the Canadiens took the lead in the series with the winner scored by a man made for the moment, Lane Hutson.

Wilde Horses

Credit to Head Coach Martin St. Louis for reading the room, and for reading his players. After the game two defeat, fans were calling for changes, and at the top of the list was Kirby Dach followed by Alexandre Texier and then Zachery Bolduc. The head coach was defiant that he knew his group, and those players would respond.

Five minutes in, it was Dach with a sweet feed to Bolduc who found Texier in the high slot. He ripped it as soon as he got it. Texier to the top shelf before Andrei Vasilevskiy even moved. The Canadiens opened the scoring.

Three shifts later, it was Dach again with a smooth play. He grabbed the puck with his hand, quickly got it to his stick, and he fired it off the cross bar. In the first period, that line was the best line on the Canadiens. They made the coach look like a genius.

Also shining in the first period was Alex Newhook. He was absolutely flying down the wing where he is more suited to be free to play the kind of hockey that he can. If he is worrying about his defensive responsibilities as a centre, Newhook doesn’t unblock his speed.

Oliver Kapanen was put back to centre where he is better suited to handle the defensive side of the puck with his intelligent decision making.

In the second period, the Dach Redemption Night added another chapter. He had a clean look that was stopped, then, on the same shift, Dach fired a shot from the half-wall. It found a path for his first of the series. The line was absolutely dominant in the eye-test and analytics with an 82 Expected Goal share.

On defence, Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble with another dominant contest with an 89 share after two periods. That makes their outstanding first two games look pedestrian by comparison, (more on the pair in the Wilde Cards below). On the second goal, Xhekaj manhandled his check to keep the play alive for Dach to finish it.

Xhekaj is levelling up at the age of 25 right before our eyes. The play is so much better, and his element of physical power is making the Lightning keep their head on a swivel for their own safety.

Through 60 minutes, a team that wasn’t tight defensively held Tampa to 17 shots. They didn’t catch the system right away, but they’re figuring it out well now because that total is an excellent shutdown total against a great hockey team.

Montreal had the better chances. They had three breakaways without getting a sniff. Ivan Demidov, Cole Caufield, and Josh Anderson all had clear cut breakaways from the blue line. Two of the three would have been choices to have breakaways, but no one counted.

In overtime, the Dach Reclamation Project finished its work. The line dominated the entire game. They deserved the result. Dach with the screen in front. Texier with the dangle to win space. The pass to Lane Hutson and he wired it home for the game winner.

Hutson said after the first season when he had six goals that he would improve his shot, and make a difference. His second season he got 12 goals. He did improve his shot. It had a lot more power on it. It had great accuracy.

The culmination of all that work came to the moment that effort meets opportunity. Hutson lifted the Bell Centre roof. Hutson was interviewed moments later, and not a word he said could be heard. Every fan was still in the building chanting Olé.

The Canadiens lead the series 2-1. This is not last year. They are not second best. They are not getting pushed around.

Wilde Goats

In the first two games, the officials left almost everything, and it got out of hand in Tampa Bay. In the next game, they called everything in the first period, and it was an even bigger joke.

The four penalties called in the first period of game three all would not have been called as penalties in games one or two.

However, it’s not that they called a lot in game three, or that they called a little in Tampa Bay. It’s that there is no standard that is set. Ever.

It’s extremely frustrating to be a fan of hockey and the National Hockey League. In watching other leagues officiate their game, they set a standard and they keep that standard. Every player becomes acutely aware of what he can do and what he cannot do.

Take the National Football League and the pass interference call. The referees call it the same way without fail. The players know what they can do in defending, and what they cannot do to the infinite degree.

In the NHL, the only standard set is ‘puck-over’glass’. That’s it. If a defender puts the puck over the glass without it being deflected, it’s a penalty. Every other infraction is open to interpretation, and that interpretation centres around who had the previous penalties.

In the third period, even ‘too-many-men-on-the-ice’ they made a false interpretation because of the score line. It could not have been more obvious. The entire Canadiens bench had their arms up screaming for a call.

It’s called game management by the officials, and they can’t help themselves to engage in it. They live by it. It’s embarrassing. The league puts out press releases to say how close so many games are. People of any intelligence can put it together that one can achieve closer games by the way they are officiated.

Down by two goals, and the league wants a close game, it’s quite easy to work toward that end. They can manage the game through penalties. The officials likely don’t even know they are doing this. It’s an easy thing to subconsciously become enraptured in without awareness.

Announcers fall prey as well. They will hail that the officials need awareness of the situation. Poppycock!

The referees should have absolutely no awareness at all. They shouldn’t know the score, the period, the series score, the anything. The reason is that their awareness alters their perception of what is a penalty and what is not. They change their standards.

The key is, like the NFL, like the NBA, like MLB, set a standard and stick to it. Stop interpreting the rulebook to fit the moment.

The referees should be complete idiots about absolutely everything except that a penalty is a penalty is a penalty.

Wilde Cards

The analytics in the series have not been in the Canadiens favour in the first two games. However, there is one giant surprise, and it bodes well for the future of the franchise.

Montreal wants to add some toughness to the roster, but they need that toughness to be stable. Toughness without good shifts means nothing positive to the overall structure of the team. The Canadiens want a reliable third pair of defenders who will be physical, and who will keep the puck out of the net.

Enter Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble. Admittedly, the pair will often be spared the most difficult match-ups, and may get easier zone starts, but the numbers are the numbers, and the numbers are outstanding.

Lane Hutson has regularly tagged his defensive partner with a superior Expected Goals all season of higher than 60 percent. However, according to Money Puck, Hutson and Kaiden Guhle are struggling five-on-five this series with a 39 share only. The Mike Matheson pairing with Alexandre Carrier is also struggling with an Expected Goals share of 27 percent.

At the entire other end of the spectrum is Struble and Xhekaj with an Expected Goals share of 87 per cent. If someone prefers Corsi as their metric, the pair has a 72 share.

It’s remarkable from the two. If they can keep this up, this is exactly what is needed from the final pairing: toughness, stability, some fisticuffs if needed, and not expensive.

Both of these players know their NHL standing and aren’t going to command big money which is also what you need from the third pair.

Let’s see if the outstanding sample continues as the series progresses. They finished the regular season well, so the strong sample is getting bigger and more impressive, even as the games become more important.

Xhekaj is a fan favourite, and fans may get their wish that he establishes himself as a regular NHL player worthy of more minutes.

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