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Canadiens Notebook: Needing more from Laine, cross-checks and Bell Centre boost
The Capitals have taken advantage as the aggressors in the series and the Canadiens must respond, within the boundaries of what’s permissible and need to find a way to get more from Patrik Laine, as Eric Engels explains.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Brendan Gallagher would’ve been the ideal candidate to speak to about this series between his Montreal Canadiens and the Washington Capitals shifting to the Bell Centre. As the only player on the Canadiens to have experienced playoff hockey with the building full—after Covid restrictions robbed him and several holdovers from the 2021 team that ran to the Stanley Cup Final of that unique atmosphere—he was the logical choice for Thursday morning’s media availability.
But after taking two cross-checks to the face through the first two games against the Capitals, Gallagher was busy icing his mouth instead of using it to describe what he experienced at the Bell Centre through four separate playoff runs from 2013-2017.
He’ll require some dental work in Montreal.
Cole Caufield somehow escaped that same fate after taking this cross-check to the jaw from Nic Dowd in the dying moments of Game 2.
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There was no call on that play, and officials—and the NHL—also turned blind eyes to the shots that’ll land Gallagher in the dentist’s chair.
If that’s how this series is going to continue to be handled, the Canadiens will have to adjust.
“I mean, it’s tough,” said coach Martin St. Louis on the subject Thursday. “You toe that line. I’m watching other games, too, it’s hard. I feel like we’ve done a decent job, but you’ve still got to be careful crossing the line, you know. How much do you help and how much does it hurt? You can’t be killing penalties, especially early on in the game. You know you’re going to have to kill penalties, but you’ve got to toe that line.”
That line should probably be drawn at a player raising his arms and plowing his stick through his opponent’s teeth.
“I would think so,” St. Louis agreed.
But he knows that line is non-existent right now.
The Capitals have taken advantage of it more, opening a 2-0 lead in the series largely because they’ve been the aggressors—out-hitting Montreal 72-56 despite holding the edge in shot attempts and puck possession.
Now the Canadiens must respond, within the boundaries of what’s permissible, of course.
They know.
“Everyone in our lineup has to do more to make their lives more difficult,” said Mike Matheson.
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Hitting Capitals where it hurts most…
The best response from the Canadiens would still be to score more goals and earn a couple of wins to even the series.
They’ve put up just three goals through two games and Logan Thompson’s work in Washington’s net isn’t the only reason for that.
The Canadiens have had some good stretches—particularly in the third period of both games, over which they’ve dominated the Capitals—but St. Louis has been emphasizing that they need more than just some.
He also said the Canadiens need better execution and more urgency.
“It’s always a little bit of both for sure, and in the two games here we’ve had both,” St. Louis said. “But we haven’t had them both enough for a long time. We have to try to extend that a bit more. And it’s not like it will be consecutive minutes, but we need more good stretches. And we had a lot of good minutes, but we need a little more.”
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Canadiens need much more from Patrik Laine, if he plays Game 3
It’s a big if, especially after St. Louis benched Laine for the entire third period of Game 2 with the Canadiens trailing by a goal.
They needed one, and he’s one of their most gifted scorers.
But the 27-year-old Finn didn’t appear remotely equipped to deliver a goal after coasting through the first two periods of Game 2.
“Honestly, I went with the nine or 10 players who I thought could help the cause,” said St. Louis after parking Joel Armia next to Laine for all but one shift of the third.
But the chances of Armia being scratched from Game 3 are negligible considering his importance to Montreal’s penalty kill.
We’re not sure Laine’s importance to the Canadiens’ power play will be enough to keep him in the lineup.
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Granted, he had 15 of the 47 power-play goals they scored in the regular season.
But Laine hasn’t scored one in 12 games, and he hasn’t appeared confident enough to change that with the shots he’s taken on the power play since scoring on Mar. 30 versus the Florida Panthers.
Laine also hasn’t produced a single high-danger scoring chance at five-on-five in this series despite starting the overwhelming majority of his shifts in the offensive zone.
Beforehand, he promised he’d rise to the occasion.
“Yeah, I’ll turn it up,” Laine said. “Regular season’s a different thing, but playoffs is a different kind of animal and always, always, always get fired up. Playoffs are big games overall, and national team (games) or whatever has always kind of been the switch for me. So I’m just excited to turn it on, on Monday.”
Aside from his first few shifts in Game 1, that switch has been completely shut off.
It forced St. Louis to finally turn away from the player in the third period of Game 2, and we’re not sure he can turn back towards him for Game 3.
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Oliver Kapanen, who rejoined the Canadiens in the first week of April after producing 15 goals and 35 points in 36 games in the Swedish Hockey League, is an option.
But inserting another rookie who hasn’t shown much—or any—physical edge has a downside as well.
Michael Pezzetta brings that edge on every shift but didn’t produce a single point through 25 games this season. So there’s downside there, too.
Still, both Kapanen and Pezzetta bring something, and that’s more than what Laine has brought over the last month.
A player who could potentially bring both scoring and edge is Florian Xhekaj.
He’s never played an NHL game before, but he produced 24 goals and piled up 175 penalty minutes in his first 69 American Hockey League games with the Laval Rocket this season.
The thought of him and brother Arber suiting up for Game 3 in Montreal might be far-fetched.
But it doesn’t seem inconceivable.
Bell Centre boost can only help
“I think it’ll give us momentum and help us get back in the series,” said Matheson.
He saw it as a fan of the Canadiens who grew up in Pointe-Claire, Que., even if he only attended one playoff game in Montreal back in 2014.
But that experience watching the Canadiens play the New York Rangers marked Matheson, and he knows his first one as a player will be even more profound.
“I think my expectations are pretty high, but I feel like they’ll be exceeded still,” the 31-year-old said. “I think it’s going to be really special for us to come back and have them give us a huge boost going into Game 3. Obviously, the playoffs, your home games are so important, and we’ve been good all year in the Bell Centre, and so much of it is because of our fans and how loud they are and how much energy they bring.”
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That was particularly evident as the Canadiens pushed towards the playoffs with an 8-0-2 record on home ice from the beginning of March through the end of the regular season.
When Matheson was asked to describe the feeling the fans at the Bell Centre give the Canadiens, he said, “It’s hard to, honestly.”
“Just the fact that when you step out on the ice, for myself, I get goosebumps every time and everyone knows that feeling when you have goosebumps,” Matheson added. “It just feels like something got injected into your veins that gives you a lot of energy, whether it’s in your legs or clears your mind and makes you that much more focused. It’ll definitely be great for us.”
