It was Ivan Demidov, Alex Newhook and Oliver Kapanen doing the damage, combining for six points in a 4-1 win the Montreal Canadiens earned over a Nashville Predators team that had won five of its last six games.
This came just two days after Jayden Struble and Zachary Bolduc broke lengthy goal droughts in a 2-1 win over the red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets.
On that night, Jakub Dobes followed up a career-high, 41-save, first-star performance in a win over the Carolina Hurricanes by stopping 25 of 26 shots.
On this one, backup Jacob Fowler had the second shutout of his 14-game NHL career stolen away by a terrible bounce off the stanchion with 3:34 remaining.
But the 20-year-old did his job, and did it marvellously, stopping 23 of 24 shots Saturday.
The obvious takeaway is that depth matters. Especially now, as the Canadiens enter the final leg of this marathon chasing the lead — and with every runner behind them tugging at their jersey.
To have those depth players feeling confident can only help Montreal extend one of its best runs of the season, and it needs that.
This was the Canadiens’ fourth win in a row — all of them earned in regulation — and while it put them six points up on the playoff bubble, it barely kept their hottest pursuers at bay.
It also didn’t permit them to get any closer to the teams they’re gunning for.
The Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning, who sit first and second in the Atlantic Division, both won on Saturday to remain six and four points up, respectively, while the Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota Wild to remain just two points back in the first wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.
With 10 games left, there is no time to exhale, no room to relent, and that means the Canadiens need everyone propelling them.
Newhook knows.
When reporters at Bridgestone Arena asked him about his line’s contribution to Saturday’s win, he said, “It’s huge.”
“I think winning teams need some scoring aside from your first line, and I think we’re capable of providing a pretty solid secondary scoring line there,” Newhook added. “And I think we hold ourselves to that standard as well.”
It showed through the first 17 games of the season, over which he collected six goals and six assists before fracturing his ankle and missing the next three months.
Demidov and Kapanen shot out to great starts in the rookie scoring race and maintained them without Newhook.
They only really stumbled once Newhook returned from injury, through the first three weeks of post-Olympic hockey, but they regained their footing this week.
You could see the confidence swelling in Demidov against the Hurricanes on Tuesday, as he put the finishing touches on moves that notched him a goal and an assist to reclaim top spot among rookies with points 53 and 54 on his season. Kapanen scored his 21st of the season that night. And together, with Newhook, they were still effective against the Blue Jackets on Thursday, even if they didn’t score.
Each of them had a goal and assist against the Predators to bolster confidence coming into Sunday’s rematch against the Hurricanes.
It wasn’t just the results that did the trick for all three members of Montreal’s second line, it was how they earned them that puffed up their chests.
“I think they respected the rules of the game, just played the game that was in front of them,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “You’re not going to going to get odd-man rushes unless the other team gives you the puck. It’s rare to get them off zone exits … If you don’t get those chances, you have to get the puck deep and activate the offensive-zone game, and they’re doing that much more. When they do it, they’re talented and capable to execute.”
So is Montreal’s top line of Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, which has outscored its opposition 19-7 since being reunited on March 6 in Anaheim.
They factored in on Saturday, too, after being blanked against the Blue Jackets. Suzuki picked up two assists to get to 301 on his career, notching points 87 and 88 on his season. Caufield scored his 45th goal (his 20th on a Saturday). And the line combined for several quality chances for a 61-per-cent share of the expected goals.
They’re riding high, and the Canadiens need them to ride even higher.
They need Lane Hutson to keep doing what he’s doing, too.
They need Dobes to keep building the momentum that’s made him one of the hottest goaltenders in the league over the past three weeks.
But they also need Fowler pushing Dobes from behind. And they need Demidov, Newhook, Kapanen, Bolduc, Struble and everyone else to make them what they’ve been over this streak.
After loose games against San Jose and Anaheim two weekends ago, the Canadiens committed to tightening up their defensive game and have since rattled off wins in five of their last six by allowing no more than three goals in any of them.
They didn’t like their starts in wins over Carolina and Columbus earlier in the week but corrected in Nashville, where they outshot the Predators 9-2 and outscored them 2-0 in the first period.
“I felt we built our game up from there and we were good at both ends,” said St. Louis. “We were tiring to play against at both ends.”
That’s because even with Josh Anderson leaving the game due to illness, they had everyone pushing.
That’s what it takes, and the result should give them the confidence to keep it up.
It will be hard to do against the top-ranked Hurricanes, who beat the New Jersey Devils on Saturday to remain in first place in the East. It will be essential to do in Tampa Bay on Tuesday, in a game that has major bearing on a probable first-round series between both teams. And it’ll only become more important with every game that passes.
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