MONTREAL — This was a vintage performance from the line of Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield. The kind the Montreal Canadiens have been longing for since they were reunited five games ago.
It made the difference because, as Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said after the three players combined for five points in this 4-3 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres, “They wanted to be the difference.”
You could tell this was their night from the second the puck dropped Saturday to the second it found the back of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s net in overtime, and the timing of their bond fully resolidifying couldn’t have been better.
For the Canadiens, of course, because they needed a win to get themselves back over .500.
But most certainly for the line of star players expected to carry them toward the top of the standings.
If they entered Saturday’s game in the middle of them, it was at least in part due none of them truly playing to their massive individual potential — and failing to click together the way they typically do.
We’re talking about one of the most dominant lines in the NHL over the previous three years, but it hadn’t been that through the first three weeks of this season.
Now, though? Well, the surge could be coming now that they’ve rediscovered their chemistry and, as a result, their swagger.
Slafkovsky, Suzuki and Caufield didn’t wait for it to come on the power play, though that is where two of the three first got on the scoresheet against the Sabres, when Zachary Bolduc tied the game 1-1.
No, they came out and took it at five-on-five, generating multiple chances in the first period en route to controlling 76 per cent of the shot attempts and 97 per cent of the expected goals by game’s end.
Of course, on Saturday night, Caufield did the scoring — first on one of several brilliant plays Slafkovsky made — and then on a breakaway in the 61st minute of play, because that’s what he does on Saturday nights.
One assist for Suzuki was only part of what he did over 24 shifts. The reigning Selke Trophy winner pulled back 12 of 20 faceoffs, threw three hits, had two takeaways, blocked a shot, and rang one puck off the post in the first period and one off the crossbar in the second. And while it’s true the 27-year-old had a four-point game in a 6-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, he wasn’t nearly as complete in that one as he was in this one.
Neither was Caufield, who had two goals on that Saturday night as well.
And Slafkovsky, who wasn’t even on a line with Suzuki and Caufield for that game in Pittsburgh, was at his worst that night.
On this night?
“I saw good intentions, details, he used his body, blocked some shots tonight,” said Caufield. “Just his heaviness on the forecheck kind of creating turnovers with his stick, body, and extending o-zone for us tonight — I think when he’s at his best, you can obviously see how good he is at those things. A couple off games here and there is always going to happen but loved the way he played tonight. Created a lot.
“Just really looking forward to him excelling going forward.”
It’s what the Canadiens need from all three players to take advantage of the waves of pressure their getting from all their other lines.
Bolduc’s, with Alexandre Texier and Phillip Danault, has been flying over its past five games, and it was once again rewarded against the Sabres.
The Canadiens have found a dangerous combination with Josh Anderson, Alex Newhook and Chris Kreider, which didn’t connect against the Sabres on Saturday but was instrumental in a win against Buffalo at the beginning of the week.
Oliver Kapanen made his season debut next to Jake Evans and Kirby Dach and that line had more offensive-zone presence Saturday than any other fourth-line combination has to date.
But when you have a 100-point centre between a 50-goal scorer and a dominant power forward, that’s the combination that will propel you most of the time.
It’s the combination that must propel the Canadiens out of the mushy middle of the standings and vault them up to where they expect to be.
So this performance — and the familiar feeling Suzuki, Slafkovsky and Caufield had after the game — was essential.
“Honestly, it felt like kind of last year a little bit more,” said Caufield. “Obviously, when you don’t start with the same three during the year, it might take a little bit to get back to normal. There’s no excuse for that, but I did like the way we played. Hopefully we can build off this and keep it going. Getting chances and creating turnovers is a big part of what we do.”
Suzuki felt he and his linemates were on the hunt all over the ice, saying the pressure they applied enabled them to strike quickly. And St. Louis said they were as determined defensively as they were offensively, employing the details that would have them rewarded more often than not.
It feels like more of that is now imminent, which is the most welcome development for the Canadiens.
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