Canadiens' Guhle shows how dominant he can be in win over Jets

MONTREAL — It’s in the 34th second of a 35-second penalty-killing shift that Kaiden Guhle puts the finishing touches on a sequence that says everything about how special of a player he already is. 

This 4-3 shootout win for the Canadiens was just the 48th game of this 21-year-old’s NHL career, and he absolutely dominated it. 

No sequence was more indicative of Guhle’s impact than the one that ended with him setting up Joel Armia’s game-tying goal 1:54 of the third period. 

It started when Guhle intercepted a pass in his own zone. 

Here’s how the Edmonton native later described what happened next: “They were on the power play, so I think it was (Nikolaj) Ehlers playing D, so I saw that right away. Not sure how much D he’s played in his life, so I just held it. And we needed a goal, so kinda got lucky (passing the puck) under (Ehlers’) stick. Army’s got such a good shot, he just basically shot it through (Jets goaltender Laurent Brossoit) into the net.”

Consider this: Guhle had been on the ice for 1:09 of the first 1:54 of the third period— almost all of it hard time on the penalty kill—and he had to be tired. Most of the time, tired players make the simplest play and often make the wrong one.

But with the amount of processing Guhle did in split seconds, he showed no signs of fatigue. He assessed the Canadiens were down by a goal, assessed he had an advantage rushing against Ehlers, and assessed he could give Armia a good shot at a goal. 

It was as clear-minded as a player could be, and particularly clear-minded for one coming off a four-game absence with a concussion.

Guhle told us he hadn’t suffered one to this point in his career, but he took a knee to the back of the head in an awkward collision during his 13th shift of Montreal’s 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 17, and it sidelined him for 10 days. 

“It was unlucky,” he said.

But Guhle took the right amount of time to recuperate before returning to play, and he said he was more than ready before the puck dropped against the Jets.

“It’s Hockey Night in Canada, all that kind of hype about two Canadian teams playing together,” Guhle said. “You can just tell in the room, it’s just in the air, it’s Saturday night at the Bell Centre, it’s just something special.”

After he played a dominant 25:08—controlling the pace of play with his skating, physically punishing his opponents, throwing four shots on net, blocking three shots, and largely filling the gap in Mike Matheson’s third-period absence — he joined Sportsnet’s Sean Reynolds for an interview and asked if he could keep the fabled HNIC towel the field producer draped around his neck.

Guhle earned it with first-star honours at the Bell Centre. 

They were unquestionably bestowed upon him for his overall game, which was punctuated by his assist on Justin Barron’s first-period goal but truly made on the sequence that led to Armia’s.

“The play starts with his feet,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “He separates, somehow he finds a way to separate from the wave of players, so now he’s got time and space. He was very patient with what he did, because he could have went to the left, but I think he saw that the player was cheating on the left, and he let it evolve. Sometimes when you let it evolve – nobody’s going to say that’s a bad play passing it to… I think it was Jakey (Jake Evans) on his left. Nobody’s going to say that’s a bad play. 

“But is there something better? And sometimes when you let the play evolve, there might be something better, especially when you’re in space. That’s what he did. He made a great play.”

Jake Allen, who made 42 saves (and stopped two more and forced another wide in the shootout), called it “incredible.”

“Young players might have felt the pressure and might not have made the best play. They would have made a hockey play,” said St. Louis. “The best players find the best play, especially when they’re in space.”

Guhle is the Canadiens’ youngest defenceman, and he’s already one of their best players. He’ll continue to create space for himself, continue to find the best plays, and he will replicate performances like this one for years to come.