ST. PAUL, Minn. — This was a loss, one delivered swiftly by one of the NHL’s most talented players, and it had to be hard to swallow for the Montreal Canadiens.
But it wasn’t a spirit breaker for them. Especially not after erasing two deficits and putting in an effort that easily could’ve — and probably should’ve — been rewarded if not for Kirill Kaprizov’s thrilling one-timer with 4.9 seconds left in overtime.
He delivered the Minnesota Wild their 10th straight win over the Canadiens at Xcel Energy Center Thursday, but the guys on the Montreal side came away from it knowing that what they had built coming into the game — after strong performances against the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders and Winnipeg Jets led to collecting five of six points — remained intact.
After watching how the Canadiens adapted on the fly after a first period that saw them outshot 13-3 and outscored 2-0, you could argue what they had built was only solidified in spite of the result.
They took a 22-11 edge in shots from the second period onward. And on the way to the end, they got the game to 2-2 and tied it late after falling down 3-2, and they appeared to lean into their way of doing things to make it happen, playing the brand of inspired, organized and connected hockey that has put some bounce into their step of late.
“I think we’re locked in right now,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis earlier in the day. “I feel like we’re in a good place as a group. I think we’re hungry. It’s been a progression, an evolution a little bit of our group. And it hasn’t been like a magic pill, we’ve just been working. I feel our group is confident. Is that a swagger? Yeah, you need to play with swagger, and I think we have that right now. And you get that by being a confident group. And confidence is not free. It’s not like, ‘Here’s confidence!’ You build your confidence individually and as a group, and I think we’ve been doing that.”
It was foreshadowing.
A confident team doesn’t wilt after a rocky first period. It adjusts, and the Canadiens did.
A hungry team sacrifices, like captain Nick Suzuki did in blocking a shot on the penalty kill in the dying seconds of the third period to punctuate the will the Canadiens played with all night.
“I think we never stop coming,” said David Savard, who started the team’s comeback with a goal at 8:17 of the second period.
“I think it’s part of our DNA,” Savard added. “It’s something we want to build around. We keep going. It doesn’t matter what the score is, we keep coming, staying with our gameplan, and that’s what we did.”
As for the progression and evolution St. Louis was referring to earlier in the day, that was visible in the tactical tweaks that turned this game around.
He didn’t feel the Canadiens maximized their offensive-zone time in the first period, so he offered a couple of audibles to address it.
The Canadiens employing them as quickly as they did — and to such obvious effect — was evidence of the growth they’ve experienced of late.
As Brendan Gallagher said after the game, “It’s easy to correct things for us.”
That’s a new development for one of the NHL’s youngest teams, as correcting things appeared much more labourious just two weeks ago than it has over the last sequence of games.
It’s clear the Canadiens are more comfortable with their concepts and systems.
It may not lead to wins every night, but it’s already leading to more of the consistency they’ve been chasing since St. Louis took over their bench 22 months ago.
“I see that,” the coach said. “I think we’ve made slight adjustments here and there, but we’re not introducing so many new things. We’re at a point, I feel, where it’s engrained a little bit and guys are not thinking too much. They’re just reacting and playing. That comes with experience together, practice, reps, video.
“We’re evolving.”
The loss to Minnesota doesn’t change that.
You can see it in the way the Canadiens forechecked for most the game; the way they put up with the physical brand the Wild play and pushed back with some of their own; the way they fought harder to get to the inside — which has been a point of emphasis of late — for the goals Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky scored; and, finally, in the way they refused to relent.
“We kept battling back, kept battling back, and it would’ve been nice to be rewarded with two points,” Gallagher said. “We got a point in a building we haven’t had a lot of success in…”
A game in Chicago Friday, against a rested Blackhawks team, presents another opportunity for the Canadiens.
“If we can find a way to win,” said Gallagher, “we’re in a pretty good spot (in the standings) going into the break.”
As far as the process is concerned, the Canadiens are already in a better spot.
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