St. Louis has Dach, Canadiens playing the right way — and winning more than expected

MONTREAL — Martin St. Louis says it so often, he might as well print it on a t-shirt and wear it to every press conference.

“He’s not just playing his game, he’s playing the game,” is the coach of the Montreal Canadiens’ mantra.

That St. Louis is using that to describe a different player almost every time he talks says much about why his team finds itself celebrating its third straight win and an 8-6-1 record on this night.

The Canadiens are putting in an honest effort every game. They’re a group playing within the coaching staff’s concepts but playing freely, and a group taking what is given to it without trying to take something that just isn’t there.

That’s exactly who they were in a 5-4 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday—a score entirely unreflective of how much the Canadiens dominated—and, afterwards, St. Louis was once again spitting out his catchphrase.

This time, he was talking about Kirby Dach, the 21-year-old who came to Montreal in a big trade at last summer’s draft after failing to play his game or the game as effectively as the Chicago Blackhawks might have thought he would when they drafted him third overall in 2019.

St. Louis could’ve said this about just about any of his players on this night, but it was particularly fitting in Dach's case because it was one thing to see the forward set up the game-winning goal for Mike Hoffman and another to see him help Jonathan Drouin and Sean Monahan score the game-tying goal, but it was something else entirely to see the plays he made on two third-period goals he didn’t register points on.

On Nick Suzuki’s 10^th of the season, Dach charged down the gut, parked himself in front and forced the Penguins to cover him.

Bryan Rust got back just in time to cover Suzuki’s pass to Dach but turned the puck right back over to Suzuki, and that was that.

The shift Dach put in three minutes before that was a microcosm of what the Canadiens seem to be all about right now—players taking care of the little details, paying the price, playing the game and reaping the rewards.

Dach carried the puck deep into the corner late into that very first shift of the third period. He got smeared into the glass and dropped to the ice by Marcus Pettersson, and then he got up as Suzuki rimmed the puck around the boards, fought his way to the front of the net and created the screen on Tristan Jarry that Cole Caufield shot through for his ninth goal of the season.

Yes, Dach added two points after Suzuki and Caufield scored, making it 11 since joining those two on Montreal’s top line, and it’s exciting to see him with 14 points in 15 games after producing just 26 points in 70 games last season.

We’re sure Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes is thrilled about it after going out on a limb by trading established, young defenceman Alex Romanov to the New York Islanders for a first-round pick he flipped with another pick to acquire Dach.

But it’s more relevant that Dach is one of many Canadiens playing the right way and helping carry this team to a level no one expected they’d be at in the early stages of this first official season of a rebuild.

“We’re blocking shots, not forcing plays near our blue line or their blue line, we’re managing the puck really well—something we struggled with a lot last year—and just making the easy play out of the zone,” said Suzuki.

“All our details have been really sharp and it’s a credit to the coaches bringing a good game plan and the players executing it,” he added.

Look at Kaiden Guhle, the 21-year-old blueliner who finished Saturday’s game having played against Sidney Crosby for 13:22 of Crosby’s 16:42 at 5-on-5.

For a second time in his young career, not only did Guhle help hold this generational talent to zero points and zero shots on net over that time, but he also did it simply and efficiently—and right from the start.

On the very first shift of the game, Guhle gapped up in the neutral zone and set the tone against Crosby by just poking the puck off his stick right after he received it. He leaned on his strong skating and sharp passing skills and played the game in front of him on every other shift that followed.

But Guhle wasn’t alone in this task. Partner David Savard asserted himself against Crosby, Rust and Jake Guentzel, who he punished with a heavy hit in the third period.

Canadiens fourth-line centre Jake Evans won his first three defensive zone draws of the night against Crosby and pulled back 57 per cent of his draws in the game.

And Caufield, Suzuki and Dach cycled Crosby’s line to death, owning 70 per cent of the shot attempts and 64 per cent of the expected goals at 5-on-5.

Dach’s influence on that outcome—and on this game—was most noticeable.

“I think he’s getting more and more comfortable on that line, first and foremost, but you’ve gotta play the game within the game,” said Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen.

“It’s not about just showing up and getting points. You’ve gotta be able to play against the top lines of other teams. That’s obviously a big change for a lot of those guys that are matched up against the No. 1 line every night. It’s not an easy job. Obviously, we know what Nick and Cole are doing, but Dacher’s coming along. He really is. He’s proving his worth on that line, and it’s looking like it’s going to be a good line for a long time. He’s playing the game within the game, being in the right spots, he’s respecting the game. You respect the game, sometimes it comes back to you.”

That appears to be the mindset all the Canadiens are operating with.

They’re focused on the process and playing the game.

“We just show up every day, and if you try to win the day I think actually winning on the scoreboard is just going to be a side effect,” said St. Louis. “If you just stay consistent in your daily habits and your thoughts and your positivity, enthusiasm, I think if you stick to that and just win every day, you’re probably going to end up winning on the scoreboard consistently eventually…”

The seeds for that are being planted right now, and that’s why St. Louis can keep repeating himself when referring to the individual success of any given player he’s asked about.