On Saturday night, the Montreal Canadiens finished the month of January with the first of a three-game road trip leading up to the Olympic break. The Buffalo Sabres were their host, and the Habs had already suffered two losses against Buffalo this month. The result in this one was a 4-2 win for the Habs.
Here’s what caught my eye.
Caufield is on a heater, and poised to make his mark.
Another two goals for Caufield has him on pace for 49 this season. It’s been a while since fans in Montreal have seen such a performance.
With Caufield, it’s never just the number of goals but the manner in which he scores them. No one can ever accuse him of racking up points with easy goals. Last night he scored both the game-tying and game-winning goals. Both were scored at even strength. Both assisted by different players. He’s just clutch.
Kirby Dach looked good on the top line.
With each passing game, Dach is looking more comfortable. I really liked the trio with Bolduc, Evans and Dach. But with Texier injured, Dach got promoted to the top line and he looked good there.
I wonder if Dach is one of the players the S. Louis Blues are scouting. There are limited reasons why the Blues could have so many scouts present at the Bell Centre this season. Has Dach become one of them? Does his improved play change plans for HuGo?
The coach needs to let go of his plan on D.
Martin St. Louis started the season with a plan for Matheson and Dobson to form his top pair. The pair worked and was excellent at times. The problem was that the others pairs weren’t working.
Hutson is a far better player on his strong side, and none of the remaining D are a good fit on his right side. Carrier was the best fit, but the Habs can’t move toward the playoffs with those two as their second pair.
Hutson and Dobson have been a pair for two games and it works. They played over 10 even strength minutes together on Saturday night and they dominated. This needs to be the top pair and HuGo needs to figure out if the rest of it can work.
Can one of Matheson or Guhle be strong on the right side? Is Carrier good enough to form a solid second pair with one of them? Do the Habs need to trade for another right shot blue liner?
There are just three more sleeps before the Olympic trade freeze, and one more game in advance of that deadline to look at those pairs.
Hab At Her 