The Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings met for first place in the Atlantic Division on Saturday night. Exactly zero people would have predicted that scenario before the season began.
The Red Wings proved stronger, solidifying their spot at the top with a 4-0 win.
Wilde Horses
It was the first game for Kaiden Guhle since Oct. 16. He’s missed all but five games this season with a torn adductor muscle that required surgery. Expectations were for his first game to be a rusty one, but Guhle went right to work getting comfortable.
On his first shift, he rushed the puck up the ice as if he didn’t miss a minute. On the second shift, he levelled a crushing hit. He showed immediately why the Canadiens missed him. Guhle played 18 minutes on the night.
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He managed an even in plus-minus, which is solid. Guhle had a 63 Corsi and a 70 Fenwick. On a night when it didn’t go well for the team overall, those are good numbers. Guhle played on the third pair with Arber Xhekaj, with Guhle on his preferred left side. It’s a great line-up when Guhle is on the third pair.
Xhekaj has been strong on his off-side. He was levelling massive hits, crushing Detroit forecheckers. A bigger assessment of Xhekaj in the last two weeks is that he seems to be levelling up. He’s picking his spots to hit well. He’s handling his first pass better. He’s making better decisions in traffic. He’s finding his check and handling it well. Xhekaj is 24. For defenders, it can take this long before figuring it all out.
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The message for all general managers should always be this: Don’t give up on any young hopeful on the blue line until they are 25. That message must seem hellish at times for the impatient, but history doesn’t lie. It often takes that long to slow the game down mentally and arrive with force.
Wilde Goats
Every once in a while, at every rink in the league, on a dump-in, the puck hits a spot in the glass near the Zamboni entrance and takes a bad bounce. When this happens, there is nothing that can be done. Goalies and players cannot plan for it. Planning for it would be folly.
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It happened to the Canadiens at a vital time in the second period Saturday night, allowing Detroit to score the first goal of the game. Jacob Fowler was where he was supposed to be behind the net waiting. The puck bounced to Lucas Raymond in front. Raymond had 24 square feet of open net.
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It was a key moment, but in the bigger picture, it wasn’t the reason Montreal lost. The Canadiens have had no issues recently creating offence. They’ve been scoring in bunches. However, against the Wings, they were challenged.
The Wings did an outstanding job of keeping Montreal to the outside. The Canadiens couldn’t get to the danger areas as they have been. It feels like a bad night now, but it’s a good night in a way. It’s good to get a glimpse of what can stymy the club now, instead of later.
Earlier this season, it was physical play and big bodies that slowed down the Canadiens. They seem to be handling that issue better as evidenced by how they handled the heavy Florida Panthers the last two weeks.
The next battle is the hard work it takes to sneak into the high-danger areas when all the defenders peel back to their goalie to guard the area. The coaching staff will use this as an example that the opposition will try to shut down exciting wide-open Canadiens hockey. The goal to beat this talented Canadiens club for the next decade will be to clog up the lanes, keep it to the perimeter, throw the body.
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The path to greatness has many lessons on how to win, even for the most talented group of players. This group is just getting started and well ahead of schedule. They’ll figure out how to handle this type of stifling hockey. They’ll have to. They’re going to see a lot of it.
Wilde Cards
Much of the positive attention on the prospect front this season has been directed to Michael Hage for being near the top of the NCAA college scoring at Michigan, or Alexander Zharovsky for assaulting the record book for KHL rookies in Russia. However, the actual stunning story is being told by Bryce Pickford.
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Pickford was chosen 81st by Nick Bobrov and his staff in the 2025 NHL draft. Not a spot where success is found usually with only a four per cent chance that a the player becomes a regular in the NHL and only a one per cent chance that the player becomes a star.
Pickford seems destined to beat those odds. The 19-year-old right-side defender had five points on Friday night to power the Medicine Hat Tigers to an 8-3 verdict for their 16th straight win. It was his first five point night in his career on three goals and two assists. It was his second hat trick of the season.
The season statistics are stunning. Pickford doesn’t just lead the Western Hockey League in goals among defenders. He leads in goals overall. He also doesn’t just lead the Western Hockey League in goals. He leads the entirety of junior hockey.
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That’s worth repeating: The 81st pick in the last draft taken by the Canadiens, a defender, leads all of junior hockey in goals.
Pickford has 31 goals this year in 37 games. He is tied with Maxim Massé of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, who is a right winger. With 58 points, he is only six back of the league leader in the WHL, Cameron Schmidt of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Pickford is fourth in league scoring.
He isn’t exactly a defensive liability either. Pickford is second in the WHL in plus-minus at plus 44 on the season. This is a remarkable total of five-on-five dominance of a very good junior league.
It will be captivating to see how Pickford does at the next level. He has been given no chance by most to continue his career successfully. The dominant defender in all of junior hockey wasn’t even given a tryout for the World Junior Championship team.
Pickford has signed with the Canadiens. He will conclude his junior career when the Medicine Hat Tigers are finished their season. He will go directly to Laval to help with their playoff push should it still be in progress.
It’s difficult to believe that the Canadiens found a gem, and a future star at 81st overall, but then again, they did it with Lane Hutson at 62nd overall.
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Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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