Don't Look Now, But Patrik Laine Might Have Turned The Montreal Canadiens Into A Certified Wagon
Minas Panagiotakis. Getty Images.December 2nd. The Montreal Canadiens were sitting in dead last place in the Eastern Conference. They were 8-13-3 through their first 24 games. Typically you get a decent sense of where teams are at by that time, so you figured it was going to be another ugly rebuilding year in Montreal.
December 3rd. Patrik Laine made his Habs debut after missing the first couple of months with an injury. Montreal beat the Islanders in overtime, and it set off an 11-5 run since then. They've won 8 out of their last 10 games. And they went from dead last in the Eastern Conference to taking over a wild card spot after last night's overtime win against Vancouver.
First of all, let's just take a quick moment to appreciate all 3 teams from the state of New York being the bottom 3 teams in the East. You love to see that level of loyalty to one another. Like a captain going down with the ship.
Now before anybody gets on my shit about this--yes, I am aware that Laine hasn't played since New Years Eve. He's missed the past 3 games. But it still looks like a completely different team since he's been back in the lineup. It's not that they're just winning games. They are playing some serious "fuck you" smash mouth hockey. Massive open ice hits, and burying lasers in the back of the net.
Typically when I think about the Montreal Canadiens, one of the first words that comes to mind is "soft". Ain't nothing soft about what we saw last night against Vancouver. This team is finally playing the exact brand of hockey you'd expect out of a team coached by this menace.
Maybe undersized as far as height goes. But when it comes to tenacity and balls? Martin St. Louis was as big as they come in the NHL. And it looks to be rubbing off on the Habs.
Nick Suzuki. Lane Hutson. Cole Caufield. All a bunch of undersized demons who are looking to strike every chance they get.
Maybe they're just on a hot streak right now. There's still plenty of season left, and there are only 7 points separating the top wild card spot in the East from last place in the conference. But nobody can sit there with a straight face and tell me the Stanley Cup Playoffs wouldn't have a little extra pop this year if the Bell Centre is rocking for round 1. It's been a while since they've been able to have a full building in Montreal for the playoffs. They played in the Cup Final in 2021, but Montreal was only allowed to have like 3000 fans in the Bell Centre for those games. The last time they were in the playoffs without fan restrictions was 2017. This team might just have the juice to get back there.