Canucks:Habs
Yesterday at 12:49 AM
MONTREAL— With respect to Alex Case, who runs team services and arranges travel for the Montreal Canadiens, we're fairly certain the energy the team played with upon their return to the Bell Centre Monday emanated from a source other than him.
Though, we do respect Martin St. Louis for sharing some of the credit with the man the Canadiens affectionately— and unoriginally — refer to as "Caser."
Hey, it's a team game, and, as St. Louis said, Case made the call to keep the Canadiens in Colorado until Sunday after getting them there at a reasonable hour following their loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Friday.
If that had even the slightest effect on them finding the reserves to beat the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, kudos to "Caser."
But if the Canadiens were able to stick to the identity that saw them win 10 of their last 15 games prior to Monday's 5-4 overtime thriller, if they were able to earn the two points that pushed them into a playoff spot for the first time this season, we're sure even Case would acknowledge Kaiden Guhle's opening shift played a much bigger role.
It was right at the end of it that the six-foot-three, 202-pound defenceman came charging through the neutral zone, lowered his shoulder and smoked Jonathan Lekkerimaki with a hit that shook the building and sent a lightning bolt through the Canadiens' bench.
Again, no disrespect to St. Louis, who repeated a popular refrain of his (that it's not just one action that leads to a win), we don't think the Canadiens would've been singing and dancing to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" after this game if not for that hit from Guhle.
That song, which is their 2024-25 victory song, was an ode to Guhle on Monday.
"He buries people," said Cole Caufield.
The guy who used to wear 22 for the Canadiens scored his 22nd goal exactly 22 seconds after the 22-year-old Guhle buried Lekkerimaki, and there was no denying the connection between those two plays.
"Obviously got us going in the first with that big hit," said Caufield, who acknowledged afterwards that something of that nature was going to have to at the start of this game.
This was the Canadiens' third contest in four nights, with all three played in different time zones. It was their first back home after arriving Sunday afternoon from Denver— and after a trip that started with a four-day sprint through Sunrise, Tampa Bay and Las Vegas. The puck officially dropped at 7:46 p.m. ET and, as Caufield said, "I don't think guys even knew what time it was."
You hope your legs go where your brain tells them to on nights like these. Heck, you hope your brain works well enough to even send the messages through to your legs.
An electric shock, like the one Guhle delivered, can only help.
Look what it did for him, too.
Guhle was sharp most of the night. He couldn't be faulted on quick strikes the Canucks delivered to make it 3-1 in the second period, and he scored the goal that pumped wind back into the Canadiens' sails before they fired in two behind Kevin Lankinen in the third period and Nick Suzuki beat the Canucks' goaltender on the power play in overtime.
All in a night's work for Guhle, whose game has risen several notches since the arrival of partner Alex Carrier three weeks ago.
"(Guhle) plays against the best players every night, and it's nonstop with a guy like that. I think he's very underrated," said Caufield. "But at the end of the day, the guys in the room, we cherish him, we love him, and he's a great player."
That's what most people outside the room would be saying about Lane Hutson on this night, after he registered a goal and two assists to give him 30 points and put him ahead of Matvei Michkov and Macklin Celebrini in the NHL's rookie scoring race.
It's also what they'd say of Caufield — who has the most five-on-five goals in the league — and of Suzuki, whose three points boosted his total to 41 in 40 games.
But Guhle doesn't take up that kind of oxygen outside of Montreal's room.
"He's great," said one scout we talked to after the first period of Monday's game. "I think he's a really tough player to play against, and a player who's getting better every day."
Kirby Dach, who scored in the third period, echoed those thoughts.
"Guhles has been awesome all year long," he said. "He's a horse on the backend, he plays big minutes, blocks shots… Definitely lucky to have a player like him, and he's only going to keep growing and keep getting better each and every day."
That's what the Canadiens were banking on this summer when they signed Guhle to a six-year, $33-million contract that'll only kick in next season.
He brings a lot to the table every night, and he has ever since his first NHL game in 2022.
On this night, Guhle brought much-needed energy from start to finish, and it helped pull the Canadiens ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
