A New Playoff Hope Emerges For Canadiens and Ivan Demidov

The first two games of the Montreal Canadiens versus Washington Capitals series followed a similar script.

The games were quite close in terms of the score, with neither team mounting more than a one-goal lead during the first 55 minutes each match-up. They also both featured the Habs controlling the shots, while the Capitals held a significant edge in high-danger scoring chances.

Goaltending has been relatively even, with Logan Thompson quickly making his way to the top 5 goaltenders in the playoffs in terms of goals saved above expected, with Samuel Montembeault on his heels.

In other words, given their discrepancy in points during the regular season, it has been a hard-fought series between two teams that have yet to establish any semblance of sustainable dominance.

However, Game 1 and 2 have brought several issues to the forefront for the Canadiens.

It’s far from surprising.

These playoffs should be seen as a bonus for a team that is not done rebuilding, but it’s certainly telling.

It’s clear Montreal needs to find a solution from a defensive standpoint, with the Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle pairing forming the team’s only strong combination the back-end.

And as we all knew coming into the series, the Canadiens still need to figure out the long-standing issue on the second line, a situation that most expected to be solved during the summer, connoting that head coach Martin St-Louis is dealing with limited options as his team dips its icy toes in the waters of playoff hockey.

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Montreal Canadiens  Looking Forward

Prior to puck drop in Game 2, St-Louis opted to drop newcomer Ivan Demidov to the fourth line, while promoting Joel Armia to play alongside Alex Newhook and Patrik Laine in the top six.

Before we really dive into the situation, it should be noted that the ‘second line’ in question doesn’t always get the second-most ice time. In the interest of clarity, we’re going to keep calling it the second line, while referring to the veterans (Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson, and Christian Dvorak) as the third line.

Demidov had a great NHL debut, but it’s also fair to say things are moving very quickly out there, and it’s a herculean task to learn on the fly in the playoffs. The first playoff game was a little much for the 19-year-old forward, as he struggled to find open ice. He was far from the only member of that line to have a tough night. Laine’s play at 5v5 continues to be an issue, Alex Newhook struggles mightily on face offs, and all the players who have been used on the second line in the past have failed to meet expectations.

Simply put, it wasn’t a Demidov issue, as much as a roster construction issue.

And that’s to be expected when a rebuilding team makes a surprise appearance in the playoffs.

But once St-Louis, who rarely makes in-game modifications, decided to mix things up, a door opened that could lead to very interesting results for the second line, the Canadiens as a whole, as well as Demidov.

St-Louis used Jake Evans as an anchor between Newhook and Demidov, while benching Laine in the process. The decision almost paid off immediately, with the line threatening to score more often in their four minutes together than the second and fourth lines had produced in the first two games combined.

It’s a limited sample, but Evans, Demidov, and Newhook controlled 69 percent of the shots, as well as 60 percent of the expected goals, representing a complete reversal in fortunes from a statistical standpoint.

By removing Laine and adding Evans, St-Louis added a player with strong puck retrievals to the equation, which worked wonders for both Demidov and Newhook. Open ice is at a premium in the NHL, even more so in the playoffs. With Laine there, no one was focusing on puck retrievals, which means the line was dead in the water before they really got going.

Additionally, Evans is no speedster, but he does play with more pace than Laine, which also suited his new linemates, as they tend to play the game with a lot of speed.

Ideally, we’d be discussing more than just a handful of shifts from the new second line, but in the playoffs, decisions must be made with limited reassurances they’re sustainable, and in this particular case, Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis may have found a solution, temporary or not, that should make Friday’s crucial game at the Bell Centre a little easier to coach, and a lot easier to watch.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.