Canadiens’ youngest players must calm nerves to be difference-makers vs. Capitals

BROSSARD, Que. — It was a trip down memory lane for Martin St. Louis that provided some relevant foreshadowing for what his young, inexperienced players will face in the coming days.

The coach of the Montreal Canadiens was asked on Saturday about the first Stanley Cup Playoff games of his Hall-of-Fame playing career, and he immediately outlined the pitfalls of inexperience and youth.

“I was very excited,” St. Louis said. “It was against Washington, like (Jaromir) Jagr, (Sergei) Gonchar, and we lost our first two games, and I think I was too excited.”

It was only normal that would be the case, even for a 26-year-old St. Louis who had already accumulated 282 games of NHL experience. 

He grew up watching the Canadiens in the playoffs from his home in Laval, Que., and spent the first five years of his NHL career dreaming about playing in them. Then, in those first two games in Tampa Bay, up against legends like Jagr and Gonchar, the anticipation of the moment spiked his adrenaline and blurred his focus. 

St. Louis had it locked in to score 33 goals and add 37 assists during that 2002-03 regular season, but he played close to 20 minutes in Game 1, over 21 in Game 2, and emerged with only one assist through those losses.

“But I calmed down,” St. Louis said, “and we won four straight.”

He scored five goals, added three assists and was arguably the biggest reason the Lightning won the series, and that’s a story he’ll undoubtedly share with the team he’s now coaching — if he hasn’t already.

The Canadiens are the youngest team entering these playoffs. They’re flying to Washington to play a hardened and experienced Capitals team captained by the greatest goal scorer of all time in Alex Ovechkin, and their most inexperienced players will have to be difference makers for them to pull off an upset.

There’s only one way 19-year-old Ivan Demidov, 21-year-olds Juraj Slafkovsky and Lane Hutson and 23-year-old Kaiden Guhle can do that.

“I truly believe you’ve got to be in control,” said St. Louis. “I feel like once you understand that, I think you just kind of play the game versus forcing the game because you’re up here emotionally.”

It might take a game or two for those four inexperienced players to understand that. 

But if that’s all it takes, the Canadiens will have a better chance than most people are giving them against the Capitals.

It should be the biggest challenge for Demidov, who’s the youngest of the group and only has two games of NHL experience.

You’d never know it from the way he’s handled himself since coming over from Russia a little over a week ago. As St. Louis said, he appeared to be among the least stressed players while the Canadiens were scratching and clawing to clinch a playoff berth, and the kid, who registered a goal and an assist through the first three shifts of his NHL career, also seemed completely unfettered by the media attention he received just 48 hours from his first playoff game.

With questions flying at him in a language he barely speaks on Saturday, Demidov remained calm and answered each one with a smile on his face.

When asked what impact he hoped to have in the most meaningful games of his life to date, he said, “I think the Habs is a good team, and I just want to help to win.”

“I will bring the energy,” Demidov added. “I just want to help.” 

With the hockey sense, skating, hands, and deception that saw him chosen fifth overall by the Canadiens in the 2024 Draft, he can certainly help.

Demidov showed it as a rookie in the KHL — posting the most regular-season points ever recorded by a player under 20 years old before leading SKA Saint Petersburg with three goals and two assists in six playoff games — and he showed it in his NHL debut. 

What might help Demidov show it immediately in the playoffs is, he hasn’t waited five years to play in them.

“Sometimes the youth is a little naïve,” said St. Louis, “not preoccupied about the stress of it.”

And sometimes the stress brings out the best in some players.

Slafkovsky was chosen first overall by the Canadiens in 2022 because he’s one of those players who performs well under pressure.

He’s faced plenty of it since he left home and was fending for himself at 14 years old. Slafkovsky played unflinchingly under the spotlight of being a 16-year-old on Slovakia’s national team, and he was then a dominant player in a subsequent World Championship and Olympic Games before being drafted by the Canadiens.

His best games with them have been their most pressure-packed ones—like Wednesday’s playoff-clinching win over the Carolina Hurricanes, in which Slafkovsky made the difference.

The six-foot-four, 225-pound winger was hard on the forecheck, poised with the puck on his stick, and productive, which is exactly what he needs to be in Washington come Monday.

“I think (playoffs will provide) the opportunity for him to play to his strengths,” said St. Louis. “And I think he’s matured in that regard and will need to continue to gain consistency in playing to his strengths, but the playoffs afford him that opportunity.”

Guhle last played playoffs in junior, with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League.

But the Canadiens’ bruising blue-liner wouldn’t compare that experience with the one he’s about to receive.

“I don’t really know what to expect, to be honest,” Guhle said on Friday. “I’ve played playoff games before, but obviously the NHL’s a little bit of a different animal. You watch it on TV, but it’s different a bit when you’re out there on the ice. I assume it’s going to be fast-paced and the guys are going to be finishing hits; it’s playoff hockey, guys are desperate, teams are desperate, and I’m sure it’ll be fun. I’m excited.”

Hutson is, too, as he prepares to line up with Guhle for their first-ever playoff game as a defence pairing.

Hutson can flip this series by himself if he can be as—if not even more—effective as he was in accumulating 66 points and tying Larry Murphy for the most assists (60) ever recorded in an NHL season by a rookie defenceman, and he’ll do that if he can not only escape the pressure he puts on himself but also navigate the pressure the Capitals are about to put on him.

“Guys have been coming the last couple of games, I feel, and as the season was going on I felt it more and more,” Hutson said on Friday, before suggesting being hunted—as he’s always been as an undersized defenceman at every other level—didn’t bother him all too much.

“Honestly, it’s more the mental sharpness that slipped a little bit the last couple (games),” Hutson said. 

“But I’m refreshed and I’m excited for the new season.”

Hutson, Guhle, Slafkovsky and Demidov are fortunate they’ll have plenty of help navigating it.

Nick Suzuki was in their skates in 2020 and led the Canadiens in scoring in the bubble playoffs. He and rookie Cole Caufield were dynamite to help the team reach the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, and they learned a lot from veterans Shea Weber, Carey Price, Eric Staal and Corey Perry that they can pass along to the new generation.

Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia and Josh Anderson were all big parts of the 2021 team, too, and they remain big parts of this one. 

And though there’s a 10-year gap between 34-year-old David Savard and 24-year-old Alex Newhook, they both bring Cup-winning experience to the Canadiens’ room.

It’s a good mix, with St. Louis and his relatively inexperienced coaching staff (with Trevor Letowski and Stephane Robidas), possessing tons of playoff memories to share.

The coach knows his players have to go through their own experiences and build their own memories, and he’s excited to watch them do it.

“It’ll be my first time seeing my team in the playoffs, and seeing if they’re able to raise their individual games to another level,” he said. “That’s usually what happens in playoffs.”

Quick hits

• Brendan Gallagher only took part in the first portion of Canadiens practice, but St. Louis said there was no concern regarding his availability for the series.

• Power-play units from the final regular-season game remained intact for Montreal’s first special-teams practice ahead of the playoffs. 

Hutson, Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky and Patrik Laine still make up the first one, while Suzuki, Demidov, Newhook, Gallagher and Mike Matheson are all still on the second one.

There may not be changes to the personnel, but there better be changes to the results.

• Speaking of changes the Canadiens need to see, one from Laine would help. 

He had just two goals and two points over his last 10 games, but is confident he can raise his game as of Monday.

“Yeah, I’ll turn it up,” Laine said. “Regular season’s a different thing, but playoffs is a different kind of animal and always, always, always get fired up. Playoffs are big games overall, and national team (games) or whatever has always kind of been the switch for me. So I’m just excited to turn it on, on Monday.”

if (!res.ok) { throw new Error('Failed to fetch odds data'); }

const data = await res.json(); const oddsData = data?.data?.game?.details?.current_line; const visitingTeam = data?.data?.game?.visiting_team; const visitingTeamLogo = data?.data?.game?.visiting_team?.image_url_90; const homeTeam = data?.data?.game?.home_team; const homeTeamLogo = data?.data?.game?.home_team?.image_url_90; const gameTimestamp = data?.data?.game?.details?.timestamp;

return { oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp }; }

async function renderBetMGM(componentId, league, gameId) { let oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp, error;

const container = document.getElementById(componentId + '-odds'); if (!container) return;

try { ({ oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp } = await fetchOddsData(league, gameId)); } catch (err) { error = err.message; }

if (error) { container.innerHTML = `

Error: ${error}

`; return; }

if (!oddsData) { container.innerHTML = `

Odds data not available

`; return; }

let gameDate = new Date(gameTimestamp * 1000); const gameDateFormatted = gameDate.toLocaleDateString('en-US', { year: 'numeric', month: 'long', day: 'numeric' });

container.innerHTML = `

BetMGM Odds

${gameDateFormatted}

VS

Moneyline

${visitingTeam.short_name}

${oddsData.away_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.away_money}` : oddsData.away_money}

${homeTeam.short_name}

${oddsData.home_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.home_money}` : oddsData.home_money}

Spread

${oddsData.fav_id === visitingTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_points : oddsData.fav_points > 0 ? `-${oddsData.fav_points}` : `+${Math.abs(oddsData.fav_points)}`}

${oddsData.fav_id === visitingTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.fav_money}` : oddsData.fav_money : oddsData.underdog_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.underdog_money}` : oddsData.underdog_money}

${oddsData.fav_id === homeTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_points : oddsData.fav_points > 0 ? `-${oddsData.fav_points}` : `+${Math.abs(oddsData.fav_points)}`}

${oddsData.fav_id === homeTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.fav_money}` : oddsData.fav_money : oddsData.underdog_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.underdog_money}` : oddsData.underdog_money}

Over/Under

O ${oddsData.total}

${oddsData.over_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.over_money}` : oddsData.over_money}

U ${oddsData.total}

${oddsData.under_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.under_money}` : oddsData.under_money}

Powered by

${gameDateFormatted}

VS

Powered by

`; }

// Example usage renderBetMGM('block_bb2475b2716adf5c4507c61422b2fe4a', 'NHL', '996b6242-f19a-4d40-ac4e-71fe4af5cd29');

• On facing Ovechkin, his childhood idol, Laine said, “Doesn’t matter, couldn’t care less.”

• Demidov said he watched Ovechkin a lot as a kid, but said Evgeni Malkin was a player he was more invested in.

• Lines and defence pairings, with Gallagher already in Montreal’s room when rushes were being taken:

Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky
Kapanen*-Dvorak-Anderson
Laine-Newhook-Demidov
Heineman-Evans-Armia

Matheson-Carrier
Guhle-Hutson
Struble-Savard

Montembeault

More from Sportsnet

Canadiens’ power play can make or break series vs. Capitals

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Preview: Capitals vs. Canadiens