The Montreal Canadiens continue to win even without their captain and top-line center, Nick Suzuki. Since it was announced that he would miss two to four weeks, the Canadiens have won three straight road games and will be looking to make it four on Thursday night against the Dallas Stars.
Even though they keep winning, it doesn't mean that head coach Martin St. Louis isn't afraid to make changes in hopes of getting better production. One of those changes appears to be who has been replacing Suzuki in the middle of Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, with Alex Newhook on the top line during practice on Wednesday.
Through the first three games, it has been Oliver Kapanen who missed the start of the season and has been hoping to bounce back after a disappointing end to last season. However, this line combination hasn't played great, with just over 30 minutes of 5v5 time a CF% of 55%, but only 14 scoring chances together on the ice, compared to their opponents having 16.
Kapanen also has struggled in the faceoff circle and after a win percentage of 61% in his first game on the top line, he has a win percentage of only 31.6% in the last two games.
Alex Newhook has one objective moving onto this top line
For Alex Newhook, the objective is clear, and that is to try to get Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky going. While Caufield does have four goals this season, he has not scored since Nick Suzuki was ruled out with the injury. The Canadiens forward is also averaging less shots on goal, with only 2.33 over the past three games, compared to 3.56 in the first nine games.
As for Slafkovsky, he is off to a slow start with or without Suzuki as he has only two goals so far this season. He just isn't connecting with the shots he is getting and his shooting percentage is more than 10 percentage points lower than last season at 6.3% compared to 16.7%.
The Canadiens have been fortunate during these last three games to get production up and down the roster, from the fourth line to their blueline. However, they can't always rely on that, and they really need more from their top line.
Teams typically don't want to mess with their lines when they are winning but this is a move that makes a lot of sense. It is one that should help the Candaiens top forwards get going and keep stacking wins without their captain.
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