It was the best play of the first period, and, fittingly, it flew under the radar by nightâ€s end.
But before top-liners Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky scored beautiful goals to give the Montreal Canadiens a 2-0 lead in Tuesdayâ€s game, depth defenceman Alexandre Carrier eliminated a three-on-one rush with a perfectly timed slide to take away passing and shooting threats from a Seattle Kraken team desperate to create some.
They had been rocked to their heels by the Canadiens through the opening minutes at Climate Pledge Arena, but they sprung to their toes when Arber Xhekaj went for an ill-timed pinch at the offensive blue line and opened the space for Matty Beniers, Joshua Mahura and Berkly Catton to charge up the ice in possession of the puck.
Carrier, who was the only player back for Montreal, didnâ€t panic.
He scanned for back pressure from teammate Joe Veleno and saw he was getting it. Then he steadily closed on Beniers, who was carrying the puck. And, finally, he sharply cut the angle and blocked the shot.
This was Carrier making a hard play look easy, doing what heâ€s done a lot of since the start of the season and, in the process, exposing the greatest strength of a Canadiens team thatâ€s now 8-3-0 atop the Atlantic Division.
They are deep. And they are so deep and strong on the blue line that Carrier — who would be a reliable top-four defenceman on nearly every team in the league, and probably a top-pairing defenceman on a Nashville Predators that traded him to Montreal last season in what appears to be a massive blunder — is only playing the fourth-most minutes amongst Canadiens defenceman because Kaiden Guhle has missed the last six games with a groin injury.
With a 4-3 overtime win in Seattle, the Canadiens took their fourth of those six games. They had a chance to win all six, and it had much to do with captain Nick Suzuki putting up points in all of them as part of a league-leading 10-game streak, with Caufield and Slafkovsky filling the net, with the power play coming alive thanks to Ivan Demidovâ€s move to the first unit, with Mike Matheson and Noah Dobson forming a formidable first pair, with Lane Hutson accumulating six points, and with goaltender Jakub Dobes proving nearly unbeatable.
But the Canadiens wouldnâ€t have won four of them without Carrier stacking up all those unheralded but big plays in the background.
He is the symbol of their depth, as a player who appears to be in the right chair as a No. 4 defenceman — and a player who will be in a luxury recliner as a No. 5 upon Guhleâ€s return.
If that depth isnâ€t as evident for the Canadiens up front to some, third-line winger/centre Alex Newhook made it pop by scoring from the teamâ€s second power-play unit Tuesday to record his third goal and sixth point in the last five games.
That depth is what makes the Canadiens good, even if theyâ€re far from perfect.
The blemishes, which weâ€ve seen throughout this hot start to the season, appeared at the worst possible time Tuesday — after Newhookâ€s goal made it 3-0 Canadiens in the sixth minute of the third period.
Jayden Struble gave the Kraken life when he took a hooking penalty after foolishly trying to turn a two-on-three rush into a scoring chance instead of putting the puck deep.
Brandon Montour scored the first of two goals that bookmarked one by Shane Wright and, just like that, it was 3-3 with 1:43 remaining in regulation.
But Caufieldâ€s ninth goal of the season — the 11th of his career in overtime to become the Canadiens†all-time leader in overtime goals — punctuated an otherwise dominant performance from the whole team.
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“Iâ€d say it was pretty much a perfect 50 minutes,†Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis told reporters in attendance.
Thatâ€s what it looked like on TV, with his team speedily rolling over momentum from line to line and pairing to pairing.
The Kraken, who have played tight through the start of this season, played with the intention of stifling it. They tried to keep the Canadiens from skating, knowing from their earlier game against them at the Bell Centre that if you allow them to skate, they might just skate right through you.
After the Kraken allowed the Canadiens to score the first three goals, they had no choice but to risk letting the Canadiens skate. They traded chances and ended up capitalizing on theirs.
And then the Kraken gave up the last one to Caufield.
“I thought he was excellent on both sides of the puck,†said St. Louis. “He was crisp, and he defended hard. He had his fastball tonight.â€
Even Struble had his, with that one late mistake running completely counter to the rest of his performance.
Carrier has had his fastball since the start of the season.
He got unlucky with Montourâ€s shot banking off him for the power-play goal the Kraken scored while Struble was in the box, but that too was an outlier.
Without that play Carrier made in the first period, the Canadiens might not have won this game. And though that play couldâ€ve easily been forgotten after all the ones that followed it, it should be remembered.
Not just because it was great, but also because of who made it.
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