Mailbag: Canadiens' slow start, Rangers' puck control

Here is the Nov. 13 edition of the weekly NHL.com mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on X. Send your questions to @drosennhl and @NHLdotcom and tag it with #OvertheBoards.

What do the 'Habs' need to do to shake themselves out of this funk they seem to be in? -- @swandad

Maybe the Montreal Canadiens shook out of their funk with a 7-5 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday. No matter how it happened, losing leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 4-3, you have to give the Canadiens credit for gutting it out and finding a way. Maybe they found some of the offense they've been missing, or, at the very least, the offensive mindset they've been trying to attain for the past few weeks. Coach Martin St. Louis talked about that after practice Sunday. The win in Buffalo ended a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) that saw the Canadiens get outscored 29-12. Maybe the emotion they showed in coming back from down 5-4 in the third period after giving up two goals in the first 3:51 of that period is the sign of life that the Canadiens most desperately needed. These are good things and building blocks for a team that has obviously struggled to come back in games. Montreal is 0-7-2 when giving up the first goal and 0-7-1 when down after the first period.

However, it's not exactly the kind of win that will allow St. Louis to sleep easier. The Canadiens' fragility showed up in a big way against the Sabres. They took a 2-1 lead on Cole Caufield's goal at 5:26 of the second period, but they were down 3-2 just 78 seconds later. Nick Suzuki scored twice in the final minute of the second period to give Montreal a 4-3 lead and all the momentum going into intermission, but it was 5-4 Buffalo less than four minutes into the third period. The Canadiens came back again, but maybe that also has something to do with the Sabres' fragility and their inability to put a game away. There's something to be said for that.

The Canadiens needed to come out for the third period respecting their one-goal lead and protecting it. They needed to come out with the mindset that if they just win a 20-minute period they win the game. Of course, they eventually did win it, but they made it harder than it needed to be. But it's better to learn a lesson in a win than to learn it in a loss. Does that mean it's enough to snap out of the funk they've been in? We'll find out Thursday, when they play against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center (8 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, TSN2, RDS).

What are the Rangers going to do to get TOUGHER? They are still too weak and need to be stronger on the puck and along the boards. They need more grit or they will get knocked out of the playoffs again. -- @AntHonY_9779

It's funny you asked this because it's been a topic of conversation among myself and some of the writers who cover the Rangers. The good news is they're 9-4-1, so they're banking points even when they're not even close to being at their best. I also don't think it's about toughness or strength on the puck; I think it's about controlling the puck and, when they lose it, being in position to get it back so they can attack again. The Rangers need to improve at turning defense into offense instead of turning the puck over after they just played defense. They lost 6-3 to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday and four of the goals against came on plays that happened after turnovers, including three by Mika Zibanejad. Their zone-exit struggles have been evident, although I think they were better against Winnipeg. They need to play a more straight-lined approach when they forecheck. The word aggressive gets tossed around a lot; it's not about just aggression, it's about smart aggression, as in forechecking to get the puck back instead of just forechecking forward without a plan and losing structure in the middle of the ice. The Rangers need to do more of the former. They're too often reliant on their goalies to bail them out. Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick can do that and they have plenty already this season, but it's not a recipe for sustained success, especially when it's a flurry of high-danger chances each game. I'm not saying anything coach Peter Laviolette hasn't addressed already with his team and with the media.

I do think the Rangers need more of a shot-blocking, bruising presence on their back end; a reliable, predictable defenseman who can eat some minutes and some pucks, be smart when he gets it and has a solid enough first pass to help with exiting the defensive zone. That might be on general manager Chris Drury's shopping list as we get closer to the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline on March 7, but for now the Rangers have to be better at everything I mentioned above.

If the NHL was to expand, what cities should be considered? -- @MrEd315

Expansion is not currently a frontburner topic for the NHL. That doesn't mean the League wouldn't consider it, as Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the Board of Governors meeting in New York on Oct. 1.

"We feel no compulsion to [expand] right now," Bettman said. "We just came off our most successful season in our history. We've got collective bargaining to deal with. We've got new media arrangements to do in Canada. If something came in and checked all the boxes, and we felt that it might make sense, we might consider it but we're not there right now."

Bettman also said the topic of expansion never came up at that meeting before the season began. The League, however, continues to get what the commissioner has labeled "expressions of interest" from prospective owners and markets. In February at All-Star Weekend in Toronto, he said that groups from Houston, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska have shown interest. Quebec City also continues to have an interest. Arizona could be a possibility pending ownership and the prospects of a new arena.

It's premature to say which of those markets would be the best, if any, because there are a lot of factors that go into it, among them strength of ownership, arena situation, strength of television market and strength of fan interest and engagement. For now, the NHL is set at 32 teams and the League is flourishing.

Will the Capitals get an outdoor game next year with Alex Ovechkin potentially breaking Wayne Gretzky's goal record? -- @GLaSnoST9

It's too soon to know about outdoor games next season. We'll find out more on that later this season. However, the Capitals have played in four of them, with Ovechkin appearing in three, so it's not as if they or him are starving for it even if it would be fun to be in another one. They are one of nine teams that have played in at least four outdoor games. They have been the home team for two of them, at Nationals Park in the 2015 Winter Classic and at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland in the 2018 Stadium Series. They played at the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field. Ovechkin missed the 2023 Stadium Series game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Carter-Finley Stadium.

More importantly, the Capitals don't need an outdoor game to celebrate Ovechkin eventually becoming the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer. There will be arguably more intrigue in Ovechkin's chase for Gretzky's record when he gets to within 10 goals or closer than there would be in Washington playing in an outdoor game. The celebration will be huge when Ovechkin does eventually tie and then break Gretzky's record. And, since you asked about what could happen next season, I'll counter with what has become obvious in the past few weeks:

Ovechkin could break the record this season.

He has been one of the great stories of the first month of this season. He has 10 goals in 14 games. He's scoring at a 58-goal pace. He needs 31 goals to tie, 32 to break it. At his current pace, Ovechkin will tie or break Gretzky's record in late February or early March. The Capitals have a five-game homestand from Feb. 23-March 3. Even if his pace slows to a 40-goal pace, Ovechkin could still break the record this season. That's when the celebration will happen.

The one thing Ovechkin and the Capitals have not done is play in a game overseas. They're one of six current teams that have not played an international game (Utah is one of them, but the Arizona Coyotes played two games in Prague in 2010).