Canadiens’ Oliver Kapanen off to strong start as rookie goals leader

MONTREAL — Rookie sensation Ivan Demidov has met his lofty expectations with a hot start to the season for the Montreal Canadiens.

His fellow first-year linemate, meanwhile, might be surpassing them.

Oliver Kapanen leads all NHL rookies with six goals through 15 games after scoring once and adding an assist in Saturday’s 6-2 win over the Utah Mammoth, helping Montreal improve to 10-3-2.

The production — Kapanen also has four assists — might surprise some, but not his coach or teammates.

“He’s a great player. I’m not really surprised,” said linemate Alex Newhook. “We all knew what he’s capable of doing here, and he’s been proving it early on.

“Gets to the right area, scores in those spots where he’s getting to, and it’s been great.”

Head coach Martin St. Louis highlighted Kapanen’s intelligence on the ice, crediting the 22-year-old Swede for producing while playing a responsible 200-foot game.

“He’s a very smart player, and he does all that without cheating, without just looking for those things,” St. Louis said. “I think that Kappy, one of his great qualities, he plays the game that’s in front of him, he does the actions that the game requires.

“It’s rare that you aren’t rewarded, offensively, when you have the tools. And he has the tools … I’m happy with how he’s getting that production offensively. He doesn’t do that at the cost of not doing the job on the other side of the ice.”

Last season, Kapanen had just two assists in 18 regular-season games and one assist in three playoff contests. The six-foot-two, 194-pound centre spent most of the year in the Swedish Hockey League, where he posted 35 points in 36 games.

Would he have believed he’d lead all rookies in goals through 15 games?

“Yes and no,” he said. “It’s just rolling well now and when I get chances I put the puck in the net, so it’s rolling well and of course playing with a good line, get some good chances so it helps a lot.”

Kapanen’s production is part of a larger trend of secondary scoring from the Canadiens, who can now rely on more than just the top line of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky to score goals.

The second line of Kapanen, Newhook and Demidov has combined for 16 goals and 35 points through 15 games, including two goals and five points on Saturday.

Kapanen and Demidov combined on Montreal’s first goal with a give-and-go. Newhook later produced the highlight of the night by deking between J.J. Peterka’s legs on a rush before ripping a wrist shot to give Montreal a 3-2 lead in the second period.

Kirby Dach, meanwhile, scored on a breakaway late to make it 6-2 with his fourth goal in three games.

“It’s big,” Newhook said. “You need depth in this league. It’s hard to win without it, and when you’re getting production from every line, it’s hard for teams to be able to defend that all the way down the lineup, so it’s good when everyone’s rolling.”

COLD CAUFIELD

Not to be overlooked, Caufield scored twice to take the NHL goal-scoring lead with 12 on the season. And both goals came from sharp angles near the goal line.

Caufield squeaked the puck between the post and Vejmelka’s glove in the second period before jamming a puck into the net short-side a second time to make it 4-2 in the third.

“I’d rather shoot from above the goal-line,” he said with a smile. “Sometimes the puck just gets down there and you make a read.

“He also catches the other way, so I’d say if it’s his blocker, there’s no chance that’s going in, but we do a lot of pre-scouting. Not a high-percentage look, but it sometimes goes in.”

SHUT IT DOWN

The Canadiens have had trouble holding on to third-period leads this season, including Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss to New Jersey when Montreal led 3-2 late.

This time, the Canadiens entered the third up 3-2 and piled on with three more goals.

“Our best third period of the year,” goalie Sam Montembeault said. “We kept playing against them, we kept applying pressure and they were down by a goal, so they were going to try to force something.

“Just had to wait for them to make mistakes and we capitalized on the other end.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2025.