Canadian 7 – Sabers 5 | The good voices in Slafkovsky’s head

(Buffalo) It was a scene like we’ve seen too little of this season.

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The music and screams coming from the Canadiens locker room before the doors opened. Relaxed players, who slip between the television cameras, slice of pizza in hand. Jayden Struble going shirtless, a form of silent coercion for journalists who aren’t frequent enough at the gym.

And above all, the players who tease each other, an element that was lost in the recent series of defeats, a lethargy whose silence was the soundtrack, whether in the locker room after defeats or on the ice during practices.

“Don’t let go, Slaf!” », shouts a player to Juraj Slafkovsky, during his press scrum. “Ah, shut up,” retorts the Slovak.

Such was life in the Habs locker room, after a 7-5 victory over the Sabres, a victory which ended a series of six straight defeats.

Slafkovsky was among the clearly relieved players. Unusually sullen during his meetings with the media in recent weeks, he had rediscovered his good nature and candor which led supporters to adopt him, journalists to count on him for good copy.

Slafkovsky had three assists, including two on Nick Suzuki’s two goals, scored in the same shift 22 seconds apart. “I was good at forechecking, I skated more and I was rewarded with points. When I skate, when I use my physique, when I play with heaviness, the rest follows,” he said.

Slafkovsky was particularly happy with his effort on Suzuki’s second goal, a sequence in which he took to his heels to chase down a loose puck.

« Il [Owen Power] slipped, but it happens. But I made the right decision to cross the ice and go in support. It paid off. »

He also said that a good pre-match discussion with Martin St-Louis put him back on the right path. “When you have a few bad games in a row, you think too much. Martin talked to me about it, he told me: don’t think about anything. I have to think of his voice, in my head, to listen to him. I was trying to focus on the things we talked about. It works. »

So it’s better to have the coach’s voice in mind than your own, we ask him.

“Oh, you don’t want my voice in your head!” »

“He is young, there is heaviness in what we are going through individually and collectively,” St-Louis said. I try to have conversations with the players, to keep things in perspective. It’s only one match, but I’m happy for Slaf. »

Work to be done

As the coach says, it’s just one game. The CH is far from being out of the woods.

St-Louis recently congratulated itself on the fact that its team tightened up its defensive play after the 6-3 disappointment in Washington. And it is true that Montrealers have reduced the shots allowed recently. With the 18 shots allowed Monday, it was the fourth time in five games that they have allowed 27 shots or fewer.

Except that what they don’t give in quantity, they give in quality, which allows for example Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka to find themselves practically alone in front of the goalkeeper. In the last 7 games, Montreal has allowed 34 goals.

So it’s far from perfect, but there are certainly sources of encouragement for the leaders between now and the next match on Thursday. The main one: the offensive successes of the leaders of the attack. Two goals for Caufield, four points for Suzuki, the aforementioned three assists from Slafkovsky, the two assists from Dach.

We emphasize this because at the end of the day, whether the Canadian is in the game, in the race, in the “mix”, in the mixture, whatever the expression, the development of the pillars of the attack matters. more. As long as the leaders do not openly aim for participation in the series, progression will go through individual improvements which, one day, will form a whole capable of amassing around a hundred points in the rankings.

However, in recent weeks, Dach, Slafkovsky, Caufield, Suzuki and other Alex Newhook showed signs of regression, to the point where Dach was brought back to the wing.

Consequently, with a center line composed, behind Suzuki, of Jake Evans, Christian Dvorak and Lucas Condotta, the Canadian is not developing much for the future these days.

In this sense, any form of success, with such numbers, will constitute a form of diachylon. There remains a gaping hole in the center behind Suzuki.

For now, they can enjoy a rare victory. But the future at the center position will sooner or later have to become clearer.

In detail

Guardians looking for each other

As in the 1980s, 12 goals were scored and a goalkeeper had an assist on one goal. It was indeed not a great year for goalkeepers on Monday. The two starters, Cayden Primeau and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, finished their day sitting on the bench. The four masked men in this duel totaled only 29 saves on 40 shots, for an efficiency of .725. The situation is starting to be worrying for the Canadian. After 16 games, this is already the third time that Martin St-Louis has come out and replaced his starting goalie. The team obviously makes many defensive errors which lead, for example, to the 2 on 1 which allowed Peyton Krebs to score, but the fact remains that the masked men offered too few above-normal performances, as had been done Samuel Montembeault in curtain raiser. St. Louis refused to blame its goalkeepers. “It’s a team sport. I don’t single out any players,” he replied when asked about them.

Whose first unit?

At the start of the second period, the Habs were treated to 31 seconds of a two-man power play when Bowen Byram was punished for sending the puck into the stands. A few seconds earlier, the members of the first unit returned to the bench to make room for the second unit. For the faceoff that began the 5 on 3, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky were back, but it was Lane Hutson and not Mike Matheson who accompanied them. Less than five seconds later, Caufield redirected a Hutson pass shot to score. The five-man attack then scored in the third period with Matheson at the point, but it’s interesting to note that since the start of the season, the power play has been more productive with Hutson on the ice (9.18 goals per 60 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick) than with Matheson (7.95 goals/60 minutes).

Another injured…

After Anthony Mantha and Max Pacioretty, two other rivals of the Canadian fell in battle. It’s like there’s a curse! Tage Thompson had to leave the match with a lower body injury, as did defender Mattias Samuelsson. Losing Thompson would be brutal for the Sabres; we could see his skating and puck handling skills on the Sabres’ first goal. His absence would be all the more damning as the great American bounced back this season with 18 points, including 11 goals, in 16 games. The 94-point 2022-2023 campaign was wide-eyed, but he slowed down last year with 56 points. Sabers head coach Lindy Ruff had no recent injury updates after the game.