We recognize good teams by their ability to get back up after a difficult evening. The day after a bitter setback at the hands of the Maple Leafs, that’s what the Canadian did against the Rangers. It is thanks to the resilience that we know more and more about him that he succeeded.
Four times, Martin St-Louis’ troops closed a one-goal gap to finally score 5-4 in overtime.
When we talk about an important victory, it’s quite one since Canadiens and Rangers are both involved in the race for a place in the playoffs.
Beyond Patrik Laine, who continued to add members to his fan club by scoring the winning goal, the Habs owe this victory to the work of their first trio. Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky buzzed around enemy territory all night. According to the naturalstattrick website, this unit’s puck possession index rose to nearly 81%. It’s huge.
Photo Martin Chevalier
By knocking on the door, Suzuki and Slafkovsky ended up getting the better of Jonathan Quick. Moreover, the big Slovak is starting to be more physically involved again. He creates space, rushes towards the net and comes out of the corners of the ice with the puck.
We have the impression of seeing Slafkovsky again in the second half of the season last year. Apparently he has the fall blues.
Dobes plie, mais ne casse pas
After making many eyes widen in his first four starts with the Canadian, Dobes returned to the Bell Center. Let’s say that the Czech goalkeeper will have mixed memories of it.
The rookie allowed as many goals against the Rangers as he had allowed to his first four opponents. In his defense, there wasn’t much he could do on any of those goals.
The Rangers tried hard to rush towards his semi-circle, trying to take him out of his comfort zone. At this level, Dobes got to know Chris Kreider.
-The American, to whom Canadian fans have never forgiven his collision with Carey Price during the 2014 playoffs, stood in front of his face all evening.
That’s where he was when Mika Zibanejad beat Dobes with a shot from the top of the slot on the power play. The Canadian goalkeeper didn’t see anything. Kreider had his feet practically in the same place when he accepted Adam Fox’s handoff to score. The difference is that this time, the American didn’t have a cat around him.
But hey. As Wayne Gretzky already said about Grant Fuhr, the important thing is that your goalie makes the last save. This is what Dobes gave his teammates by being smoking on two occasions during overtime. This is another example of resilience.
When the sheriff gets angry
It seemed like there was something important at stake. Even though both teams were in action the day before, we were treated to intense and combative play. In the first half of the match, almost every stoppage in play was followed by bickering and arguing. No one wanted to give an inch to the opponent.
Getty Images via AFP
Which led, at the start of the second period, to what everyone expected to see: a fight between Arber Xhekaj and Matt Rempe. The colossus of the Rangers took it for his cold, even if he was the first to throw away the gloves. The Canadian strongman hit him solidly on a few occasions. With both hands too. An unequivocal victory which lifted the Bell Center and the Canadiens bench.
Parions by Georges Laraque will call the New York giant to offer him a few more boxing lessons.
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