He made four consecutive victories for Montreal Canadians as they make an impressive push towards a place of playoffs. Canadians needed three consecutive goals in the third period to overcome the philadelphia 3-2 flyers closely. Montreal is now four points ahead of New York Rangers for Joker’s last point.
Wilde horses
It looked like a difficult night. The flyers played well. The Canadians were blocked. Everything changed in just over a minute at the start of the third period.
Two lines were changed because Josh Anderson’s wife had a baby. Suddenly, Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher met together. Gallagher transmitted it to Evans with a formidable pass two against one, but Evans missed.
They persisted. Evans has again won the washer. He fed Gallagher in front. Gallagher broke it high in the furthest corner. He caught the Canadiens’ crest when the crowd broke out for his 20th of the season. Montreal had finally linked it.
Shortly after, Lane Hutson took it over on the blue line. Usually he is looking for a pass here, and the defender also thought. The surprise was that he took him to the corner. Now, everyone in the building was thinking of passing. Hutson pulled in the upper shelving shelf. It was a horrible angle. Hutson found it.
A plan of the Canadian players’ bench showed that they were all essentially blunt that Hutson had marked from this angle. Even his teammates cannot believe what this child can achieve. Hutson with point n ° 63 of the season on goal number six.
It was still risky. The Canadians needed it later, but it didn’t seem good when they had to kill a penalty, until the captain took over. Nick Suzuki was alone, but managed to take a fly behind the net. He continued, still intact, fell on his knees, got up, pulled and counted his 83rd point of the season.
Suzuki did it. He finally reached this point set per game. He took the team on his shoulders. Since the breakup of the four nations, Suzuki has had 31 points in 20 games. He told his director general at the break: “Don’t sell anyone on the deadline. Let’s do the playoffs instead”. He may have led them to this promised land.
Another formidable story is that it was the first match for Oliver Kapanen after an exceptional season in Sweden. Kapanen collected 35 points in 36 games for Timra. One point per game is an absolute feat in the Defensive League for Swedish hockey. Only three players had one point per game throughout the league.
Kapanen fell just shy from the brand, but he had a great season. It was the first season when his attack finally pierced. Kapanen had two exceptional chances of maintaining the NHL offense in his return to the list of Canadians.
More than the chances, however, the full game he showed against the flyers. Kapanen brought so much intelligence to his game. He was still on the right side of the washer. He respected the need to make a low risk game to never put his comrades in difficulty.
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Kapanen was also able to win a lot of washer battles with a good balance and a good positioning. Everything about his game worked. He also had to play this first match in the middle where he was not looking at his place to take care of his own area for positioning.
This season, Owen Beck, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook and Kapanen have interviewed for this central position. From a purely 200 feet point of view, the best is Kapanen. Unlikely in attack, but in defense. Keep in mind, however, this is a small sample of a dozen games before Sweden and a match here.
Based on this, he will get more looks. It will be an interesting battle in the central position next season. If Kapanen is intelligent in the center, he will win this place with Newhook and Dach heading to the wings. The most important thing at the center is intelligence. Kapanen has it.
Wilde goats
At the NHL level, these are the little things that make the difference in success in relation to failure. An element that the best player has is a concept that duplicity is important. The fact that you are mistaken your opponent is absolutely vital for success.
The best example of this is Lane Hutson. The whole match, each match, Hutson deceives his opponent to make the wrong decision against him. His movement where he goes to the side while he skates the ice keeps telling his verifier that he will transmit it, but he does not do so. He sat him back, but he then had a whole ice sheet in front of him when he left his opponent behind him.
Nick Suzuki’s without look is another example. Suzuki learned the art of duplicity that has so much meant his success. Suzuki will often have the washer in the upper location on the right side where he seeks to shoot, but then goes to the left to a large Caufield or Patrik Laine Cole. The goalkeeper always tries to move laterally, but he is late because of this cunning.
This brings us to Juraj Slafkovsky who does so much good, and if he added this duplicity element to his game, it would mean so much. A perfect example was Slafkovsky in the second period he had a clear look at the net for a blow.
The blow was there. Some could even criticize him for not having fired from such a good place. However, there was nothing wrong with the pass to Suzuki on his left. It was a good choice. Suzuki was also open, but at 15 feet on the left, so the goalkeeper had a lot of work to do to get there.
This is where the problem comes into play. All the time, Slafkovsky tilted his body for a pass and also looked on the left for a pass. When the goalkeeper was already square in Suzuki, that was the reason. Slafkovsky has telegraphed its actions.
This is what experience brings. Soon, he will learn that what to do is to lower his head, to act as if he was going to shoot, watch the goalkeeper, watch this goalkeeper compete, then not watch Suzuki when he passes. The goalkeeper will not have a single chance of making the safeguard.
This is the difference between 1-0 and 1-1. This is the difference between winning and losing. This is the difference between a 50 -point season and a 75 -point season. He will understand. His line companion and his head coach probably already show him a film. It’s just a matter of time. He is only 21 years old.
Wilde cards
Although it is not guaranteed, it seems that the two draft choices of the Canadians in June will be the 16 and 17th in the general classification. The choice of Canadians may be the lowest team to make the playoffs. Calgary’s flames could be the best record so as not to make the playoffs.
Assuming these numbers in mid-adolescence, he leaves Canadians in an interesting place. It is not a good project in the middle of adolescence. It is not a Cole Eoyerman at 20 years old and Michael Hage at the 21 type of draft like last season. A strong drop of talent occurs towards the tenth choice.
Usually, at 16, the story records that there is a 60% success rate of the NHL player and eight% of star chance. This year, this could only be 40% of an NHL player.
This means that Canadians may not want to covet these choices as much as they normally do. It may be the year to use this capital project to be creative.
There are two options: use the first two to acquire a second line center via the players trade, or pack the first two for a higher first via a trade of choice.
The first option has already been discussed. It is a job that appeals to a reconstruction team that realizes that their list player will age before their team becomes viable again. This reconstruction team would try to transform the two choices into young players on the list.
Canadians do not need more list players. They need high -end players. The depth of Canadians on their NHL list and in their pool of prospects is the desire of the League.
The second option is a more difficult sale, but it is possible with perhaps sweetener as a perspective that Montreal can afford to deal with. GM Kent Hughes would try to combine the choice of 16, Pic 17 and a perspective to enter the top ten of the draft.
In this scenario, Hughes has a player in mind, so this business would probably be done on the draft plan in the first round. He would try to interest a team that should add three assets to this list abandoning an active higher -end in the process.
It all depends on the specific need. A reconstruction in his nascent scene needs players – many of them. A reconstruction approaching its maturity requires a targeted asset. This objective for Montreal is a second -line center. If you are available of better quality at eight or nine places, it is a job that can work for everyone.
The first five are untouchable. No one will conclude an agreement with Hughes abandoning Michael Schaefer, Michael Misa, James Hagens, Porter Martone or Anton Frondell. The second level, however, has good talent. There are exciting targets there, but these targets will have disappeared at the 16 choice.
It’s going to be an interesting summer. These first two will be at stake. Hughes will try to use its volume of choice and prospects to target this second line center which raises Canadians to a serious competitor.