Senators-Canadian | Slafkovský’s mea culpa

Nick Suzuki is 25 years old and has 375 games of NHL experience. Cole Caufield, 23 years old and 207 games of experience.

But at the height of his 20 years and his 123 matches, Juraj Slafkovský takes on his shoulders the difficulties of his trio in the first two matches of the season.

“It starts with me. I have to play more intensely, be better on the forecheck to recover more pucks and allow us to control it more in the offensive zone. We didn’t have that in the first two matches,” said Slafkovský on Saturday morning.

This was documented this week, the three sidekicks struggled against the Maple Leafs and Bruins. As a reminder, the Habs were dominated 11-1 at 5-5 scoring chances when Slafkovský, Suzuki and Caufield were on the ice.

“It’s a question of work. I think too much on the ice, I play too conservatively and my feet don’t move enough. We talked about it, I know what to do. I was just asleep,” the big Slovak continued.

Martin St-Louis, however, opted for stability at Saturday’s morning skate in preparation for the evening’s duel against the Ottawa Senators. The first three lines remained unchanged, after St-Louis dismantled its first unit during the game Thursday in Boston.

“I changed the lines during the match because I had a gut feelingexplained the head coach. It’s early in the season, there’s no time to panic. »

St-Louis’ analysis of the Suzuki trio’s difficulties, however, is in line with what Slafkovský deplored. “When it works, if they don’t have a surplus, they send the puck deep into the opposing zone and activate the forecheck. They set up in the offensive zone, they are balanced and there is a guy at the net, usually Slafkovský,” said St-Louis.

The forecheck was also at the heart of the message from St-Louis. He talked about it often last year and obviously needs to make some reminders. “Sometimes guys want to win, they want success, they want the home run when it’s not there. The ball to hit a home run will be there eventually. »

Anderson’s new mission

Josh Anderson is clearly not one of the players targeted by Martin St-Louis. “He’s one of the players who was there in Boston,” judged the coach.

Anderson showed up in the locker room after Saturday’s practice, and unlike last season, where every interview was essentially a session of self-flagellation, he had some positive things to comment on.

Anderson, for example, broke the ice in the second game by scoring against the Bruins on Thursday. Last year, he scored his first goal of the season on December 4, at his 25^e match.

But beyond production, Anderson is also entitled to a new mandate: shorthanded play.

“I’ve always loved that aspect of the game. I did it in Columbus and pretty much my whole career. When I got here, other guys were doing it. I’m happy to start again,” noted the tall right-hander.

St-Louis sees “a good skater, who covers a lot of ice”, to justify the employment of Anderson at 4 against 5. “Since I have been here, he played a little more offensive role, but our team is comes deeper offensively, so we have to readjust the role of certain players. I had a good chat with Andy, it’s a role he wants to play. When a player wants this responsibility, you know he will do it the right way. »

It now remains to be seen if all these beautiful people will succeed in uniting their efforts to finally overcome the Senators, winners of the last nine duels against the Canadian. One thing seems clear: St-Louis does not intend to use this long streak of failure to challenge its players.

Read “Ottawa Senators: finally a goalie…finally the playoffs? »