A young coach could have been carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment.
Posted at 11:32
But Martin St-Louis is no ordinary young coach. Despite the joy in his locker room, the coach has dampened the enthusiasm of some. “I can’t wait to see them in normality. A match like that, you have energy just to set foot in the building. »
In some ways, Wednesday’s opener could be reminiscent of that spectacular 10-2 victory in last season’s final game, or Ryan Poehling’s three-goal night in his first career NHL game. , few years ago.
We can rejoice in the brilliant show and the fine plays of certain players, obviously, but avoid getting carried away a little too quickly, like this premature poll on TV after the game: “Will the Canadian surprise this season? “.
Normality will be this Wednesday evening in November, in Columbus, the day after a home game against Buffalo, when David Savard will have his 22, 23-minute matches in his legs chasing the best opposing lines; that January Tuesday in Nashville when Mike Hoffman made some turnovers and found himself on the ice for lack of anything better; when Jake Allen won’t be so transcendent, overwhelmed by an unusual workload; when Arber Xhekaj and Jordan Harris will be out of breath for a few weeks after the holidays.
But let’s not spoil our pleasure for the moment. Even if young veterans, Josh Anderson and Sean Monahan, scored the important goals in the third period, it is necessary to underline the contribution of the young people in this unexpected victory against the Leafs.
At just 23, Nick Suzuki could have been slowed down by the weight of his captaincy. On the contrary, he was the catalyst on offense: two passes, three shots, three blocked shots, 57% efficiency rate on face-offs, 21:24 of use time, three minutes more than his closest pursuer in this regard.
Cole Caufield, 21, has 72 goals in 64 games with the American Development Program, 49 goals in 67 games with Wisconsin, NCAA and five goals in eight games with the Rocket, AHL. His two goals on Thursday bring his production to 24 goals in 38 games under Martin St-Louis. And not ordinary goals. Shots of rare power that beat goalkeepers with speed. Are there still skeptics in the room?
No one seemed to remind 20-year-old Kaiden Guhle that this was his first career National League game. Guhle played 22:34, most of the time against Matthews’ line, and plenty on the penalty kill.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Kaiden Guhlé
When a reporter at intermission asked David Savard to explain his contribution to young people as a veteran, Savard replied with humility that young people did not need him so much. A direct flower for his partner Guhle, and he wasn’t entirely wrong…
Three players, Suzuki, Caufield and Guhle, drafted between 13e and the 15e rank. How having a top five pick can in some ways lower the failure rate, but there are still pearls before the 20e rank when we make the right choices.
After experiencing an uneven camp, another youngster, Jordan Harris, 22, showed a lot of stability in defense, and even allowed himself freedom on offense, as evidenced by his four shots. Harris was just 19 seconds from the 20-minute mark, the third most-used defender after Guhle and Savard. He had never played so many in ten games last season, his best being 17:56 against Ottawa on April 5.
Harris formed with Jonathan Kovacevic, more unequal that one, the second pair of defense. Chris Wideman and Arber Xhekaj were used sparingly. Wideman played 11 minutes at five against five, the lowest tally among the club’s six defenders.
At his baptism too, Juraj Slafkovsky did not do badly. But when you only play five against five and the referees give out ten penalties, your usage time is reduced. The first overall pick this summer played 10:34. That’s still more than Christian Dvorak, Rem Pitlick, Evgeni Dadonov and Jake Evans at even strength.
It’s not easy, at 18, to earn airtime. Talk to Shane Wright, employed for just 6:14 in his Seattle opener, including just 1:35 in the third period…
The normality evoked by Martin St-Louis will arrive quite quickly. Games Friday in Detroit, Saturday in Washington and Monday at home against Pittsburgh.
Back to school ruined for the Blue Jackets
Expectations grew in Columbus with the acquisition of Johnny Gaudreau. But they faced one of the best clubs in the National League on Thursday night and were beaten 4-1. Worse still, Patrik Laine left the game in the second period with an arm injury after being pinned against the bay window by defenseman Brett Pesce. He had had time to score a goal. Blue Jackets management was anxiously awaiting the results of medicals Friday morning, but Kent Johnson was recalled from the minors, a sign that Laine won’t be returning to action this weekend, at least. For the curious, Jesperi Kotkaniemi played 15:37 in the center of the second line, and obtained an assist on the second goal of the match. He had a success rate of 69% during face-offs.