Golden Knights 6 – Canadian 4 | Diversity sought

“The glass is always half full for me,” Martin St-Louis said Saturday night. In the interests of fairness, let’s put on our grumpy costume to see the glass half empty.

Guillaume Lefrancois
The Press

His answer referred to the distribution of offensive production within his team. A production which was still generated for the most part by Cole Caufield (one goal, one assist) and Nick Suzuki (two goals). Kirby Dach, their right-winger for four games, provided three assists.

But while the CH was powered by a single line, the Golden Knights saw their fourth line score twice rather than once. Result: our friends from the city of Ocean’s Eleven left Montreal with a 6-4 victory at the expense of the Habs.

So what about the distribution of the attack? “It is sure that it is positive, answered St-Louis. It would be the same if all the others were producing and we had trouble with our first line. From my experience as a player, it’s hard to have everything in place at the same time. You plug a hole, another one is created. The guys know they have to produce more. You just have to find the answers. »

The problem of the CH is that at the moment, several holes have been cleared. Excluding goals scored in an empty net, Montreal has scored 32 goals this season. However, Suzuki or Caufield (and often both at the same time) participated in 21 of these 32 goals. This means that on two-thirds of the goals (65.7%), there is at least one of the two accomplices who obtained a point.

Jonathan Drouin, Jake Evans, Rem Pitlick (left out) and Evgenii Dadonov (absent) have yet to score among the forwards. With the exception of Evans, who is assigned to defensive duties, the other three are primarily offensive players, but that doesn’t show in their stats. Another purely offensive forward, Mike Hoffman, is stuck at one goal.

“The other guys have chances, it just doesn’t fit,” Suzuki protested. We are the first line for a reason and it is to produce the attack. If we don’t, we’re not helping the team win. »

We understand the mentality of the captain here, but with the eye, it is difficult to see these chances of which he speaks. The worst part is that Natural Stat Trick data puts Brendan Gallagher at 1^er rank of CH attackers for chances of scoring at 5 against 5 obtained per 60 minutes (11.79), while Caufield (8.04) comes at 5^e rank and Suzuki (5.12) at 11^e rank ! We have here before us a case where the advanced statistics do not correspond to the perception that we have when watching the matches.

Moreover, although the Suzuki trio displays a level of production worthy of a first trio, overall, it is insufficient for the Canadian. The team is in the bottom third of the NHL in goals-per-game average (2.83, tied for 21^e rank).

A great challenge for Martin St-Louis in the coming weeks…

Dach finds his ease

Let’s not just get caught up in his glass-half-empty considerations; after all, it’s Sunday, a day that must also start with a bit of levity.

And we have to admit that the adaptation of Kirby Dach is going quite well. With 10 points in 12 games, the great forward is definitely having his best moments since joining the NHL in 2019. He started his career with 10 points in his first 15 games, but has never been able to find such a rhythm since. .

His pass on Suzuki’s first goal was a pretty play. At first glance, three Golden Knights players were in the path of the pass. But two of them were in a bad position to block the puck with their sticks, so the throw-in went to the recipient.

To explain the successes of number 77, St-Louis reused a concept he often spoke about last year when he took office: the choice of the “best game”.

“He’s a good playmaker, he’s able to move the game forward, get the puck where it should go, in general. There are a lot of times when you just see a play, but there are a lot of possible plays on the ice. Kirby is good at making the best play, instead of just one play. He helps Cole and Nick spend more time in the offensive zone. »

Rising

Kirby Dash

With three assists, he now has seven points in his last four games.

Falling

Joel Edmundson

After a good first game Thursday in Winnipeg, he looked more like a player who didn’t have a training camp and had only played a second game since April.

The number of the match

17

Casually, the Canadiens have allowed 17 goals in their last 4 games. The defensive unit surprisingly held up at the start of the season, but it’s been more difficult for a week.

They said

Attendance after goals is very important. My line allowed a goal right after one of their goals. It can’t happen. A team of veterans probably doesn’t make that mistake.

Nick Suzuki on the Golden Knights’ three goals in four minutes

It is a dangerous game. I don’t know what was going through his head. When you see a player turn around like that, the last thing you do is try to push them onto the boards. I hope Petro [Alex Pietrangelo] okay, it’s one of those lousy games that you… It should never happen.

Reilly Smith, regarding the checking of Josh Anderson

In the second period, we had good intentions, options, but we weren’t able to execute our plays, and that relaunched the other team’s attack. Our defenders did not change. We were stubborn in that period. We had a good push at the end of the second period, but we didn’t pass the penalty at the start of the third period. I still liked our return.

Martin St Louis

I still think I’m not shooting enough, but I need to get into better positions. It’s a question of time.

Juraj Slafkovsky

We always knew they were a good team. You look at Suzuki and Caufield… Every time they have the puck, they are very dangerous. We knew they would push in the third period.

Nicolas Roy, about the Canadiens

I’m new to Marchy [Marchessault]But I coached against him and he is a very competitive, intense, proud player. He tries to become a more complete player, but he will always score goals.

Bruce Cassidy on Jonathan Marchessault

Katherine Harvey-Pinard, The Press

In details

A “dirty” check

Midway through the third period, with the Golden Knights leading 5-2, Josh Anderson checked star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo from behind in front of the opposing team’s bench. The defender’s face banged heavily against the boards and a scrum broke out. Anderson received a 5 minute penalty for illegal body checking as well as a game misconduct on the streak. “Honestly, it was still dirty, dropped Marchessault. I don’t think he did it on purpose because the puck was on the edge of the boards and Petro turned, but that’s crazy. You have to [freines], you can’t go on! He’s a guy, what, 220 pounds? I was right next to it and saw Alex’s mouth on the tape. Nevada squad head coach Bruce Cassidy said “it wasn’t necessary,” but said he was happy with the reaction from his players and agrees. the penalties imposed. As for Martin St-Louis, he recalled that everything “happens quickly”. “It’s easy to hit pause and analyze it all. […] Hopefully it won’t be too negative,” he added, referring to a possible suspension.

A trio of originals

Reilly Smith, William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault have been with the Golden Knights since the franchise’s inception in 2017. And they’ve practically always played on the same line since then – a rarity in the National League. Their chemistry gave CH a hard time throughout the match. The three players notably collaborated in a beautiful way on the second goal of theirs. “We’ve been playing together for six years, and we don’t even talk to each other anymore,” Marchessault said. We know where we are on the ice, we know what game we are going to play and we are always on the same wavelength. The 31-year-old Quebecer, who scored a goal and an assist in the win, also became the first player in franchise history to score 300 points on Saturday night. “It’s a beautiful [exploit]but it’s not like an Ironman” à la Philip Kessel, launched the main interested party on this subject, saying he was proud, but never satisfied with his performance.

Disciplined Golden Knights

When the Golden Knights showed up at the Bell Centre, they were the team with the least penalties per game in the National League. And they continued this momentum against the Canadian. Their first shorthandedness didn’t come until midway through the third period, when Alec Martinez and Alex Pietrangelo hit back at Anderson for his illegal bodycheck. They were both chased away for two minutes; Nick Suzuki took the opportunity to score his second goal of the game and reduce the lead to 5-3. This means that the Canadian has scored four times on his eight power plays in the last four games, which contrasts with previous games (only one success in 24 occasions).

Katherine Harvey-Pinard, The Press