Another who takes his chance

(Newark) Justin Barron is not always the most talkative in an interview. Nothing could be more normal: like all players, he has his moments, depending on events.

In the visitors’ locker room at the Prudential Center (the New Jersey Devils arena, not the Boston mall) on Tuesday, he had every reason to smile. The young Canadian defender had just scored his third goal in his last six games. His team had just meanwhile, despite an army of cripples, to surprise the powerful Devils at 5-2.

Barron had an easy smile, and since the questions were mostly about his teammates, he was just handing out the compliments.

First to Nick Suzuki, author of a nice backhand pass which allowed him to score. “He’s so good at making those passes. If there is a guy in the team capable of making these passes, it is him! “, launched the Nova Scotian.

Then, to Evgenii Dadonov, who also spotted him on a pass at the end of the second period. Barron’s shot missed the target, but that was another instance of the No. 52 supporting the attack.

“Daddy is so good at finding those pass lines, he’s often looking for the cross pass,” Barron noted.

But now, to be able to accept these relays, it is still necessary that Barron advances in support of the attack. If he played without confidence, withdrawn from the action just in case, he would obviously not be a target for his teammates.

Barron has been a transformed player since the start of January. Shortly after his recall from Laval, he was waived for three straight games, Jan. 5-9, and has been playing like a player ever since who never wants to watch the action from the catwalk again. You know those famous opportunities to “see the game from above”, as coaches who want to sweeten the pill say?

In 16 games since returning to the roster, he has seven points, including three goals, with a plus-3 differential. Martin St-Louis.

“The defensive game is what allows the coach to have confidence,” recalled St-Louis. Once you gain that confidence, you can express yourself on the ice. »

Barron was obtained last winter against forward Artturi Lehkonen, who now has a Stanley Cup ring and is on pace to score 25 goals this season. In other words, whatever happens to Barron, it is already clear that Kent Hughes did not run Joe Sakic, then his Avalanche counterpart, in the flour.

However, this transaction could turn out to be a win-win, if what Barron has been showing for two months is a glimpse of what he will become as a player.

The qualities of Harvey-Pinard

Like Barron, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard also seizes his chance, but it has been said and written a few times lately. The assist he got on Barron’s goal was his 10^e point in 13 games.

The fiery number 49 takes advantage of his platform to show a variety of qualities. His seven goals in 13 outings this season indicate scoring talent, and for what it’s worth, his perfect target-testing performance at Sunday’s skills competition reminded everyone he knows how to shoot a puck. .

On Tuesday, however, it was more by setting up scoring chances for his linemates that he stood out. And, ironically, he missed the target on the best chance he got, in a redundancy.

St-Louis recalled that Harvey-Pinard has shown “a lot of consistency” since his recall when it comes time to prepare games. “It’s not like he makes a game once in a while. What helps him make games is that he wins a lot of battles. It’s not always 50-50. He does not have the advantage and he will win the same. »

The last third of this CH season is not the most exciting for CH supporters, especially since young Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky and Arber Xhekaj are on the sidelines. However, these absences create a void that needs to be filled. Some take advantage of it, some don’t. Barron and Harvey-Pinard fall into the first category.

In details

The breakaway contest two days later

Samuel Montembeault and Jake Allen did not participate in the Canadiens skills competition on Sunday, and they were two guest goaltenders who had to stop the skaters during the breakaway competition. Never mind, Montembeault was entitled to his dose of breakaways! The Devils indeed had the opportunity to make three against the CH goalkeeper. Miles Wood was the first to go and he was stopped. In the other two cases, it was a player who had just left the penalty box. First, Brendan Smith took advantage of the fact that Justin Barron’s stick exploded on a one-timer to go alone towards the net. Then, at the start of the third period, Dawson Mercer had his chance and tried to slip the puck between the pads of Montembeault, in vain. “Sam has been excellent all year and again tonight. I was on the ice for a few breakaways and he saved me. I have to thank him,” said defender Johnathan Kovacevic.

Armia’s turn

It does not stop going well in the infirmary of the Canadian. In a week strewn with medical mysteries, Joel Armia fell in battle, in the first period, after only three appearances. Is he injured, ill, stricken with gastro, suffering from nail fungus? Impossible to know at the moment. At the Canadian, we are content to say that he “did not feel well”. Our colleagues from RDS looked at his three appearances and found nothing in particular. Either way, it’s one more misfortune for the Canadian in recent days, after the illness (according to the team) of Kirby Dach and Chris Wideman who visibly injured himself somewhere between the skills competition Sunday and training the next day. Armia has already been slowed by injuries three times this season and has missed 19 games for medical reasons. Since arriving in Montreal in 2018, he has missed 95 of the Habs’ 348 games, more than a quarter.

talent and frustration

Jack Hughes was frustrated early in the game and we guess that the final result did not enchant the young star of the Devils more. His frustrations started from his second appearance. Hughes fell trying to push into the CH zone and took a while to get up, like a guy who wanted a penalty imposed on the opponent. He then addressed the referee, falling back limply, fueling the scenario of the player pissed off against the officials. The catch: While all this was going on, Justin Barron joined the attack as the fifth man and scored the first goal of the game. A few minutes later, Hughes slammed his stick back on the bench, obviously no happier. He still had two assists and has 71 points in 53 games this season.

Rising

Josh Anderson

He is the only player on his line who was shut out, but he was committed and got several dangerous shots. He has raised his level of play since the All-Star game.

Falling

Jonathan Drouin

When he returned to the center, he had a very quiet evening. In addition to generating very little attack, he received a penalty.

The number of the match

Poor Alex Belzile struggled in the face-off circle. He took 11 and lost them all.

They said

We were dedicated. I looked at the statistics of blocked shots, we sacrificed ourselves, we brought energy. The Devils are good and fast, but they gave us quality chances and we took advantage of them.

Johnathan Kovacevic

It was an excellent pass, he entered the zone and spotted me. This is a case where you have to give love to the ferryman.

Johnathan Kovacevic on Jesse Ylönen’s pass on his goal

I made big saves, but my teammates also blocked several shots (Editor’s note: 28). [David] Savard even made a blocker save in the third period. In Carolina, I gave up two goals on breakaways on the blocker side. I worked a lot on this aspect these last days with Éric [Raymond]so I’m happy with the results.

Samuel Montembeault

I think the person responsible for counting the shots was not always paying attention to the game. I think we had more [que 18 tirs]. But we had good ones!

Martin St Louis

We have statistics on that, and [ce qu’on voit]that does not lie.

Martin St-Louis, on Rafaël Harvey-Pinard’s successes in one-on-one battles