Devils 0 – Canadiens 3 | Waiting, butterflies and approach shots

Cole Caufield is unanimously recognized by his teammates as a bit of a joker. As much as he can close up like an oyster in front of a pile of microphones, he has the gift of making his peers laugh in his interactions with them.

Read our live coverage

Check out the match summary

It even happens sometimes during games. For example, on Tuesday, in the third period of the Canadiens’ thrilling – to put it mildly – ​​3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Owen Beck had just had a golden opportunity in the slot. The forward pounced on a puck that appeared on his paddle and fired a right knee shot up the ice, but Nico Daws made the save.

It was Beck’s third shot of the game, also his third scoring chance. Hence his exasperated look as Caufield tried to bring some sunshine into his life.

“It’s progress, it’s something to build on. It’s like playing golf, hitting a big tee shot down the middle of the fairway and then missing the green on your approach shot. That was my feeling tonight.”

So the conversation with Caufield was, “Exactly that. The tee shots are good. Just need to work on the approach shots!”

Beck was still smiling as he recounted his conversation with Caufield. After all, “getting three quality chances at this level in a game is not easy.”

Would he have given the same answer last year? The question arises, because the Ontarian admits that he was not in the same frame of mind at his 2023 camp.

Let’s recall the context. Drafted at the beginning of the 2^e tour in the summer of 2022, he showed up to camp “with no expectations” a few months later. “I just played my way and it went well. I was one of the last guys cut and I guess that created expectations for my second camp, and that’s what created the butterflies.”

At this second camp last year, he was much less visible, with the result that no one really believed in his chances. He had only played two of the CH’s six preparatory games, compared to four of the eight in 2022.

Beck doesn’t hide it: last year, he felt “pressure. Now that I’ve taken a step back, I know that whether I’m in Montreal or Laval, it will be the best situation for my development. So I’m just thinking about playing my way like I did at my first camp and come what may.”

What happened Tuesday was a rather convincing outing despite limited usage (12:19). Martin St-Louis used him in tough missions (three minutes shorthanded and at 5-on-6), and Beck did his job. He also got an assist on Michael Pezzetta’s goal into an empty net.

However, it was, like the day before against the Flyers, a diluted opposition, since Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt and Dougie Hamilton, among other pillars, stayed at home.

Perhaps that’s why St. Louis stuck to a sober assessment of the 20-year-old. The head coach liked his “complete game. He got hits. He plays a 200-foot game.”

Rare doubled

Beck was the third lineman, but it was a member of the fourth line, Pezzetta, who earned the first star, thanks in part to his two goals.

His four minutes played in a numerical inferiority, however, attracted more attention after the match. Firstly, because in normal times, he is not used in this phase of the game; secondly, because it is much more by showing himself to be versatile than by scoring goals that he will cling to a position.

He knows this very well since he said after the game that he attended all the pre-game meetings of the power play last year. “I pay attention, I watch when they are on the ice, and if I am not playing, I observe to understand the power play. [des autres clubs]. When I get my chance, I want to have an advantage over the others.”

If it was Beck and Pezzetta who caught our attention in this duel, it was firstly because the two trios of veterans did not do much that would fill 800 words in a daily newspaper. Secondly, because the day before, Oliver Kapanen had launched hostilities among those trying to dislodge a veteran from the formation.

“We play similar styles. If you play your best, I think there can be room for both, but I’m not in the heads of the management,” Beck recalled.

Whatever one might say about the quality of the opposition after these two games won by a total score of 8-0, the CH leaders have reason to be encouraged to see this sacrosanct internal struggle generate results among the aspirants to a position. Camps like the one in 2017, where Claude Julien had railed against his players who made his decisions “easy” – in the bad sense of the term – seem to belong to a bygone era.