Flyers 2 – Canadian 3 | A victory and a discomfort

The Canadian doesn’t win often this season, partly through his own fault, partly due to bad luck that accumulates in the form of injuries.

Guillaume Lefrançois
Press

Simon-Olivier Lorange
Press

Dominique Ducharme’s men offered themselves a rare victory on Thursday. Only their seventh of the season, in fact, a win that ends a seven-game losing streak. But under the circumstances of the 3-2 shootout triumph against the Flyers, they weren’t all party-hearted.

Because this victory was achieved in the shadow of an incredible resurgence of the pandemic in North America. No need to look very far to realize it. The stands were empty. The recorded crowd noise, to which we had grown accustomed last year, was absent. The good Gideon Zelermyer even had to work in doubles, first as a performer of the national anthems, then as a POM supporter of the match. You can not make that up.

And it will stay that way for a while. CH’s next opponents, the Bruins, are expected at the Bell Center on Saturday. But they currently have seven players subject to the COVID-19 protocol. We are entitled to wonder if the match will take place; the Bruins’ test results this Friday will say more.

Ducharme was fairly straightforward. “We have enough business to take care of on our side than to manage the COVID of the other teams”, launched the head coach.

Jonathan Drouin saw things from a different perspective. “That’s a tough question… I’m not that comfortable playing with people who may have COVID. When you’re down to seven guys on the team… Tomorrow morning there may be three more. I don’t feel comfortable playing with it. This is not what we were told this year with vaccines. Things sure change with moments like this. But it’s not really ideal. ”

Dolphin, the beating

The climate is muggy, but Laurent Dauphin is trying to make the most of the good old moment as much as possible.

You have to know the background of this Quebecer to understand what he is trying to accomplish. A second-round pick in 2013, he was unable to establish himself in the NHL, so he is making his first big league games this season since the 2018-19 campaign.

Now the many wounded open the door for him. Thursday’s game was his fifth in a row in the NHL. His equalizing goal scored at the end of the third was sure to earn him a few more. He plays his fifteen minutes per game, and has amassed three points in his last three outings.

His goal was also his first in the NHL in more than five years. A jerk in the press room, author of a book on Czechoslovakian brothers, but whose anonymity we will preserve, even said that Dauphin took a liking to scoring in front of empty stands, because his last goal was scored in Arizona.

A colleague pointed out to him the five-year wait between his two goals. Dauphin’s response, tit for tat: “If you don’t play, you can’t score either!” ”

“When the door opens, you have to be able to put your foot in it and push, said Ducharme, before listing the qualities of number 45.

“He’s a competitive guy. He reads the game well, he’s smart. He uses his tools to be effective in all situations. He’s reliable defensively and keeps it simple offensively. On Ylönen’s goal [mardi], he just arrived at the net. Even if he didn’t get a point, his work is important. On Drouin’s goal [mardi aussi], it arrives in check before and creates a turnaround. Sometimes the little things make it easier to get the puck more often. ”

To add to the magical side of things, Dauphin has the chance to play with an old friend in Drouin.

” It’s cool. I’ve known Laurent since we were 8, we played together in summer tournaments, said Drouin. We play golf together in the summer. It would have been fun if there was more atmosphere for him. But it was a big goal for us. ”

Dauphin now hopes to score more, from those big goals. It remains to be seen when he gets the chance, in this period when social issues prevail over simple hockey games.

“I’m going to trust the league to make the right decision,” said Dauphin. Me, I’m vaccinated, it doesn’t bother me, it’s the league that will decide. ”

On the rise: Artturi Lehkonen

A very, very strong match for the winger unloved by amateurs, adored by his coaches. He did not steal his fourth goal of the season.

Down: Jeff Petry

At the risk of being repetitive, he had another difficult outing. He made bad decisions on both Flyers’ goals and almost gave Oskar Lindblom one in the third period.

The number of the match: 1191

Laurent Dauphin’s goal was his first since December 10, 2016. In the meantime, 1191 different NHL players have scored. We thank our friends from Sportsnet for the monk work behind this research.

In details

Olympics: Couturier has questions

There is no guarantee that NHL players will go to the Beijing Olympics. And even if they did go, Sean Couturier wouldn’t be sure to be invited. However, if he received the call from Team Canada, the Flyers forward would have “a lot of questions” to ask. “Not necessarily because of COVID, but with everything that surrounds [les Jeux], the political situation, the quarantine of three to five weeks… There are many things which are uncertain. The New Brunswicker is particularly concerned about the diplomatic boycott of Canada and the United States. “If we’re there, who do we go to if we have any problems?” […] Personally, that scares me. We have to admit that we are a bit far from the dream of a lifetime that athletes who are lucky enough to experience the Olympic experience generally talk about.

Hart in great shape

There aren’t many goaltenders who, at 23, already have 120 games of NHL experience. Carter Hart fulfills this rare criterion. And despite his young age, he has already gone through his share of hardships. His 2020-2021 season, for example, was not that difficult: it was, word is almost weak, catastrophic. His 3.67 GAA and .877 save rate in 27 games earned him one of the worst campaigns for a 21st century goalkeeper. He won’t be fighting for the Vézina Trophy this year, let’s get it right, but things are definitely looking better for him. This is evidenced in particular by his performance inspired by Thursday night against the Habs. Bombarded with 40 shots – only a second such crop for CH – Hart stood up on several occasions. He notably deprived Laurent Dauphin of a goal by diving to his right in the first period, and he released the mitten on a slap shot from Cole Caufield in the second. “When a goalie plays like that, it gives confidence to the rest of the squad,” said head coach Mike Yeo after the game.

A rare homemade threesome

As a result of a staggering number of injuries added to a difficulty in finding compatible partners, no less than 59 different lines have started a game for the Canadian this season. Indication that the Habs have not been very successful in terms of draft and player development over the past decade, only six of these combinations have included three forwards drafted by the club. One of them had a strong game on Thursday. The more or less unlikely combination of Artturi Lehkonen, Ryan Poehling and Cole Caufield produced as many as seven quality scoring chances five to five. Caufield, for his part, ended his night of work with eight shots on the net. “I had good chances tonight, I must continue like this and seize them”, commented the young man after the meeting. Well served by his hard work near goal, Lehkonen helped give Caufield room to maneuver. “It’s easy to play with him, he works so hard,” rightly pointed out the number 22. We can expect this trio to get another audition on Saturday. If there is a match on Saturday.

They said