Quebec forward Phillip Danault should never have left Montreal. The opposition delivered by the Los Angeles Kings to Connor McDavid and his Edmonton Oilers, in the first round of the current NHL playoffs, is a strong reminder to Canadiens supporters.
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With the duel tied at 2-2, Danault is doing a good job, as he regularly faces McDavid on the ice, at even strength.
According to data from the specialized website naturalstattrick.com, the Quebecer played for more than 41 minutes against McDavid, five against five, during the first four games of the series. Danault thus has the heavy mission of curbing the great star of the Oilers, with the help of his wingers Trevor Moore and Viktor Arvidsson, not to mention veteran defender Drew Doughty.
A colossal job
McDavid has had six points since the start of the playoffs, but four of them have come on the power play. The only two goals of number 97 were also scored on the power play. It goes without saying that Danault, employed in the center, does a colossal job against what is considered the best player in the NHL.
Photo Getty Images via AFP
To add to the picture, Danault himself collected four points in as many games against the Oilers. In the game played Sunday night, the Quebecer obtained two assists in a 5-4 loss to the Kings in overtime. He also finished the evening with a differential of +2.
Serious error of Bergevin?
The irony of Danault’s situation is that he plays with the Kings, where former Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin is in a senior advisory role to GM Rob Blake.
It was precisely Bergevin who had preferred to offer a lucrative six-year contract for $39 million to Brendan Gallagher, rather than retaining the services of Danault. The latter would finally agree with the Kings, in July 2021, for six seasons and an amount of $ 33 million.
Danault and the Kings will now be in Edmonton on Tuesday night for Game 5 of the series against McDavid and his Oilers.
In a text by colleague Jean-Nicolas Blanchet published on Sunday, the name of Phillip Danault is precisely among the perfect partners to play alongside Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. In the category “BEST CHOICES IF THIS WAS A VIDEO GAME (AND ANYONE COULD PLAY THE WING)”.