The Montreal Canadiens’ penalty kill unit is having a hot streak recently, but don’t mention that to the visibly superstitious Jake Evans.
“I don’t like talking about that, because I have the impression that when I talk about it, something bad happens in the next match,” he said with a laughing smile Wednesday afternoon .
The Canadian has frustrated the opponent 14 times on as many occasions while shorthanded in his last five games. He’s 21-for-22 on the penalty kill, including the previous two games.
“Everyone is connected, which allows us to be a little more aggressive,” Evans finally emphasized. Our goalkeepers also make big saves. And sometimes it takes lucky leaps. »
During this happy streak, the Canadian faced the four best power play units in the NHL before Wednesday’s games, namely those of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and Hurricanes of Carolina.
Of the group, only the Panthers scored in mass attack. The Canadian was 12-for-13 against these four teams.
“We have to be predictable for us, in our reading of the game, in our way of understanding the other team’s points of attack,” said head coach Martin St-Louis.
“Our structure is not changing, but we must work together. We have a lot of discussions. We review a lot of video footage, he added. It’s always about working on the details. It is certain that you will give chances, but which ones? And they must be predictable for the goalkeeper, who does not want to be surprised. If he can anticipate the save, his save percentage will go up. »
“And at the end of the day, if you give it a good chance, the keeper can fix everything. But recently, everything works together,” concluded St-Louis.
Members of the Canadiens have often spoken of a desire to be more aggressive on the penalty kill this season. St. Louis noted that most good units have worked together for a long time.
In the case of the Habs, the unit of Evans, Joel Armia, Mike Matheson and David Savard is the one that plays the most shorthanded. They have allowed eight goals this season when they are on the ice together in this phase of the game.
Over the last seven games, Kaiden Guhle has shared the task with Savard in the quartet.
“We keep an eye out for certain signs to know when to be aggressive,” Evans said. It helps when we start to defend ourselves by being rested. If we see a player juggling the puck or trying to enter the zone alone, then we have to react as a unit and put pressure on him to limit his chances of making a good play.”
The Boston Bruins will be the visitors Thursday evening at the Bell Center. Despite the departures of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, their power play continues to be productive. Their unit ranks ninth on the circuit, with an efficiency rate of 23.7%.
The Canadian will have to be ready to adjust and take advantage of opportunities to put pressure on the Massachusetts opponent.
“It’s a process of finding answers,” St-Louis said. There, we found some, but we will eventually have to find others! We have a young team, which is learning to take punishment together. »
The recent successes in numerical inferiority have nevertheless allowed the Canadian to display an interesting progression compared to last season, going from 72.7% efficiency to 75.6% this winter. If he can maintain this performance or continue to improve it between now and the end of the campaign, it will be an encouraging sign heading into next season.