Every time the Canadian faces the Panthers, parallels are drawn between Aleksander Barkov and Nick Suzuki. Martin St-Louis took care to raise it when a colleague ventured to ask a question on the subject.
Should we really blame ourselves? Since the heyday of Guy Carbonneau, the Canadiens captain has been the model who comes closest to the definition of a winner of the Selke Trophy, awarded annually to the best defensive forward in the NHL. Award that Barkov won in 2021 and for which he was a finalist the following season.
Moreover, the recent winners of this trophy are far from meeting the same conditions as in the Carbonneau era, where attention was paid almost exclusively to defensive prowess.
Photo AFP
From now on, in addition to limiting the opponent’s scoring opportunities, both shorthanded and at even strength, the candidates must also produce at a certain pace.
Tuesday, in this 5-3 win at the Panthers, who were without Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe (and Aaron Ekblad for the last 40 minutes), Suzuki met all these criteria.
Undisputed leader
Used by St-Louis in all aspects of the game, Suzuki increased his priority at the top of the Canadian scorers by scoring his 31 and 32nd goals of the season. In doing so, he reached the plateau of 70 points.
“Recently, Nick has had some tough confrontations. Every time, he answers the call. He’s our captain for a reason, because he always gets up. He did it again tonight,” praised Jake Evans.
“Barkov is a very good player, but Nick is in his zone right now,” said Cole Caufield. They are unique, even though there are similarities between the two. I’m very happy to have Nick on my team. He is incredible every game and he continues to improve. »
He did an impeccable job on the four penalty kills in which he was used.
The only downside to his evening’s work came in the face-off circle. Suzuki was eaten whole by winning only five of the 18 duels (28%) in which he took part.
Who was in front of him most of the time? Barkov himself. The Finn was merciless, winning seven of the 10 confrontations.
“He is so physically strong. In addition, he has fast hands and a fast stick, analyzed Suzuki, first star of the match. I tried to find an advantage that would make the difference as the match progressed. »
Speaking of defensive play, Montreal was perfect short of a man for the fifth time in their last six games. Two of these main players even hit the target. Jake Evans, precisely outnumbered, and Joel Armia.
It was the 14the Armia’s goal of the season, his 12e with equal strength. In this column for the Canadian, he is only ahead of Suzuki (21) and Caufield (13).
At the very start of the third period, the latter hit the target for only the second time in 20 games.
Confusion at the top
Linesman Jonny Murray became one of the few officials to work 1,500 games in the NHL. However, he wasn’t the one who got the attention.
Eric Furlatt allowed a goal to Brendan Gallagher… before denying him a few seconds. A picturesque situation caused by poor communication between the officials present on the Bell Center ice rink and those responsible for video replays based in Toronto.
Let’s say that we rarely have 21,000 people go from euphoria to desolation in such a short period of time.