The locker room of a team that has just suffered a fifth loss in six games can be heavy. We can guess that no one at the Canadiens was particularly happy about losing 3-2 on Wednesday to the Buffalo Sabres.
Except that after a few minutes in front of the cameras, Arber
“I’m trying more slap shots, definitely. Before my goal the other night [samedi], I never realized I could pull that hard! I looked at the goal again and thought: wow, that’s not so bad! »
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Xhekaj spoke like this because in a second match in a row, he hit the target, both times on slap shots worthy of Al Iafrate, who is thus named in our pages for the second day in a row, the lucky one.
But Xhekaj did much more than score, and that’s why he was one of CH’s best elements in the defeat. He started his evening by knocking down Dylan Cozens behind his net. Casey Mittelstadt and Zemgus Girgensons also met the 240 lb colossus.
Moreover, he calculated the risks well, an aspect of his game which sometimes betrays him. He made his boldest move in the middle of the third period, when his team was trying to tie the game, a good time to play more aggressively. He therefore advanced into the offensive zone to prevent Tage Thompson from restarting the attack. And since it was that kind of night for him, he won the race and the puck stayed in Sabers territory.
It was probably his most complete match, because he used all his strengths. He is a robust player, as we have seen. He has good offensive instincts and we saw it. The hardest part for a young guy is defending, how to read the climbs. And I feel that he is improving in this aspect of the game. We know that he is capable of playing this type of match, but like all young people, consistency is the challenge.
Martin St-Louis, about Arber Xhekaj
“It was maybe his best game in the NHL. He did everything: he created plays, he used his shot and he cleaned the slot,” added team captain Nick Suzuki.
Beyond its goal, it is rather its performance in other aspects which should encourage the CH. As it stands, the power play is reserved for Mike Matheson in the medium term, while the attack-heavy Logan Mailloux and Lane Hutson push through the system. In this defense of tomorrow that everyone is having fun projecting, Xhekaj has an interest in standing out through his physical presence and, possibly, his shorthanded play. He is 6’4″, weighs 240 lbs, two characteristics that cannot be taught.
St-Louis also underlined the role that his check against Cozens may have had in his success. “He built his game from the start. You never know what your first presence will be like. If you are alert from the start, you can build your game. He had a chance to be robust from the start and continued all evening,” analyzed the head coach.
It was, ultimately, the kind of evening where his nickname “Sheriff” seemed more appropriate, especially when he came to defend Jake Evans. “Sheriff, that’s your expression. I don’t think anyone here calls him Sheriff, St-Louis said. But he played very well. »
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Jake Evans (71)
We can understand the reaction of coach. Xhekaj played his 76 on Wednesdaye game in the NHL, a slightly low total for such a presumptuous nickname. We guess that few people referred to Dominik Hasek as the “Dominator” when he was Ed Belfour’s backup in Chicago in 1991.
A costly mistake
Xhekaj has bounced back in his last two matches, which followed a difficult Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
Conversely, Jordan Harris and Jayden Struble, who are also trying to find their feet in the future brigade of the Canadian, were less brilliant on Wednesday. Struble also seemed hypnotized by the puck on the Sabres’ only five-on-five goal, so much so that Harris was alone against two rivals in the slot. Girgensons had no trouble deflecting the puck to score.
“The only goal was a defensive error. But at five against five, you will never play a perfect match,” argued St-Louis.
Struble scored the other Habs goal, but like Xhekaj, it is not through his attack that he will prove his relevance in the team.
On the rise: Nick Suzuki
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Nick Suzuki
Ironic to place him here on the night his point streak ended at 10. But he delivered a stellar performance in all aspects of the game. In the words of Martin St-Louis: “He was everywhere on the ice. »
Down: Cole Caufield
PHOTO CHRISTINNE MUSCHI, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Cole Caufield (22) and Rasmus Dahlin (26)
Suzuki’s left winger had a less good one in his body. Several shots without a real chance of scoring, and a weak pass which led to Alex Tuch’s winning goal.
The match figure: 23.9%
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Josh Anderson (17)
This is the share of goals scored by the Canadiens’ defenders this season, a high in the NHL, according to Sportsnet. Obviously, the starving production of Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher and Jake Evans also explains this statistic.
In details
Do a lot with a little
PHOTO ERIC BOLTE, USA TODAY SPORTS
Joshua Roy
Joshua Roy collected an assist on the Canadian’s two goals, despite ice time being limited to 11:27. In the first period, his second effort behind Ukko Pekka-Luukkonen’s goal allowed him to pass the puck into the slot while falling; it miraculously slipped between two opponents before Arber Xhekaj fired a powerful slap shot into the top corner. Martin St-Louis rewarded the young man by sending him to the ice at the end of the match, while the team was trying to tie the score. At a press briefing, St-Louis admitted that he would have “liked to give him more ice time, but it’s a question of circumstances.” “What he gave us five against five was excellent. He was on the ice at the end and it was deserved. He has good offensive touches, we know what he is capable of doing, so we have confidence. » Roy, of which it was only the 11e match in the National League, said he was playing “with more confidence”. “Match after match, I find my bearings. It’s going well and I’m getting used to the game.”
Three visits to the dungeon
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Juraj Slafkovsky
This is where Juraj Slafkovsky’s streak of eight consecutive games with at least one point ends. The young Slovak didn’t necessarily have a bad match, but he visited the dungeon three times during the match, which is not his habit. His first penalty, midway through the second period, allowed Jeff Skinner to equalize at 2-2. Slafkovsky was caught again less than five minutes later, this time without consequences. At the end of the match, with less than a minute remaining, the 19-year-old striker hooked Dylan Cozens; It was that or Cozens scored in an empty net. St-Louis described this meeting as “learning” for its young attacker, emphasizing that it was not a question of “lazy” punishments or due to poor positioning. “The last punishment is flat, that’s for sure, but the line is fine,” he noted. You want your players to play with combativeness. I don’t want to make them play on their heels. As a young player, you learn what the line is. It’s sure it’s a game of emotions. It’s about correcting yourself. »
Jeff Skinner, obviously
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Jeff Skinner
Jeff Skinner is used to having fun against the Canadian. Before Wednesday’s game, he had 46 points in 41 career games against the Habs, including 14 in his last four visits to the Bell Center. If the striker said Wednesday morning, after training, that “it’s sometimes just a question of luck”, we have to believe that something really happens when he faces CH. He first came close to scoring late in the first period, when he was left completely alone in front of the net; he tried everything, but Mike Matheson played the savior with the short end of the stick. Skinner finally lived up to his reputation by scoring in the middle of the second period, on a return shot from Cozens in a three-on-one build-up with Tage Thompson. This goal should do the greatest good for the 31-year-old striker, who has been going through difficult times since his return from injury at the end of January. He had only recorded one assist in his last nine games before Wednesday’s game.