It was additionally one other recreation the place they did precisely that.
You would possibly contemplate it lamentable that, 64 video games into this season, the Canadiens are nonetheless hoping some mixture may give them a viable second line. With Patrik Laine lacking a second consecutive recreation resulting from flu signs and Kirby Dach nursing a season-ending knee harm since Recreation 57, that activity fell to Alex Newhook, Joshua Roy and Brendan Gallagher in Tuesday’s must-win recreation, they usually weren’t up to it.
However you recognize who wasn’t relying on Newhook, Roy and Gallagher to attain the targets on this must-win towards the Canucks? Suzuki, Caufield and Slafkovsky, who every had one and mixed for seven factors to ship a 4-2 outcome.
“It wasn’t simply what they did offensively,” mentioned Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis afterward, and he was proper.
These three carried the Canadiens at each ends of the ice, tilting the sport in the direction of the Canucks’ finish with whole dedication away from the puck and well timed precision with it on their sticks. They’d a 26-9 edge in shot makes an attempt at five-on-five, they clawed again momentum instantly after it swung Vancouver’s approach, and, within the course of, they took rather more than confidence with them out of Rogers Area.
The expertise Suzuki, Slafkovsky and Caufield are gaining proper now’s offering hope this workforce will ship on its future promise of changing into a perennial contender. Delivering within the clutch as they’re is holding the Canadiens within the playoff chase, they usually wouldn’t commerce these moments for something.
“That’s what you need,” mentioned Caufield, who scored his 32nd purpose of the season to place the Canadiens up 3-0 within the ninth minute of the second interval of Tueday’s recreation. “The best way we’re progressing as a workforce, as a bunch proper now, it’s not going to be straightforward each evening. Completely different guys are going to need to step up and are going to need to get it carried out. However the three of us, as a line, depend upon one another and need to convey it persistently.”
It’s what the Canadiens wanted for this season: For his or her younger core members to be examined under this kind of pressure.
To see Suzuki acing that check each evening is such a promising growth for the workforce’s future. With the season on the line coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off, he has put up 5 targets and 10 assists to assist the Canadiens acquire 13 of 16 factors over their final eight video games, and he now has 20 targets and 67 factors and is on tempo for one more profession yr.
To assume Suzuki has 4 years left under contract after this one, on a deal that pays him simply $7.87 million per, should be so comforting to Canadiens administration.
They’ve Caufield locked up for 5 extra after this one at $7.85 million per and watching him do what he’s been doing should really feel reassuring, too. The 24-year-old has scored six targets and posted 9 factors over the post-4 Nations stretch and, like Suzuki, has received battles everywhere in the ice to tilt the sport’s hardest matchup in his line’s favour evening after evening.
It was a tricky begin to the season for Slafkovsky, however he’s making that really feel like a distant reminiscence with what he’s been doing of late.
Slafkovsky had a purpose and two assists, 4 photographs on web and plenty of extra hits than the one he was credited for towards the Canucks — and the Canadiens need to be thrilled his eight-year, $60.8-million contract doesn’t even kick in till subsequent season.
The primary general decide in 2022 has gained 181 video games of NHL expertise earlier than his 21st birthday, however what he’s taken from the final eight under the pressure of having to persistently match Suzuki and Caufield to ship what the Canadiens want is so priceless in his growth course of.
“I’m studying the best way to keep calm in these conditions,” Slafkovsky mentioned. “Studying to not stress if it doesn’t go our approach on a shift. Have to remain on top of our recreation, attempt to do the little issues and never attempt to make such large performs for a second, after which the massive performs open up and we will rating.”
Lane Hutson is doing this each evening, too, and he’s additionally delivering.
He could not have had a degree in Vancouver, however he leads all rookies in scoring this season with 49, and he and companion Jayden Struble had been large components within the win.
So was Samuel Montembeault, who got here up with 29 saves towards the Canucks.
Jake Evans’s line with Joel Armia and Emil Heineman had an honest recreation, nevertheless it missed its finest alternatives to supply help to the Suzuki line.
It was a harder evening for Christian Dvorak’s line with Josh Anderson and Michael Pezzetta, who mixed for just one shot try at five-on-five whereas giving up six.
Maybe Newhook, Roy and Gallagher didn’t contribute secondary scoring, however no less than they confirmed some cohesion of their first recreation as a line, and maybe that may spring them into Wednesday’s recreation towards the Seattle Kraken.
We don’t know if Suzuki’s line will ship because it did in Vancouver, however they’re going into that recreation anticipating to.
The Canadiens are two factors behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and 5 factors behind the Ottawa Senators within the Japanese Convention wild-card race, and no three gamers on their workforce seem extra decided to assist them catch up.
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