TAMPA, Fla. — Sage advice from Martin St. Louis was offered two days after Juraj Slafkovsky took the hit from Max Crozier that the Tampa Bay Lightning believed altered their fate in a come-from-behind win in Game 4 and in this series:
“If you let that moment define the series, you’re putting yourself in a bad spot,” St. Louis said. “Don’t let moments like that define it. Rewrite it.”
What’s the best way to do that for his Montreal Canadiens? Hit back harder where it hurts most — on the scoreboard.
That’s where Slafkovsky, who threw the first haymaker of this series with a Game 1 hat trick, can flip the script.
Yes, he’s a big, bruising power forward capable of inflicting the type of pain he’s been on the receiving end of from Game 2 through Game 4.
But Slafkovsky’s greatest revenge in Game 5 would be sparking the Canadiens’ top six to produce at five-on-five, which is something it hasn’t done since the start of this series.
A little more than half of his 73 points this season came at five-on-five. Nick Suzuki produced 55 of his 101 points at five-on-five. And Cole Caufield scored 41 of his 51 goals at five-on-five.
All three of them — along with Ivan Demidov — are Montreal’s best forwards, and you have to think they hold the keys to the Canadiens returning to Montreal with a chance to close out this series.
St. Louis is expecting a big game out of them.
“I mean, if you just take the players alone and look at what they’ve done in their career and stuff, that should be enough for me (to believe),” the coach said Wednesday morning. “But to me, what enables to elevate any individual, I think, is the collective game around them. This isn’t a one-on-one hockey game. There’s one-on-one moments—I’ve said it—and they’ve shown that when they get those moments, they’re elite. But to create more of those moments, you need a better collective game. And I think, at times, it’s been good in this series. But we need more of that collective game to create those moments for those elite players.”
St. Louis wouldn’t confirm Brendan Gallagher would play his first game of this series Wednesday, but only the expected scratches skated at Benchmark International Arena while the Canadiens were holding their media availability at their hotel, and Gallagher wasn’t among them.
Oliver Kapanen, who had 22 goals this season but hasn’t scored yet in these playoffs, was. As were Joe Veleno, Patrik Laine, Adam Engstrom and Jacob Fowler, who’ve all watched the first four games of this series just like Gallagher.
The veteran of 76 playoff games — more than anyone else on the Canadiens — has been around the group and giving his teammates lots of advice, according to No. 76, Zachary Bolduc.
“He’s been talking a lot with us, the younger guys, and telling us what he sees,” Bolduc said. “He’s been great.”
What you’d expect of Gallagher, if he plays, is to be at his best and somehow bring more intensity than he ever has.
We’re talking about one of the fiercest competitors in the NHL, a guy who’s never short on intensity, a guy who’s proven time and time again he’s willing to bleed for the cause. You expect that not being able to play in these games has probably stoked the fire in him to five-alarm levels.
“There’s no doubt if he plays, he’s going to give you everything he has,” said St. Louis. “I think he does that every game.”
What Gallagher’s insertion means for the rest of the lineup
St. Louis wouldn’t even confirm Gallagher was in for Game 5, so he certainly wasn’t going to get into where he might play.
But the obvious choice would be to put him with Phillip Danault and Josh Anderson.
That doesn’t guarantee St. Louis will do that. But if he does, it opens up the possibility of moving Jake Evans away from Danault and placing him in Kapanen’s place with Alex Newhook and Demidov.
Evans won 56 per cent of his faceoffs this season, and he’s won 60 per cent of them in the playoffs so far. So, if he does play with Newhook and Demidov, that’ll help the line have the puck more.
But even more important is for Demidov to have it more in the offensive zone, where he, Newhook and Kapanen have been lacking some of the balance St. Louis says facilitates the collective game he’s always referring to.
Evans is a specialist in facilitating that game with his direct, simple, heady play.
“I’d like to think I can impact it with my speed and a good forecheck,” Evans said on Tuesday. “I like to think I can do a good job sustaining offensive pressure by throwing it to the right guy and getting into open space.”
If Gallagher joins Danault and Anderson, look for Evans to do that for Montreal’s second line.
It’s entirely possible both players play elsewhere in the Canadiens’ lineup, though, so we’ll see what warmup brings.
Depth scoring still heavily favours Canadiens, while five-on-five play relatively even
While the Lightning’s top six have combined for 12 even-strength points in this series, the Canadiens’ bottom six have equalled that.
And though it feels as though the Lightning have an edge because of who’s scoring their goals, St. Louis doesn’t feel they have one.
“It’s tight at five-on-five at both ends,” he said. “I think it’s 11-11 in goals. On the power play, it’s what? 5-5? That means it’s 6-6 (at five-on-five). But they scored one at four-on-four, so we have one more goal than they do at five-on-five. We’re calculated, patient, trying to play the game that’s in front of us, and we’re trying to get better with every game.”
• Lightning coach Jon Cooper told reporters at Benchmark International Arena Wednesday morning that Victor Hedman remains doubtful to participate in this series. He also said that Charle-Edouard D’Astous, who hasn’t played since taking a huge hit from Anderson in Game 1, is a game-time decision for Game 5.
• Noah Dobson has been ramping up his return-to-play protocol since suffering an injury to his left hand two weeks ago. He started doing some light shooting Tuesday before the Canadiens left for Tampa, but it’s not anticipated he’ll return for Game 5. The team had no further update on his status.
• On staying even-keel, St. Louis said, “It’s something we’ve done well this year. We’ve showed a lot of maturity, and it enabled us to become consistent.”
Evidence: The Canadiens lost consecutive games only nine times this season.
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