The first time the Montreal Canadiens played the Boston Bruins this season, they played arguably their best game of this young season. In their second opportunity on Saturday night, they played one of their worst. Outshot 44-22, and outscored 5-2, the Habs offered about as much resistance as a wet paper bag. Finding positives in such an effort proved to be a tall task.
A certain tall player by the name of Juraj Slafkovsky, however, managed to give fans something to cheer about.
His goal came in the midst of a line change, occupying a spot that would normally belong to Cole Caufield with the new-look lineup. Still, Slafkovsky played it perfectly, lurking in and around the slot until the forecheck put him in a position to be able to score. There wasn’t a lot of good off-puck positioning to go around for Montreal on Saturday, so this was a nice silver lining to see from their first-overall pick.
Perhaps some of the shooter tutor work the Habs have been doing at practice paid off, as this play appeared to be quite similar to some of the drills they were running in practice recently. Not long ago, this same play is one where you could reasonably expect Slafkovsky to fan on the shot entirely, or try to pass it. If their new practice strategy is helping increase his shooting confidence even more, that’s an excellent development regardless of wins and losses.
Overall, it was another encouraging performance from Slafkovsky, and hopefully a sign of things to come. We’ll have to see if this continues with the new lineup as the team’s road trip is about to head to a place where they tend to fare rather poorly.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We have a bit of a break now, but will return after the Canadiens start their California trip this Wednesday against the Anaheim Ducks.
