The Montreal Canadiens fared far better against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night than most would have expected. Ultimately falling by a score of 3-2, the Habs played a very tight game with a Toronto side that has all but clinched a playoff spot. Given that they’re just playing out the remaining games at this point, their pride was worth a lot more than two points in this game, and they left knowing they handed a playoff team a much tougher game than they were perhaps expecting.
And since standings points are about as useful as a shake weight in Montreal these days, the performance of Juraj Slafkovsky in that game was definitely worth a lot more than a win.
Slafkovsky has gone a tad cold since posting the longest point streak of any teenager in Habs history. With just one goal in his previous eight games, he hadn’t been playing poorly, but needed some puck luck to get his production going again. He got that early by accepting a hit to make an entry pass to the other side of the ice, after which Cole Caufield and Mike Matheson made it count. That set the tone for an impressive night on Slafkovsky’s part, where he’d regularly make plays along the walls to help his team.
None more impressive than in the third period, on the power play.
This was some excellent work on the half-wall, using the pressure the Leafs were putting on the Habs against them. He sends the puck to the point, and when he gets it back, he waits for two of their killers to converge on him before flipping it to Alex Newhook in space. Toronto had a clear strategy of putting as much pressure on the puck carrier as possible, and once Slafkovsky had an opportunity to do so, he used it against them.
And his work in the dirty areas went far beyond the power play. He was a menace along the boards and in the corners, and in the third period he ran over former Hab Joel Edmundson in the corner of the Leafs zone to win a puck battle. His physicality has been a huge part of his development this season, and it was on full display against the Leafs. They didn’t have much of an answer for what Slafkovsky was bringing, and even when they did, he figured out ways to frustrate them anyways. It was one of his most impressive games of the season.
The rebuild was better served with a loss in this game anyways, and to see a player as important to that rebuild as Slafkovsky impose himself the way he did made it all the more easier to accept.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We have a few days off now, but we’ll return this Tuesday night when the Columbus Blue Jackets visit the Bell Centre.
