A well-rested Montreal Canadiens squad returned to action on Saturday night, looking to start the final stretch of their season strong against the Ottawa Senators. The Four Nations break provided a bit of an extra advantage for the Habs, as the Senators were missing a key player in Brady Tkachuk. They took full advantage by putting up five goals, chasing Linus Ullmark from the net and ending the night with a 5-2 win.
In the win, Juraj Slafkovsky played perhaps his best game of the season, bringing some real intensity and looking like a player that was chomping at the bit to get back out there.
Great forechecking from Slaf on this play, eventually a shot from Arber Xhekaj bounces right to Cole Caufield. He won't miss from there.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) February 23, 2025
2-0 #Habs pic.twitter.com/1PbnbU7ZrI
This was perhaps his best play of the night, and he won’t even see his name on the score sheet for it. This kind of forechecking is what we see from Slafkovsky when he’s at his absolute best – physically punishing, and creating opportunities for his linemates through intensity. He was doing this all game, and proved to be an incredibly annoying player for the Senators to deal with as a result.
And as tends to happen when he’s playing with intensity, he ended up finding a way to get on the score sheet anyways.
Nick Suzuki's pass into the middle gets tipped, but it sits there for Juraj Slafkovsky, and he ends Ullmark's night.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) February 23, 2025
5-2 #Habs pic.twitter.com/cnaWmlDgg5
There has been a fair amount of concern over Slafkovsky’s development this season. Most fans were expecting another step forward from him, and for the most part, he’s looked like he’s stagnating. A game like this is an excellent building block for the remainder of his season, and if the coaching staff can get him to keep that level of intensity night in and night out, it isn’t too late for him to take that step forward.
When he didn’t like Ridly Greig’s third-period hit against him, he immediately popped up off the ice and dropped the gloves with him. Every shift, he was putting his shoulder on someone, separating them from the puck. Intensity like that is how he can become the player Kent Hughes was hoping to get when he took him first overall.
And another welcome development was him shooting the puck more. He put five shots on goal last night, a season-high, simplifying his game a little more. He has had a tendency to hold on to pucks too long this season, which has gotten him into trouble, but he was taking the simple play instead, and then allowing his physicality to shine in puck pursuit.
There is still a decent amount of hockey left this season. If Slafkovsky can play like this through the end of the year, he’ll head into his new contract on a high.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. The Habs will be returning to the Bell Centre for a short homestand now, and we’ll be back for the first of those two games against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
