Saturday night was arguably the best 60 minutes of hockey the Montreal Canadiens have played this season. With a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues, they put together a true 60-minute effort, something that had previously eluded them entirely.
It also just so happened to be the best game of Kirby Dach’s season by a significant margin.
With Juraj Slafkovsky on the shelf, Dach got a promotion to top line winger. He responded with a goal and an assist, with the line having very strong underlying numbers as well. Dach slid into the Slafkovsky role with ease, using his size on the forecheck and batting clean-up like he did on the above goal. He looked a lot more like the version of himself that started out on fire last season before going down with a knee injury.
The reduced responsibility of playing on the wing seemed to loosen him up in a big way. Relied upon less to drive play than he usually is at centre, he was able to just put himself in position to finish plays, and finish them he did. There is perhaps a conversation worth having about him staying at the wing, even after Slafkovsky comes back. This doesn’t have to be a permanent thing, but it could help kick start Dach’s production as he gets back up to speed.
This was the version of Kirby Dach that we were hoping to see when the season started. Some leeway is in order given how long he was out of commission with his knee injury, but it was an extremely welcome sight to see him playing that well on Saturday.
If this is an awakening for him, it could make a massive difference in this team’s results from here on out.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. It’s a back-to-back, so we’ll have another episode out following tonight’s road game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
