Montreal Canadiens news and notes
- “It’s just getting started for Nick, and it’s only going to get better,” Cole Caufield predicts for captain Suzuki. [La Presse]
- Suzuki is choosing the most likely play to result in a goal, which includes his shot more often now. [Le Devoir]
- Juraj Slafkovský has always played a skill game. Now he also plays a big game. [The Athletic]
- Montreal’s core young players will try to cap off good individual seasons with more progress over the final couple of weeks. [La Presse]
- “[W]e let this guy slip away,” Jake Evans says about former Canadiens development camp invitee Brandon Hagel. [Radio-Canada]
- Work with Canadiens mental performance coach Jean François Ménard and discussions with Martin St-Louis about obtainng balance have helped Joel Armia find consistency. [Radio-Canada]
- The modest improvement in points the Canadiens have earned this season belies the progress of the players on the team, St-Louis says. [RDS]
- Like Alex Newhook proving to be a very solid middle-six player in his first year in Montreal. [Montreal Gazette]
Around the league and elsewhere
- One of the league’s oldest active personal rivalries ratchets up a notch when Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin meet with playoff implications on the line. [NHL.com]
- Meanwhile, the Flyers need to elevate their play to avoid slipping out of the picture. [NHl.com]
- The newest rivalry? Artemiy Panarin versus Darren Pang. [NHL.com]
- Last night’s New York Rangers-New Jersey Devils game began with a line brawl. [Sportsnet]
- Former stars of the now-defunct PHF are trying to carve out roles on PWHL rosters filled with Olympians. [La Presse]
- The physical style adopted by the PWHL will need to be stashed away for a few days as the players switch to IIHF rules for the World Championship. [Yahoo!]
