Has anyone else had Megamind’s soliloquy stuck in their heads throughout the last two games? If you don’t know it, here’s the gist: Megamind is a villian, and when talking about his rivalry with a superhero he says, “Our battles quickly became more elaborate, he would win some, I would almost win others.”
If that doesn’t perfectly describe a Montreal Canadiens team that sits at 8-25-7 and hasn’t won an overtime game all year, I don’t know what does.
In a year like this, the bright spots are few and far between, but last night was actually one of them. The best thing that we, as fans, can hope for this year is that we see progression from our youngsters.
Nick Suzuki put on a performance that showed he’s not intimidated by names, shot counters, or the score. He scored one goal, had the primary assist on another, and came within a hair of setting up Tyler Toffoli for another short-handed tally. As if all of that wasn’t impressive enough, he had a 54.8% Corsi-for percentage at five-on-five, making him one of only five members of the team in the black in that department.
3 matchs de suite avec au moins un point pour Lehkonen, Suzuki et Toffoli!
3-game point streaks for Lehkonen, Suzuki, and Toffoli!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/oDv1T7RTCK
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 23, 2022
Despite having more starts in the offensive zone than the defensive zone, he was not exactly given easy deployment. He mostly played against Colorado’s top players. His most common defensive foils were Devon Toews and Cale Makar, while on offence it was the Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, and Mikko Rantenan line. During his time on the ice with each of those players, Suzuki bested them in Corsi, expected goals, and actual goals.
As Megamind said towards the end of his film when he predictably became the good guy (and less relatable to me personally), “There’s a benefit to losing: you get to learn from your mistakes.”
