“Here’s one, for example,” he said. “‘I was watching Jakub’s postgame interview this morning and saw how emotional he was about his play. I really felt for him. Tell him it inspired me and I look up to him. I play with the same emotion.'”
Nice.
Blowing the pipe
The Canadiens still sit in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 9-3-2 record after Thursday’s loss.
In four of their five losses, the Canadiens held the lead in the third period and in the other they were tied heading into the third period.
With the impressive start to the season, it’s easy to forget that the Canadiens are the youngest team in the NHL. But St. Louis won’t use that as an excuse.
“I try not to think about that,” St. Louis said after the Canadiens squandered a 4-3 third-period lead in Tuesday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre. “I don’t use that as an excuse. We have to learn.”
“I know we could have played better on the fourth goal, where overall I felt like we were still pushing and we were pretty calculated. But there were so many other mistakes that could have cost the game. So it never really felt like I was trying to protect the lead tonight. I felt like we were so out of trouble… can we find a way? I think we’ll get the point. I think the team that played better tonight won.”
The Canadiens are well ahead of their pace from last season, when they were 4-8-2 after fourteen games and had lost five games in a row (0-4-1).
Newhook uses his speed
My son made me laugh last season when we were watching a Canadiens game on TV together and he said that Alex Newhook skates “like bees are chasing him.”
Newhook does indeed buzz around the ice at times, but St. Louis has worked on getting the 24-year-old to take advantage of his speed and use it more effectively. It’s working this season and Newhook has 5-5-10 totals and a plus-5 differential while playing on par with rookies Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov.
St. Louis has also used Newhook’s speed as a penalty taker and said he has seen a positive evolution in his game.
“It’s not about skating faster or improving his shot, it’s about improving his intentions, tailored to what the game requires – whether playing defense or offense,” St. Louis said. “Becoming a more complete player by improving his intentions.”
Newhook said the penalty kill was a confidence booster and he was excited about the challenge. He added that St. Louis has helped him use his speed more effectively.
“Maybe not always 100 miles per hour,” Newhook said. “Defensively too… I think I always knew I could use it defensively as part of my defensive game. I’ve always tried to do that, but I think just enforcing it and trying to bring it consistently has been important.”
Newhook also enjoys having Kapanen, 22, and Demidov, 19, as his linemates.
“They are fun guys to play with,” he says. “They play with a lot of speed, they play all over the ice. They’re both smart and reliable, so we’ve got a good thing going now. We just have to keep it going.”
When asked if he was the oldest man on the line, Newhook chuckled and said, Yeah… first time for me. I’m going to keep trying to do what I can to guide those young guys, but so far they’re doing well.”
So is Newhook.
Knowing his role
Jake Evans is enjoying a long career after being selected by the Canadiens in the seventh round (207th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft.
This is the 29-year-old’s seventh season in the NHL and he is in the first year of a four-year, $11.4 million contract he signed in March. Evans has not only accepted but embraced his role as a fourth-line center who can win faceoffs, play a solid defensive game and kill penalties. Most of his shifts start in the defensive zone.
“There are certain seats that are less fun, but they are so important,” St. Louis said when asked about Evans. “And I think there are guys who have long careers because they understood how fun that seat should be. I think Jake understands that. And I think his fun might be different than (others) … him killing plays and winning big draws at the end (of games) and killing penalties. That’s his fun and he takes pride in it.”
“And that’s the problem you have sometimes with guys who probably don’t extend their careers and have a longer career, they don’t understand what kind of fun you’re supposed to have in that chair,” St. Louis added.
Eyes on the Olympic Games
St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong and Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney were among the scouts in the press box at the Bell Center for Tuesday’s game against the Flyers.
Armstrong is also Team Canada’s general manager for the Milan Cortina Olympics, held in Italy from February 6 to 22, while Sweeney is assistant GM for Team Canada.
Three Canadiens were among the 42 players invited to Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp this summer: goaltender Samuel Montembeault, defenseman Noah Dobson and captain Nick Suzuki.
Dobson said after Tuesday’s game that he didn’t know Armstrong and Sweeney were in the press box scouting for Team Canada.
“You know they’re scouting games,” Dobson said. “You’re aware of it. You want to do the best you can and get off to a good start and play good hockey. I think for me it’s just the mentality of just doing what I can to make it as difficult a decision as possible. If I play good hockey, I’m helping the team have success here and that’s the most important thing. You can’t control it, but you can control how you play and the impression you leave and try to make it a difficult decision for them.”
Another player Armstrong and Sweeney kept a close eye on Tuesday night is Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson, who was not invited to Team Canada’s summer camp but played excellent hockey to start the season. Matheson has 3-5-8 totals and a team-best plus-9 rating while averaging 25:16 ice time per game, which ranks eighth in the NHL.
“Mike is a great player, a great defender in this league,” Dobson said. “I’m sure people aren’t aware of that. I think for us it’s just continuing to play great hockey and help the team every night. If we do that, things will take care of themselves.”
To make the Olympic team, Dobson and Matheson would have to defeat one of the seven defensemen who were part of Team Canada when it won the 4 Nations Face-Off last February: Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets, Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues, Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, Travis Sanheim of the Philadelphia Flyers, Shea Theodore of the Vegas Golden Knights and Devon Toes of the Colorado Avalanche.
Trend up
Kirby Dach: He has scored three goals in the last two games, giving him four goals in 11 appearances this season, after recovering from major knee surgery for the second year in a row. Last season Dach needed 35 games to score four goals. He is also plus-1 this season after finishing with a team-worst minus-29 last season. Dach wins 45.2 percent of his encounters, which is not great, but an improvement from last season, when he was at 40.3 percent.
Juraj Slafkovski: He scored six goals in 14 games, including four on the power play, after scoring six goals in 43 games last season. Slafkovsky also leads the Canadiens with 25 hits. He is on pace to score 35 goals after scoring 18 goals last season, including five on the power play.
The power game: In the six games since Ivan Demidov was drafted at No. 1 on power play, the Canadiens are 7-for-15 with the man advantage (47 percent). After going 0-for-2 against the Devils, the Canadiens ranked fifth in the NHL on the power play with a 29.3 percent success rate. Demidov led all NHL rookies in scoring with 4-8-12 overall, including one goal and four assists on the power play.
Trend down
Zacharias Bolduc: After scoring three goals in his first three games for the Canadiens, he has scored just one goal in the last eleven games and no goals in the last six. Bolduc was also taken off the No. 1 power play unit to make room for Demidov. Bolduc has had just four shots on goal in the past six games.
Josh Anderson: He has just one goal and two assists this season, making him a minus-4. He is also part of the first unit for penalty kills and the Canadiens rank 16th in the NHL in PK with a 78 percent success rate.
Joe Veleno: After having a healthy clean sheet through the first five games, he has no goals and no assists in nine games, with a minus-3. The only other Canadiens forward without a goal is Brendan Gallagher, who has seven assists. Veleno has seven shots on target in nine games.
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