Hockey

Juraj Slafkovsky in A.N.: if he doesn’t go in front of the net, he doesn’t belong on the 1st wave
Mathis Therrien
Juraj Slafkovsky in A.N.: if he doesn’t go in front of the net, he doesn’t belong on the 1st wave
Credit: Getty Images

The Canadiens de Montréal barely escaped with a win over the mighty Chicago Blackhawks last night, with a goal in the final seconds of regular time courtesy of Kaiden Guhle.

The CH's 3-2 victory was clearly not entirely deserved, considering that Club had every opportunity in the world to put the game out of reach with ten powerplays. Even though the Habs scored two powerplay goals, 20% effective, it's clear that the A.N. has glaring problems, as we saw yesterday.

Both waves are clearly lacking in creativity and finishing, but if we look at the first wave alone, the problem really stems from the positioning of the players. Indeed, the big drawback, in my opinion, is that Juraj Slafkovsky plays on the side, when he should be in front of the net to veil the goalie's view.

When Slaf goes in front of the net, it works, as we even saw last night on Kaiden Guhle's winning goal.

So it's obvious that if Slaf isn't going in front of the net like that on the powerplay, he doesn't belong on the first wave.

The Slovak winger lacks the vision and quick hands necessary to play to the left of the opposing goaltender on the powerplay, and we saw that very clearly last night. The Habs' #20 made a few poor decisions and made several bad passes, costing valuable time on the powerplay.

Obviously, Slafkovsky isn't the only culprit behind the Habs' N.A. woes last night, but I seriously think Martin St-Louis should re-evaluate Slaf's position if he wants to make it work. Slafkovsky seems to have figured out this season that he's big and needs to play physical, so ideally he'd be placed in front of the net to veil the goalie's view, allowing his teammates to get some nice shooting lines.

So, here's what the first wave should look like.Opposing netJuraj Slafkovsky Cole Caufield – Zachary Bolduc – Nick Suzuki Lane Hutson

I think such a combination would be much more effective, as well as bringing back the Suzuki – Caufield duo on the powerplay, a duo that had been flaming when Suzuki found a passing line to #13. Plus, Suzuki has already had a lot of success there with his wrist shot.

Add to that Bolduc, who plays the bumper role to perfection, and you've got another option for scoring goals from the slot, and I think the Habs would have much better scoring opportunities, with the puck flowing better, and the opposing goalie's view obscured, which would increase the chances of converting shots on goal.

Because seriously, if St-Louis is going to leave Slaf on the side like he is right now, it's better to play Ivan Demidov in that position and demote Slafkovsky to the second wave.

Speaking of the second wave, it was a real handful last night too, when the problem is very clearly that everything is telegraphed: we're just trying to isolate Patrik Laine so that he can get a shot off on reception, without really trying anything else.

It's obvious that Ivan Demidov and Noah Dobson want to get the puck to Laine, which creates too many telegraphed plays, and a concentrated threat in one place. In short, let's hope Martin St-Louis makes some changes to his powerplay, as he saw on several occasions last night that several elements aren't working.

'En

– Nice to see.

– Nice observations.

– Indeed.

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