Juraj Slafkovsky has made us forget all about Josh Anderson (and that’s just fine)

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Juraj Slafkovsky has made us forget all about Josh Anderson (and that’s just fine)
Credit: Mike Carlson/Getty Images

After the first half of the Canadiens' game yesterday, what were we saying?

We were saying that Josh Anderson was definitely back in playoff form. That through his physical play and offensive production, he was carrying the Canadiens (almost single-handedly) to new heights.

At one point, before the review ruled in the Lightning's favor and the Habs' second goal was disallowed, Anderson had both goals of the game.

But ultimately, this morning, what are we saying? That the hero the Habs needed is Juraj Slafkovsky.

That's good news for the Habs. After all, we all knew Anderson was going to step up, but we didn't know if the first line would do the same during the game.

We have our answer now.

Ultimately, just like in the 2025 playoffs, it was on the power play that the Habs stepped up. That's where Slaf scored three times. He's now up to five goals in six playoff games…

Clearly, Anderson is also happy to see that Slaf, with his seven shots on goal, two hits, and hat trick, has found a way to step up.

According to him, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield don't just make Slaf better—the reverse is also true.

It remains to be seen whether the power-play unit can maintain this level of performance over multiple games. But yesterday, it made all the difference.

And it brought Slaf closer to a historic mark for the Habs. Four power-play goals in a single playoff run since 2005 is the record to beat.


In a nutshell

– Chris Pronger praises the Habs' power play.

– Wow.

– Well done.

– Interesting.

– Mathematically speaking, we like the Habs' chances.

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