Montreal Canadiens' power forward Juraj Slafkovsky is halfway through making his way into the Habs' book of records in these playoffs.
In the Montreal Canadiens’ 4-3 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their first-round matchup, former first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky stole the show, scoring three goals on the power play.
Despite the Habs having 117 years of history, that puts the 22-year-old in a good position to break a franchise record. Jacques Lemaire holds the distinction of having scored the most power-play goals in a playoff year with six goals. Four players have scored five: Marcel Bonin, Vincent Damphousse, Jean Beliveau and Bobby Smith, while 13 players have netted four.
With his three goals, Slafkovsky is 19th in Canadiens history for the most power-play goals in a single year, but there are still a lot of games left to be played in this series, at the very least three. And should the Canadiens win the next three games and make it to the second round, that would add even more games to the power forward’s postseason.
Of his 30 goals in the regular season, 15 came on the man-advantage. That’s three times as many power play goals as he scored last season, and it’s not down to luck. The hulking forward now knows how to use his big frame to his advantage on the ice. On the forecheck, with a lot of speed, he’s a menace, and on the power play, parked in the bumper spot, he’s quite a challenge to move.
Seeing his performance in the regular season was a great surprise for fans and media alike. His season of awakening came quicker than most expected, but it’s even better to see him elevate his game in the postseason when it truly counts. The Slafkovsky we saw Sunday in the first game of the series looked like the one that led Slovakia to a medal game at the Olympics, a leader who wants to be the man when his team needs him the most.
It will be interesting to see how many power play goals he has to his name by the end of the playoffs…
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