The Montreal Canadiens coach decided to unleash one of his best weapons last night, but unfortunately for him he didn't get to use it much.
On Thursday night, during the Montreal Canadiens’ game against the Edmonton Oilers, coach Martin St-Louis decided to make a significant change to his lineup. If it wasn’t the insertion of Kirby Dach, who was returning to injury, or the decision to put Samuel Montembeault in the net, it had to do with the power play.
In the ninth game of the season, St-Louis decided it was time to insert Ivan Demidov on the first wave of the power play, and to put Zachary Bolduc on the second wave. Unfortunately for the young Russian, however, he didn’t get many reps since the Canadiens were only given one man-advantage on the night. Still, the sole power play led to five shot attempts, and the unit showed promise.
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It made sense to move the youngster on the first wave, as he had already proven that he deserved more ice time. The choice to put Bolduc on the second unit a day after he scored on the power play was surprising to me, especially since he’s the only Hab to have two power play goals on the season. Furthermore, he’s not getting a lot of ice time at even strength, and he finds himself on the fourth line through no fault of his own.
I can understand the need for a second wave that can produce as well, but Bolduc does need someone to get him the puck to score, and with Nick Suzuki no longer playing on both units because of Kirby Dach’s return to the lineup, it made his life harder.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I would have moved Juraj Slafkovsky to the second unit rather than Bolduc. Last season, the Slovak scored 18 goals in 79 games while the Quebecer had 19 goals in 72 games. Bolduc is a more effective shooter; he has a 15.9% shooting rate in the last three season, while Slafkovsky’s stands at 13.9%.
Of course, it makes the line changes easier to keep the first line together on the same unit, but I believe Bolduc has to see more ice time, considering his even-strength role on the fourth line. It’s a developing situation and one that will be worth keeping an eye on in Saturday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.
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