Slafkovsky Lnh Set for Game 5 After Crozier Hit
Juraj Slafkovsky is expected to play for the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5, keeping lnh Montreal’s top-six plan intact after Max Crozier’s hit in Game 4. The Canadiens are still trying to push their best forwards into more five-on-five production, with a series that has already shown how quickly one shift can change the tone.
Slafkovsky Returns For Game 5
Slafkovsky took the hit from Crozier in Game 4, then moved into the next game as an expected option for Montreal. He had already given the Canadiens their loudest single-game start in this series with a Game 1 hat trick, so his availability lands directly on the part of the lineup Montreal has leaned on most.
More than half of Slafkovsky’s 73 points this season came at five-on-five. That lines up with the rest of Montreal’s top group: Nick Suzuki produced 55 of his 101 points at five-on-five, and Cole Caufield scored 41 of his 51 goals at five-on-five. The Canadiens need that part of the ice to do more than survive periods in this series.
St. Louis Pushes The Reset
Martin St. Louis spent two days after the hit warning against letting one moment take over the series. “If you let that moment define the series, you’re putting yourself in a bad spot,” he said. “Don’t let moments like that define it. Rewrite it.”
On Wednesday morning, he said he was expecting a big game from Montreal’s top players. He then added a broader point about how the Canadiens want to play around them: “I mean, if you just take the players alone and look at what they’ve done in their career and stuff, that should be enough for me (to believe),” he said. “But to me, what enables to elevate any individual, I think, is the collective game around them.”
St. Louis went further. “This isn’t a one-on-one hockey game,” he said. “There’s one-on-one moments—I’ve said it—and they’ve shown that when they get those moments, they’re elite. But to create more of those moments, you need a better collective game. And I think, at times, it’s been good in this series. But we need more of that collective game to create those moments for those elite players.”
Gallagher Watches From The Sidelines
Brendan Gallagher was still not among the expected scratches who skated at Benchmark International Arena while the Canadiens held their media availability at their hotel, and St. Louis would not confirm that he would play his first game of the series on Wednesday. Gallagher has played in 76 playoff games, and Zachary Bolduc said the veteran has been helping from the outside. “He’s been talking a lot with us, the younger guys, and telling us what he sees,” Bolduc said. “He’s been great.”
Oliver Kapanen skated on Wednesday after scoring 22 goals this season, though he has not scored yet in these playoffs. Joe Veleno, Patrik Laine, Adam Engstrom and Jacob Fowler all watched the first four games of the series, leaving Montreal to sort through its options around the same core that has driven the offense.
If Slafkovsky goes in, Montreal gets a top-six piece back for a game that has already been shaped by the physical hit in Game 4 and by what the Canadiens do with their best forwards at five-on-five. That is the immediate decision point for a team trying to stop one sequence from taking over the series.
