In The Foxhole: The Tank Destroyers

By JD Lagrange – They fought their entire life to get to where they are and they didn’t make it to the NHL by accepting defeat. They are winners, with tons of character and determination. They are hungry for wins and unlike some of the people in the team’s fan base, they will NEVER accept or hope for defeat. They want to start winning and building on next season now. They are the players, the coaches and the management group of the Montreal Canadiens.

As injuries continue piling up on the team, it hasn’t stopped them from progressing lately and there are many players who have stepped up their game in order to see that happen. The Canadiens have won three consecutive games since coming back from the All-Star break and they now have a four points lead over the Vancouver Canucks for the 26th overall position in the NHL standings, three points back of the St. Louis Blues.

The Montreal Canadiens will finish with the most man-games lost this year. For the 2nd season in a row.

NHL top 5 teams, man-games lost to injury and health protocols

TOR 381
MTL 369
WSH 363
CBJ 346
PHI 337https://t.co/vaCvPDGvXz
— Man-Games Lost NHL (@ManGamesLostNHL) February 7, 2023

So just who are those tank destroyers, making life miserable for those who want to see their so-called favourite team lose so bad? Let’s break it down by position, shall we?

Forwards

Josh Anderson has four points in his last four games (1G-3A). He now has 15 goals so far, on pace for 24 on the season.

Joel Armia has also been red hot in his last 8 games, with a production of 4G-3A for 7 points. Prior to that, in 26 games played, he had 0G-3A all season!

Kirby Dach has 7G-5A-12 points in his last 15 games played. In that time span, he leads the team in points, two points ahead of Nick Suzuki. He has also slightly improved in the faceoffs’ circles with a 43.6% success rate (35.4% before that).

Evgenii Dadonov, a pending UFA, has 2G-5A-7 points in his last 10 games. He only had 2G-8A-10 points in 35 games prior to that.

Jonathan Drouin has been on fire with 12 points (0G-12A) in his last 12 games. The puts him second on the team in points during that stretch, one back of Dach and one ahead of Suzuki, who both played 19 games to Drouin’s 12. He had 0G-5A-5 points in 19 games prior to that.

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard is on everyone’s mind since being called up from Laval. He has 6G-2A-8 points in his last 8 games with the big club and he is seeing time on the top line with Suzuki.

Mike Hoffman has been playing some better hockey as of late, with 2G-7A-9 points in his last 10 games played. He is using his best weapon – his shot – more often as well, keeping opposition’s goalies on their toes.

Nick Suzuki went through a rough stretch but in his last four games, he has found his rhythm it seems, with 4 points (1G-3A).

An honourable mention goes to Christian Dvorak (1G-2A-3pts in his last two games).

Defensemen

One thing we have noticed the past few games is the contribution offensively from the team’s defensemen, better supporting the attack. And it’s paying dividends.

In the past 3 games:

NAME	G	A	PTS	+/-
Jordan Harris	2	1	3	+6
Mike Matheson	1	2	3	+3
Justin Barron	2	0	2	+2
David Savard	1	0	1	-1
Johnathan Kovacevic	0	1	1	+6
TOTALS	6	4	10	+16

Goaltenders

Jake Allen also appears to have found his game since returning from injury. While some media members and fans were questioning if Samuel Montembeault shouldn’t become the team’s clearcut number one, Allen has put an end to that nonsense.

Since January 24th:

NAME	GP	W	L	OT	SA	Svs	GA	GAA	Sv%	SO
Allen	4	2	1	1	124	113	11	2.73	.911	1
Montembeault	3	1	2	0	93	83	10	3.35	.892	0

So there you have it folks. Oh yes, this team will lose more games. But they have found their competitive spirit once again and that looks good for the future. As trade deadline approaches, it great to see some players on the trade block playing better and Kent Hughes is trying to find them a new team.

Then, you still have Sean Monahan and Joel Edmundson who are still injured, but whose names are omnipresent in trade rumours. The next couple of weeks promise to be interesting, to say the least.

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