MONTREAL — Jonathan Drouin catches the pass in mid-flight and is off to the races.
He’s all alone, with 60 feet of space in front of him to create something magical, and he does exactly that by shifting the puck from his forehand to his backhand and back to his forehand in the blink of an eye before he lets go of the shot that beats Carey Price and gives him the third goal of his young NHL career. It his first-ever goal as a pro at the Bell Centre after a short lifetime of watching games there. One he’ll never forget. The type of play that made him the third-overall pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2013.
Now would be as good a time as ever for Drouin to summon something similar. His Canadiens, mired in a hideous five-game losing streak that’s only seen them produce a total of four goals, could use a lift. He was brought here to provide one in both the best and worst of times, but hasn’t found the back of the net in 10 games.
To do so on Thursday, against the league-leading Lightning who traded him to the Canadiens this past June, would surely be special. All the more so if Drouin could somehow break through defenceman Mikhail Sergachev — whom he was traded for — in the process.
At least it would give the fans something to cheer for in a season that hasn’t offered them much. It might also take some pressure off the 22-year-old from Ste. Agathe, Que., who has five goals and 18 points this season — or six less than the 19-year-old Sergachev.
Drouin has played centre throughout his entire hockey career, but is in his first full season at the position at this level. There have been growing pains along the way, evidenced by his level of production, his minus-18 rating and his 40 per cent (in)efficiency in the faceoff circle.
But Canadiens coach Claude Julien believes Drouin is coming along.
“I think he’s getting more comfortable, especially in our own end on breakouts and stuff like that,” Julien said on Wednesday. “I think he’s been set back a little bit because he’s had a couple of injuries. He’s missed a whole week at some point. So he’s never really been able to really get himself going here. So when I see him skate with the speed that he has, those are encouraging signs for us and for me because it’s coming around.”
There have been other indications Drouin’s poised for a breakout.
It seems as though at least once every game he does something no one else on the ice is capable of, usually displaying the hand skills that have made him a game-breaking talent at every level — including this one at various times over the past four seasons.
Drouin’s playmaking has also been evident throughout all of his 35 games this season. Unfortunately for him, the players he’s setting up on the regular haven’t been able to capitalize on more than 13 of the chances he’s offered.
It was during the last Canadiens game — a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday — that Drouin set up Artturi Lehkonen with a golden opportunity from the slot which was rifled over the net by the Finnish forward. It was one of several misses Lehkonen’s had as Drouin’s linemate, having produced the most high-danger scoring chances on the Canadiens through his first 18 games (according to naturalstattrick.com) and having only converted on two of them.
Drouin gave Max Pacioretty two chances against San Jose, too, but the captain missed them and is stuck on one goal in his last 23 games and none in his last 13.
Outside of Brendan Gallagher, who hasn’t played more than a handful of even-strength shifts this season with Drouin, there isn’t a single top-nine forward on the Canadiens scoring with regularity. It’s why fourth-liner Nicolas Deslauriers was named the Molson Cup winner for the most three-star selections at the Bell Centre in the month of December.
It’s also a big part of the reason why the Canadiens are in 27th place in the 31-team NHL, eight points out of the second wild card position in the Eastern Conference and 12 points out of third place in the Atlantic Division.
“To get out of this, we hope our best players will be our leaders on the ice,” said Julien. “If that happens the others will follow. A lot is asked of those players in circumstances like these, but you hope they’ll appreciate the situation and that they’ll cherish the opportunity. You hope they’ll go about it that way to help us regain our winning ways.”
A little magic from Drouin on Thursday would be a start.
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