MONTREAL — Straight stats, no fancy stuff, here’s what Jake Evans has provided the Montreal Canadiens in Nick Suzuki’s five-game absence: two goals, three assists, a plus-11 rating, and a 55.4 per cent face-off efficiency while averaging 17:04 per game.
Next-man-up stuff, indeed. Worth highlighting, no doubt. Especially considering Evans normally plays as Montreal's fourth-line centre but has elevated to set the standard for the maturity the young Canadiens are exhibiting night after night without their captain.
“It’s like he always makes the right play,” said Chris Kreider after Evans made enough right plays to notch an assist, win 11 of 16 draws, and finish with a plus-4 rating in a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday.
It was Montreal’s fifth straight win since Suzuki went down with a hand injury. They had two-goal leads in the third period in all five games and executed on the details to win all five in regulation thanks to veterans like the 30-year-old Evans setting the example for players like 22-year-old Owen Beck.
Phillip Danault, who played his 800th NHL game Saturday, is another who’s been doing that. The 33-year-old has been playing close to 20 minutes a night in Suzuki’s absence but not playing any differently than he would playing 16 minutes per game from his usual (lower) slot. No matter his role, he does all the things that rarely show up on the scoresheet but always prove so foundational to a win.
“Those are two guys on this team I look up to,” said Beck after kickstarting the Canadiens by assisting on Oliver Kapanen’s first-period goal before Danault and Evans helped keep Sidney Crosby and the Penguins at bay over a frantic final 3:11.
“Obviously, Phil’s played a lot of games in this league, and Jake’s carved out a hell of a role for himself and knows exactly what kind of player he is,” Beck continued. “The way they play, the way they’re defensively responsible—they know when to jump up in the rush and look for opportunities. Their details are incredible, and those are two guys that I want to emulate my game after a little bit.”
Without either of them here, Beck would almost certainly have been playing his 14th game of the season rather than his fourth.
But you could also say that without the example Evans and Danault set, Beck would likely still be searching for his identity as a player at this level, or at least struggling to play to it without the insulation guys like that provide.
On Saturday, the kid was well insulated, and played perfectly to his identity on all 10 of his shifts. He played simply, quickly, physically, and very efficiently to fall one goal short of a Gordie Howe hat trick.
“I don’t know if I’ve had more fun on a Saturday in a while,” Beck said afterwards.
Most of his Saturdays over the last two seasons had been spent learning how to play the professional game in the American Hockey League, and most of them through the early portion of this season have been spent watching guys like Evans and Danault write the book on how to make it and last in this league.
That’s been an essential part of Beck’s development, though, at a time when the Canadiens are much less about development than they are results.
Had he come up NHL-ready three years ago, coach Martin St. Louis would’ve thrown him straight into the deep end without a life preserver, given him ample time to figure out how to tread water, and given him all kinds of instruction on how to swim.
But that’s no longer the primary role this coach plays, which makes what guys like Evans and Danault provide that much more valuable to the Canadiens' present and future.
“To me, the way those older guys are playing, they’re able to pull the youth a little bit with them, and I think that’s what you’re seeing,” said St. Louis. “They’re leading by example, for sure.”
That’s what these guys do, and it’s not just them.
It’s also 35-year-old Kreider, whose goal and assist on Evans’ line Saturday were evidence he’s starting to find his way with the Canadiens after signing with them in September. He knows how to play a mature game and, as he gets more comfortable here, that’ll transmit more and more to his younger teammates.
And then there’s 32-year-old Josh Anderson, who scored two goals before making the play of the game—a sprawling block on an Erik Karlsson one-timer labelled for the back of Jacob Fowler’s net with 50 seconds remaining.
He always leads by example, no matter the cost.
“Felt that one,” Anderson said with a wide grin on his face. “Right in the knee, where there’s no padding.”
Winning hurts, but it feels good.
Beck’s getting a taste of it right now, thanks to Anderson, Kreider, Danault, and most certainly the guy who’s putting up incredibly impressive numbers in Suzuki’s absence.
