Marco D'Amico: How The Habs Can IMPROVE Their Power Play!

0:00Every period has been tight, you know, we kind of had control of the game up to nothing, and you know, they get it right at the end of the second, and then a power play go right at the start of the third, and it's all of a sudden it's tied, and I thought we played a pretty good third period until they go up three-two with a lucky bounce. So, you know, that's part of the game, and you know, we just kind of reset and go into tomorrow with a fresh mindset and, you know, big opportunity to go up three-two. From RG Media and the Star and Demiko show on YouTube, or wherever you get your favorite podcast, it's Marco Demiko. Good morning. Good morning, gentlemen. How's it going? I'm doing well. I shot and I are both cautiously optimistic. I think is how I would describe it, based on what we've seen so far, and the Canadians are having a couple of days in between games. How you feeling about where the Habs are at going into game five? Ah, I mean, it's the best of three. And Sean and I, I think we spoke about this at the opening

1:00of this series. I thought this was going to go to seven, so, you know, I don't think that there should be much worry, to be honest, as long as the Canadians are healthy, and it looks like Slavkowski and Anderson will play tonight, so that is a good sign. But, you know, given the time the Canadians had to make adjustments in practice yesterday and whatnot, and in the video room, I expect a team to come out, you know, a little bit more, how do you say, explosive? You know, we heard Nick Suzuki after practice yesterday, talk about his line, again, it's been an ongoing conversation. The lack of five on five, potency, well documented through four games, but the captain ended part of that conversation by saying he feels like his line has turned the corner. Optimistic point of view, reality check, are you seeing growth from that top line going into game five tonight? Ah, yeah, I mean, if that line is still together, that's that's the big ticket,

2:02right? If you look at practice lines yesterday, Brennan Gallagher was playing on the top line at practice, and Patrick Lina was on the second line with Demadav and and and you hook, and so that brings about multitude of questions considering Slavkowski and Anderson were out, is is it going to be Slavkowski going back to the top line and Anderson going to the second line, or is it going to be the other way around where Anderson goes to the top line and Slavkowski slides down to the second line, like we saw earlier this season. No, it's going to give the Canadian thoughts as I do believe, and then it, you know, from what we saw yesterday, there could be, it could be all of our companions coming out and Joe Valeno entering in. So there could be a there could be a shake up here that although my new could rebalance the lines a little bit, because I think that's that's kind of what the problem has been and what the risk was and going top heavy with that that first line is that if if they don't get going, then the chances of producing

3:06offense consistently at five on five kind of go away for this team. So it it I think there's going to be some changes, but outside of that, if there aren't, that top line has to play with more pace, more speed, more pace, like we've seen in the regular season, you know, a tap of a isn't a really good job of boxing them out and trying to triangulate them to the exterior. They just have to be able to fight through those checks and put, you know, play with maybe that extra pep in their stuff because right now it's just not working. When I think about the two games of Canadians have lost in this series, Marco, I come back to kind of critical errors and the fact that Tampa was able to capitalize on those and it is funny, right? I mean, hockey is in many ways is a game of mistakes. The ones we remember are the ones that result in the puck in the back of your team's net. What do you think about Tampa's ability to capitalize on Canadians errors in both of those losses and

4:06the Canadians, do they, do they need to cut down on them or do they need to get a little luckier when it comes to Tampa capitalizing on the few errors they are making? I mean, look, there's definitely been puck luck in terms of Tampa babe. I mean, you go and look at that sack buzzer goal, you know, that's just lucky as a guess, right? So I would simply just say that Tampa Bay has shown to be a little bit more opportunistic. The Canadians cry to them. I've been given Tampa much defensively, but whenever they have made a mistake, you know, they've made they've made them pay, you know, they've made the Canadian state has Tampa and I think their quick offense is one of the reasons, but you know, first and foremost, they go to the net, right? And I think going to the net, having a presence in that crease, it creates chaos, it creates confusion and in certain cases also blocks, you know, line of sight for goalies to see shots coming in,

5:09and you know, when you look at some of the Canadian, the goals in these playoffs, it's actually scored Hudson had, you know, half a dozen people in front of them in a slap shot for the game winner in game three. So I think where Tampa really has improved or at least looks better than Montreal's, you know, it's not about the perfect play, it's just about going to the net, making the play hop and, you know, presenting your stick for a possible deflection and, you know, Brandon Hagle, you look at most of his goals right in front of the net, and so that's exactly where the Canadian need to go. Yeah, you mentioned all of our captain's name there earlier in this conversation, you know, the least used forward from Marta Sanle, where you threw four games. How do you feel about that sample size? Is it timing right in your mind to think about the likeness that he doesn't play tonight and that Jovelina would be, therefore, the likely guy that kind of slots in is now the right time? I mean, I think it's starting to be about that time. I mean, you need

6:11speed. The team needs speed at this point. They need some pep. They need to maybe shift things around. I don't think they're going to touch the curvy dog buds that text you align right now, but they definitely need to spark some sort and they need to have a player in their line of other than Josh Anderson that's able to play with top end speed. So that's why I think Jovelina for Copanon at this point makes sense. I think just given the way that the season has kind of played out in the second half for Copanon, you know, a lot of people are going to look at his 22 goals and write it to him for doing that, but you look at the last 30 or so games and, you know, unfortunately, it's normal that a rookie eventually does hit a wall and at this stage of the season, and it's there was to be expected, but I think at this point, you need to go maybe with some fresher eyes or at least a player that although may not have the same scoring touch is going to be able to make things happen and drive to the net and, you know, give you options as well as being

7:13able to play center, being able to play a win and being able to play on that penalty kill. One of the relatively drastic options that's been discussed, and of course, this is what happens in Montreal when we have a couple of days off between playoff games is to talk about them. One of them is Josh Anderson taking your ice-love coffee spot with Nick Suzuki and Cole Coffields. What do you think of that idea? I mean, I don't dislike it if it means that Slavkowski gets to play with Demido, because essentially, the way I see it is one way or the other, Ivan Demidov needs help. He needs someone else on his line to help make space and drive off that. But it'd be Anderson that it'd be Slavkowski. One of those two, I think, needs to be on that line with him. I don't necessarily think it's that drastic an option. It's something that's worked before in the playoffs. In the regular season, over a 10 to 15 game sample, not necessarily convinced that the combination of Suzuki, Coffield,

8:14and Anderson works. But against the team like Tampa, I think that makes a little bit more sense with the way that they're playing Montreal. If the Canadians were playing Buffalo right now, I don't think we'd be having the same conversation on because I think any loss of Buffalo, but just because you look at that series against Boston up until last night, it's a lot of up and down hockey. That's the kind of hockey that the Canadians love to play, whereas Tampa is forcing the entire game to go east-west. And if that's going to happen and your transition is going to be hampered, well, it's best to have balance. And then you look at the way that Tampa's kind of shuffled around their lines. They, too, have spread around the offense a little bit and having gone top, heavy, based on what we've seen over the last couple of games in terms of their line-up changes. So it's normal that Marta is going to have to react, especially with such little production I five on five. You know, I guess one of the other factors you talk about whether whether

9:15an odd Jovalino gets in, but in a world that exists where he does play tonight. One of the things, I mean, is Tampa out chaosing, if I can use that as a word, the Canadians, when it comes to net front presence, making that area perhaps a little uncomfortable for for Jacob Dobesh. And is, you know, if that's the case, I mean, how much of how much of that can Jovalino bring tonight, in terms of the battle of the bottom six and again, trying to create more chaotic moments? Well, I think what helps is the pace that he plays with, right? And the speed that he has and the ability that he has to take the puck back the other way and go to those danger areas and not be shy. The issue with Jovalino is definitely not effort. It's generally finished. And, you know, I don't think that you're bringing him in if you are to necessarily be a finisher, but if you're going to take Josh Anderson off of that, Jake Evans and Phil DeNoe combination, you're going to need another speed oriented individual that's going to be able to complete that

10:18line. I think Jovalino is the one that makes the most amount of sense. That being said, you talk about chaotic and going to the net. I mean, Brennan Gallagher is probably the poster child for that over the last 15 years for the Montreal Canadians. You know, so it's not impossible, but he's the one that slots in on the fourth line and that St. Louis absorbs everybody as well, just because that's the way he plays. But to me, also, you look at the pace and the speed of execution of the last four games, and it gives me pauses to whether or not Brennan Gallagher would be able to follow. When it comes to a best of seven series, as we continue on with Marco D'Amico from RG Media and the Star and D'Amico show on YouTube, wherever gets your favorite podcast in Monday nights at six. Usually I hear on TSN 690. The physical toll of a seven game series, the cumulative effect of the physicality and the effect that it has on guys, I'm curious for your perspective on how the Canadians are handling that on both sides. As far as

11:24do you feel like it's taking a toll on them and how big of a toll is their physicality taking on the lightning and how are they doing in that regard? I think it's a little bit of both. I take a lot of people are going to look at that hit on Slavkowski and view that as the potential turning point in the series, I personally don't believe so I think that was it an event absolutely, but I think the true turning point of that game was the four on four that followed two to three minutes later where unfortunately the Canadians got outpaced and Gensal was able to kind of take advantage of a little bit of open ice. In terms of overall physicality, I think they've done pretty well in terms of being able to match Tampa and sometimes even be more of a physical presence than Tampa Bay. I mean, you look at the moment that Josh Anderson takes two strides on

12:27the forecheck. Tampa Bay players immediately start to hesitate a little bit so you know that he's getting into their heads a little bit. You know that Jack I is obviously getting into their heads a little bit so I fully expect and fully understand you know Tampa Bay wanting to have to match them and be a little bit more physical themselves. Well I think that's because Montreal hasn't allowed themselves to get pushed around to the to a total degree and at the end of the day Tampa we saw in game three and four as opposed to what they were doing at home. I've decided to keep this to more of a hockey game style and then less about you know post scrubs and physical stuff and fights and this and that and you know that's mostly due to the fact that the Canadians were able to push back in that regard and show that they weren't going to be intimidated. The Tampa penalty kill after game one they've certainly looked a lot more like the elite group that they were during the regular season Marco. What would you like to see the Canadians do to try

13:32to get that edge back on the man advantage? They have to move. They have to move around the issue with the Montreal Canadians power play is how static they are. The left side of their power play Nick Suzuki Kolkhoff field they moved because they interchange a lot but then after that you know they're not doing much to open up the passing lanes because Tampa is basically just letting those two pass the puck to themselves. The only time that the Canadians looked dangerous on a power play of recent you know recently was Kolkhoff field the goal and what did he do left his spot? He went from being at the goal line to going right in front of the net and presenting a stick for Nick Suzuki to wire him a pass that he tipped in. Well that's exactly what the Canadians need to do in the sense that they need to move around. They need to if Tampa wants to box them out or play a rectangle where they basically have a man on every player not in lane

14:33Hudson and just basically allow lane Hudson to maneuver at the point. Well they're going to have to move around. They're going to have to open up the ice a little bit because the rest is pretty predictable. You know the the right side pass to Ivan Dmitov for the one-timer the pass download in Nick Suzuki to try that sling shot tic-tac-tosh you're like shot in the slot. Those are the two go-to things that Canadians have been trying to do over and over again so they need to you need to go to the well and try different things and I know that that's something that they were looking at yesterday in the video room so I expect some changes there but definitely more mobility like the moment you start a power play and everyone is just waiting for Nick Suzuki to do something and it's static and isn't moving and isn't opening up a lane or isn't causing some level of deception on the penalty kill or on the power play but that just makes the job easier for Tampa Bay. If you look at the way the Tampa Bay plays you know I talk about deception so they play like a

15:35an umbrella umbrella a reverse umbrella where they have one guy at the point and one guy at each circle and then they'll have point and hagel basically in the high and low slot waiting for you know the the ice to open up so that they can tip across a shot in how many times the hagel scored that way or you even saw a braiding point score in that area as well it's about you know opening up the ice and attacking the center of it. Montreal hasn't done a really good job of that they played a lot of perimeter hockey on the power play which is unfortunate considering they have the man advantage but the one the few times that they actually did go to the front of the net on the power play they were rewarded so if they have the blueprint in front of them. Yeah you mentioned Patrick Laney taking a spot on the second line yesterday due to the fact that Anderson and Slavkovsky weren't available for practice but again all good they're going to be green light go for game five tonight just off the cuff how interested are you to learn eventually

16:36kind of what happened with Patrick Laney this season off that'll be a fun story I think so huh uncover yeah that'll be a fun story don't cover but you know it'll it's one of the weirdest things I've seen professionally in hockey in a long time in terms of secrecy of a player and what's going on with them and so on and so forth but you know no use in speculating in it now we'll probably find out in the next couple weeks anyway but yeah definitely something that for the last four months I've found has been tied down distraction. Hmm well looking forward to the tell all book or yeah yeah podcast yeah I'm would mark I'm fascinated by it it's weird it's weird it's just I don't understand how a player is just they're walking like there's no problem and so it's you know you know the GM at the

17:38trade deadline refers to them is available and they just don't take them off I R in the last six weeks so yeah it is what it is I look forward to can't use answering that question or Laney Patrick Laney himself answering those questions but I mean in the meantime there's not much though we can do yeah for sure and I the other thing is the player in the PA apparently having no issue with that our designation right anyway it's just yeah weird like you said Marco thanks is always great stuff all the pleasure guys have a great day that is Marco Domingo coming up next it's your playoff primer on the morning show a quick look ahead at the Canadian Canadians enlightening in game six tonight is coming up next on the morning show