(Boston) The management of injuries at the Canadiens has been talked about all season, but some cases are sometimes the result of pure bad luck. Jake Evans’ injury falls into this category.
The famous game took place on January 14 in Long Island. Late in the first period, Evans came on for a face-off at center ice with 2.6 seconds left against the 6-foot-4, 210-pound colossus Brock Nelson. In short, an “unimportant” face-off, by Evans’ own admission.
This is where misfortune struck. “I was trying to win it and a guy a lot bigger than me fell on my knee. I was quite worried at the time, it was as if my knee had separated from my body. But we avoided the operation, which was positive. I’m just happy to be able to finish the season with the team, “said number 71 after the Habs’ morning practice Thursday, in view of the duel of the evening against the Bruins.
Evans is laughing about it today as he will return to action, nine weeks after the team announced an eight to 10 week absence. But at the time, he had absolutely no reason to laugh about it.
On the one hand, he argues that the referees should never have stopped the game on the sequence that led to the face-off. On the restart, we see that it was Evans himself who was offside, but his winger Evgenii Dadonov does not seem to touch the puck. The linesman whistled anyway.
On the other hand, “they didn’t give me the face-off win, even though the puck went off my edge first!” This is where we see the competitive side of Evans, not ready to let himself be beaten even on an unimportant face-off.
Even though these are faceoffs that are basically just to inflate stats, “I try to win them all. I have no regrets. It was just an unlucky accident, “summarized Evans, who says he does not blame Nelson. “It was a funny game and I fell in front, so I had to trip him. »
The center line of the Canadiens will have a completely different look Thursday night against the Bruins. Kirby Dach, who returned on the wing on Tuesday, will be employed in his natural center position. This domino game will therefore push Jonathan Drouin and Alex Belzile to the wings.
Nick Suzuki could be the big winner of the operation. Before Evans’ injury, Suzuki was taking 40% of his faceoffs in the offensive zone, compared to 27% in the defensive zone. The ratio has practically reversed since mid-January: 32% in the offensive zone, 40% in the defensive zone. The absence of Christian Dvorak for two weeks has made the situation worse.
“I’m going to separate the tasks more, but right away when I leave, I don’t know, we’ll see, he missed a lot of time,” recalled Martin St-Louis.
Suzuki’s offensive stats have plummeted during Evans’ absence. He had 36 points in 43 outings as of Jan. 15, and 19 points in 28 games since. A certain Cole Caufield, however, fell in battle in the meantime, so the explanatory factors are multiple.
For his return, Evans will pilot a line with Brendan Gallagher and Rem Pitlick. “I knew I would be back this week, and it turns out they’re the best team in the league. I like challenges. »
Chris Wideman was the only one absent from morning training, but he will still be at his post in the evening. The defender was entitled to a morning of treatment, as is regularly the case lately.
Jesse Ylönen will miss a second game in a row, but this time is healthy. On Tuesday, it was an illness that kept him away.
RHP Suzuki Hoffman Drouin Dach Gurianov Pitlick Evans Gallagher Pezzetta Tierney Belzile
