(Buffalo) Michael Pezzetta was a wanted man in the visitors’ locker room at the KeyBank Center on Monday morning, at the end of the Canadian’s training for the evening’s duel against the Sabres.
His last visit here gave rise to a spectacular celebration after this player, not necessarily prized for his offensive skills, scored the winning goal in a shootout.
The Tiger Williams-worthy celebration quickly went viral, and Pezzetta even received a painting made by a supporter, immortalizing him in his famous pose. “My mom even had it framed! It’s a cool painting for a cool moment,” he sums up.
It was a rare moment in the spotlight for Pezzetta, who is more accustomed to standing out in the shadows. Take Saturday’s game. In the third period, the Capitals took turns in the penalty box, committing one infraction after another. Pezzetta not playing on the power play, he found himself in the role of the grocery stick, the one that separates the attackers from the defenders on the bench, like the plastic bar of the grocer allows you to separate your juicy tomatoes from the disgusting baseball mustard of the customer behind you at the cash register.
Thus, number 55 made a single presence, 62 seconds long, in the third period. It was one of those cases that Martin St-Louis sometimes brings up, where he “loses” a player to the bench due to circumstances.
“There come times when we have several numerical advantages, and it’s hard to put the player back on, because he’s been on the bench for too long,” explained the Canadiens head coach. I have to help him, so I give him shorthanded minutes and it’s deserved. It is not given. He shows us that he wants this role. »
The fact remains that Pezzetta’s appearances at 4 against 5 are rare. After two games, he only played 1:13 under these circumstances. St-Louis relies heavily on the duos of Jake Evans and Jesse Ylönen, as well as Sean Monahan and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard.
With 116 matches of experience, Pezzetta is in no position to grumble and he is obviously well aware of it. He also knows very well that circumstances will dictate its use. If, for example, one of the disadvantaged forwards receives a penalty, his chances of getting his turn are greater.
“But it’s no good thinking about all that during a match,” he recalls. I just always want to be ready. If you need me, I’ll be ready. Otherwise, I will be the first to encourage the guys. That’s how I built my role. If you let these things affect you, you won’t have a good match. If you’re on the bench thinking it should be your turn to play, if you’ve just spent five minutes thinking about everything you didn’t get, how do you think your presence will go? It will probably be crap.
“So I take my pom poms, I try to give everyone some energy and when it’s my turn, I make sure I’m ready and I’m in the right frame of mind. »
At training camp, St-Louis had mentioned the idea of operating with pairs of attackers, to which he would graft a complementary attacker. The duo of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield was set in stone, and the coach seemed to want to form one with Kirby Dach (now injured) and Juraj Slafkovsky.
The duos were more vague within the last two units, but one wonders if Evans and Ylönen are not forming one. Since the start of the season, Evans has played 24 of his 32 minutes at even strength with Ylönen, and 13 of his 18 minutes shorthanded.
St-Louis did not want to confirm that this duo has obtained their permanence, but he recognized that they are starting to find a certain cohesion. “They’re starting to get used to it, they’re giving us good minutes on the penalty kill and at 5-on-5. Last year, Ylo showed that he’s capable of playing in the league and this year, he’s showing that he doesn’t can’t just play, that it can be [permanent]. »
“He’s a very good all-around player, who executes details well,” Ylönen noted of Evans. He has experience on the disadvantage. He’s a good teammate to learn from and it’s fun to play with him because he makes the work of his wingers easier. »
If the trios remain unchanged from Saturday, their “complementary” piece for this match will be Pezzetta.
It’s unclear if the trios will be the same, but they will be the same puzzle pieces. Jake Allen will therefore get a second straight start in net, while Joel Armia, recalled Saturday, will once again be left out.
Note that the crippled Christian Dvorak and Kaiden Guhle did not participate in the morning training.
