Drouin, de la Rose get kudos from Julien
When you’re counting down the days to the end of a season that has been a major disappointment, you look for any encouraging signs. There were several of those in the Canadiens’ 5-3 loss to the Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
Start with centres Jacob de la Rose and Jonathan Drouin. They were matched up against two of the best players in the world — Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — and they weren’t overwhelmed.
“They handled it the best they could,” head coach Claude Julien said. “I don’t have the (Patrice) Bergerons and those guys have to learn to do those things. Overall, they did well. The (winning goal) was a tip-in and Malkin scored on a power play.”
It was Drouin who merited a special mention from the coach.
“Jonathan continues to thrive on those assignments,” Julien said.
Drouin might have had his best game of the season in the faceoff circle as he won 11 of 14, mostly against Malkin. He also showed more determination to shoot the puck. He had two shots on goal, had four blocked and was off target on five others. His most impressive play of the night was in the second period, when his strong forechecking effort led to Nicolas Deslauriers’s goal, which lifted the Canadiens into a 3-3 tie.
“You have to give credit to Dru (who) was at the end of his shift and he outbattled the two defencemen in the corner and (Daniel Carr) set it on a tee for me,” Deslauriers said. “I found myself by myself.
“The play started when the two guys went off and Dru stayed on and battled and he got some support from Carrsy,” Deslauriers added. “When you change two guys and one guy keeps going on the forecheck, it gives the other team problems. He created some chaos there.”
The Penguins had a 39-20 edge in shots on goal.
“I think there were some times where we overpassed,” Deslauriers said. “You can take notes on their last goal. (Carl) Hagelin came up over the blue-line and he takes a wrister. It wasn’t an overly hard shot, but there are guys in front for it to bounce off. You have to put the puck at the net.”
“I thought they blocked a lot of shots,” Julien added. “They blocked the shooting lanes and they forced us to pass. There were not enough pucks going to the net for my liking. They shut us down. They’re the Stanley Cup champs for a reason.”
De la Rose was given the task of shadowing Crosby and, while the Pittsburgh star had the edge in the faceoff circle, he was limited to one assist.
De la Rose said he didn’t need this game to convince himself that he can play in the NHL, but “obviously I can take this experience with me and try to bring it to the next game.
“He’s the full package,” the 22-year-old said when asked about Crosby. “He’s a strong skater, good hands and he can play defence.”
The one player who had his way with the Canadiens was Patric Hornqvist, who scored two goals, including the winner in the third period. It’s safe to say Hornqvist got the bounces — his first goal went in off Paul Byron’s stick and the second was a tip-in at the crease — but Hornqvist showed the value of getting to the net and getting pucks on it, accounting for 10 of the Penguins’ 39 shots on goal.