A Winning Habit
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Nick Suzuki’s Unforeseen Offensive Impact and Where it May Take Him

By Sebastian High

MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 28: Montreal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki (14) skates around the net to score a goal during the Ottawa Senators versus the Montreal Canadiens preseason game on September 28, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 28: Montreal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki (14) skates around the net to score a goal during the Ottawa Senators versus the Montreal Canadiens preseason game on September 28, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Nick Suzuki has been the Montreal Canadiens best player over the past six games and the sky certainly seems to be the limit for his development.

Saturday night’s game was the most infuriating one of the season for me; which is saying something given the handful of games dictated by what felt like a refereeing bias against us. For the first time this season I don’t entirely disagree with the cynics saying that this team is vastly overperforming, that Carey Price let the team down for a game and that Jesperi Kotkaniemi may need a conditioning stint under Joel Bouchard in Laval.

However, I did not want my frustration to block out the positives that came from this game (few as they were). Firstly, Max Domi looked like the Max Domi of last season: confident, exploiting the slot and not trying to weave through the entire defence like a ballerina as he has become accustomed to this season. He seemed hungry to dominate and return to form, and he excelled (at centre), scoring two goals.

Secondly, Domi’s left-winger last night, Artturi Lehkonen, seemed to be a rejuvenated player, scoring two goals on really powerful and accurate shots from the high slot. This is the player we all envisioned him becoming in the offseason following his 18 goal rookie campaign. Now, I am not implying that this one game led me to conclude that he will be a 30 goal scorer in this league, but the tools are there, and if he can use this next month of second-line, offensively-focused ice time to regain confidence and a knack for finding the back of the net, 20 seems like a possibility for Lehkonen.

Finishing off with the final component of Saturday’s effective second line is Nick Suzuki, who has blown the fans expectations out of the water with his performance so far this season. He makes everyone around him better and Domi and Lehkonen are no exceptions. While it may be a stretch to credit Suzuki for Lehkonen’s two goals – which it is – the Finnish winger hasn’t produced offensively in two years and the space that Suzuki created on the ice was really exploited by Lehkonen last night.

Suzuki was on the bench for the Piikkio native’s first goal and didn’t play a role in his second; however, Lehkonen was a much more effective player against New York than he has been in a good while even if you remove the two goals from his resume. I believe this is due in large part to how well Suzuki plays with anyone and everyone.

Suzuki’s impact on the game was much clearer when looking at Domi’s two tallies, as he had the primary assist on both. For the first goal, he battled for the puck at the edge of the crease and succeeded in sending the puck over to Domi, who stationed himself on the left side of the crease, for a tip-in goal.

The second Domi goal was created by a speedy and elusive zone entry by the 20-year-old rookie. Suzuki then dropped the puck back to Domi who snapped off a shot that beat Alexandar Georgiev. These types of plays prompted Max Domi to state that Suzuki plays and sees the game like a five-year vet during Saturday’s first intermission. And he is not wrong.

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