There might not be a player who knows playoff hockey more than Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, as it is the first time in seven seasons that he and the Panthers are not in the playoffs. On Thursday, Tkachuk had high praise for Montreal Canadiens forward Josh Anderson based on what he has seen.
Tkachuk was on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast and said: "He might be Conn Smythe right now, like best playoff player right now. He's dominating."
The Panthers' forward isn't wrong as Anderson has been impacting the games everywhere on the ice as he has scored two goals, the only two 5v5 goals the Montreal Canadiens have in this series, and is tied with Arber Xhekaj for team hits with nine.
The physicality is not much of a surprise as Anderson was fourth on the team in hits but he did have only 12 5v5 goals in the 72 regular-season games this season.
Although it might not be as much of a surprise, Anderson enjoys playing the Lightning in the playoffs. The last time these two teams met back in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, Anderson had a two-goal game in Game 4 to extend the series one more game.
Montreal Canadiens should consider moving Josh Anderson into their Top 6
While the Canadiens have played well through the first two games, there is always room for improvement, and the coaching staff should consider some lineup tweaks heading into Game 3. One of the things they might want to consider is moving Josh Anderson up to the second line to try and provide some spark for this line.
The first two games, the Canadiens have had Alexandre Texier, Alex Newhook, and Ivan Demidov as their second line. With how well Anderson has played, moving him up in place of Texier could help Newhook and Demidov as a veteran presence on the ice.
It will be interesting to see exactly what Martin St. Louis decides to do with his lines, but moving Josh Anderson up is something that needs to be considered going into Game 3.
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