Clutch Performers | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Cole Caufield, Jake Evans, Artturi Lehkonen
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA — Hello there, folks! Back with another edition of my three stars of the week column!
Players will earn points each time they appear as a star in this column and at the end of the year, I will award my three stars of the season.
The Canadiens clinched a playoff spot this week but lost their last five games to close the season. These are the players who stood out to me this week.
☆ THIRD STAR: Cole Caufield
I was debating giving this spot to Nick Suzuki but seeing as he was my first star the last two weeks and I have spoken at length about Suzuki’s play of late, I figured this was a good opportunity to give Caufield the third star of the week.
In the Canadiens last game against Edmonton, Caufield and Suzuki showed some really nice chemistry, accounting for all the Canadiens production in that game, having two points each. It was Caufield’s goal that got the Canadiens the first goal of the game and later in the game he picked up his first NHL assist on Suzuki’s second goal of the game.
This is a good sign for the Canadiens. To see the chemistry form between those two guys is a pretty significant development, given one is a playmaking center and the other a pure sniper, the Canadiens had to hope that they would see that type of chemistry, but perhaps did not account for it showing this quickly.
Now that the regular season has ended, Caufield got into 10 games, picking up four goals and one assist in those contests. It remains to be seen if he will get into any playoff games, but all things considered, the young sniper performed admirably in the first stint of his NHL career.
☆ SECOND STAR: Jake Evans
Jake Evans came up huge for the Canadiens this week. He scored the first goal on Monday night to get the Canadiens off and running in a game they had an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot and it was an absolute beauty. His line, with Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen flanking Evans, was fantastic.
When the Canadiens traded for Eric Staal, it was made clear at that time that Evans would be the odd man out, despite his admirable performance for much of this season. Staal arrived and delivered an OT winner but has done little of significance since and has looked every bit his 36 years of age.
Evans does a lot for this team, he is one of those guys that whatever is going on in a game he never changes. He’s as steady as they come. He plays well five-on-five and kills penalties for this team while bringing speed and physicality to the table, while also having some offensive upside as we saw on Monday.
The lesson here should be that giving opportunities to young players is a better alternative to loading the roster with aging pieces, planting seeds of doubt in the heads of those young guys in the process. The Canadiens traded for Staal and now they have to decide what they are trying to do here.
Regardless, the Canadiens are heading to the playoffs and the performance of Jake Evans on Monday has a whole lot to do with that.
☆ FIRST STAR: Artturi Lehkonen
The book on Artturi Lehkonen is that he is a hard-working player on both sides of the ice who does not have the ability to score as much as people would like. That is what gets parroted all over social media, on the broadcasts and in articles. What gets lost in that narrative, however, is Lehkonen has consistently been a clutch performer for the Habs.
Back in April of 2019, Lehkonen had a remarkable performance against Tampa Bay to keep the Canadiens playoff hopes alive. Last year in the Toronto bubble, it was Lehkonen who scored the game-winning goal to get the Canadiens past the Pittsburgh Penguins and into the playoffs. He is always there when the Canadiens need him most.
This week, the Canadiens needed to clinch a playoff spot. That required them to get one point against the Oilers on Monday night. They got that point. Why? Because Lehkonen and his line mates willed the Canadiens to that point.
He set up Evans for the first goal of the night, then feathered a pass through to Byron for the second. He had a goal called back due to it being determined the play was offside, but that did not deter Lehkonen, he beat Mikko Koskinen with a well-placed shot to tie the game and get the Canadiens the point they needed. On top of that, his line did a fine job dealing with Connor McDavid, Lehkonen played a huge role in that.
On a team that has been filled with guys with Stanley Cup experience, it was Artturi Lehkonen who stepped up in the biggest moment of the Canadiens season and delivered exactly what the Habs needed. Just like 2019, just like 2020. So, the next time someone complains about Lehkonen’s lack of production, remember how he performs in the biggest moments for this team.
With his history, one has to wonder if Lehkonen might have a big goal or two in him for the playoffs.
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