2024-01-14 04:55:00
MONTREAL – The decision to use Kaiden Guhle to the right of Michael Matheson proved to be wise in complicating the lives of Connor McDavid and his acolytes. This gesture set the tone for an encouraging collective defensive response from the Canadian.
At first glance, it seemed daring to ask Guhle to move, for a rare time, to the right side and, even more so, to compete against McDavid’s trio, but the gamble paid off.
“I think we did a good job managing McDavid’s speed with Matheson and Guhle covering a lot of ice. Our attackers also helped, we didn’t let him breathe much. He runs on a dime and is very explosive. With them, I was confident that they could manage it,” commented St-Louis.
“It’s certainly a challenge for him, it shows that we have confidence in him and I think he likes these challenges,” continued the coach.
A few minutes earlier, Guhle had confirmed everything.
“It was fun, that’s why we play hockey. You want to play these important minutes and face the elite. It’s cool to play against the best in the world, I loved this chance,” he said.
Several sequences of the game proved that the decision was the right one. Each in turn, Matheson and Guhle used their advantage effectively.
“Our skating helped against him, he’s a player who requires a lot of attention. It’s impressive that he’s still having so much success when all the teams want to counter him,” said Matheson.
When we consult the data from the Naturalstattrick site, Guhle measured himself against McDavid for 15:28 and Matheson for 18:57. In attack, Nick Suzuki’s trio was delegated to support them. The Canadian captain played 13:24 against number 97 of the Oilers.
St. Louis was asked if the strategy of respecting face-offs was the only way to counter McDavid and Draisaitl.
“I don’t know if it’s the only way, but it’s the way we chose. I wanted Suzuki vs. McDavid and Jake Evans vs. Draisaitl. We were alert and we helped that by being strict with the confrontations. It’s not the approach for every match, but it’s sometimes the angle we take,” replied the former striker.
After going through a low point, Guhle has started to regain his momentum and this match could help him in that regard.
“Recently, I haven’t been playing my best hockey or at least not up to my standards. I know that not every game will be perfect, you have to be able to deal with that. It’s difficult not to lose confidence, but you have to believe in your abilities,” he commented frankly.
With the abundance of left-handed defenders in the Canadian’s organization chart – including Arber Xhekaj who is patient with the Laval Rocket – the Canadian will consider employing them more often on the right side.
“It gives us flexibility even if it’s easier to play, as a defender, on the edge and, as a team, in our transition. But players are able to play on both sides. We must continue to evaluate him right and he is not the only one who can do it. We know that we have a lot of left-handers so we are not afraid to use one on the right,” described St-Louis.
From his goalie position, Samuel Montembeault appreciated Guhle’s performance with Matheson and he sent flowers to the entire team.
“I really liked the work of the team, it was one of our best defensive games. The guys were committed to making plays on defense, we didn’t force things either. The numerical disadvantage was also very good,” judged Montembeault.
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