Canadiens’ Phillip Danault providing exactly what Montreal hoped for when it traded for him

BUFFALO, N.Y. — There are always two sides to every story when evaluating a top player’s performance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

For the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, a narrative throughout the series was the production of their top line against the Tampa Bay Lightning. And while captain Nick Suzuki took that lack of production to heart and owned it, the reality is there was an opponent on the other side factoring into that performance.

And so, you can choose to criticize Suzuki for it, or you can choose to praise Lightning shutdown centre Anthony Cirelli for how well he blanketed the Canadiens’ top offensive threat in the series.

In the second round, it is Buffalo Sabres stars Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch feeling the heat heading into Game 6 of the series Saturday in Montreal, with the Canadiens having an opportunity to advance to face the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final with a win.

“It’s an experience that he hasn’t really gone through,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of Thompson on Friday. “I think there are momentum swings in your top players. I mean, we just mentioned Montreal’s top players, and a long stretch of not scoring even strength. Then, you’ll get that opportunity to make a difference. You’ve got to be able to make a difference. We know this time of year, there’s a heightened awareness on all your top players. Every opportunity, every mistake is being critiqued.”

But again, there is someone on the other side of the ice here, and more often than not, that someone has been Canadiens centre Phillip Danault.

This is what Danault was meant to do when the Canadiens traded a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings just before Christmas to repatriate him from California. He was brought back to win draws and play difficult matchups, and there is arguably no one left in the playoffs doing that as well as Danault is doing it for the Canadiens right now.

Danault has won 61.9 percent of his draws in the playoffs, but that number is up to 66.2 percent in the series against the Sabres. And Thompson in particular is feeling that wrath, as Danault has won 70 percent of the faceoffs against him. But even that number is misleading, because of the six faceoffs Danault has lost against Thompson, four came in Game 4. In the other four games, Danault has gone an astonishing 12-for-14 against Thompson for an 85.7 percent clip.

It is difficult to produce when you start 12 out of 14 shifts in a particular matchup chasing after the puck.

And aside from winning faceoffs, Danault is playing smart, responsible, stifling hockey with his linemates Alexandre Texier and Josh Anderson. With Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis controlling the matchups at home in Game 6, it should be a no-brainer as to whom he deploys against Thompson based on his numbers at five-on-five in the series against Danault and Suzuki.

“My confidence is there, and I feel the confidence from Marty,” Danault said after Game 4. “I feel aligned, I know my role here. I’m playing my best hockey probably since last year’s playoffs.”

In Danault’s first go-around with the Canadiens, which ended five years ago with a trip to the Stanley Cup final, he played a high-pressure style under coach Dominique Ducharme, hunting puck carriers up ice and hounding them through the neutral zone to create turnovers. It sounds very similar to what he does under St. Louis, but when asked during the regular season about that similarity, Danault quickly corrected it.

It is not similar.

“This is way smarter,” Danault said. “More details. It’s pressure with a purpose.”

What he meant by that is the Canadiens don’t simply apply pressure for the sake of it, they apply pressure to lead opponents into traps they are setting all over the ice, with all five players on the ice connected to a single purpose and plan for that pressure.

And the role Danault plays in executing that plan has rejuvenated him. He arrived from Los Angeles at Christmas hoping for that, hoping to find a purpose on the Canadiens where there was none with the Kings.

He has that as Danault has become a vitally important part of the Canadiens.

“We got him in December, and I feel Phil’s gotten better and better the more time he was with us, acclimated to a new team … and how we want to play,” St. Louis said Friday. “But you can tell his playoff experience, you know? Because he elevates. I think that’s what I love about playoffs, is it elevates a lot of players, and it definitely has elevated Phil.”

When he made the trade, general manager Kent Hughes explained that Canadiens management felt the team lacked experience and that Danault would help address that. But he also mentioned that despite Danault putting up zero goals and five assists in 30 games with the Kings, he was not so far removed from putting up 8 points in six playoff games against the Edmonton Oilers last year while matched up primarily against Connor McDavid.

Even back then, this time of year is what Hughes had in mind.

And while Danault has not put up points at the same rate as in last year’s playoffs, he is still playing that shutdown role to perfection, and this has a double benefit for the young Canadiens. For one, it can help them advance to the third round, and Danault’s detail-oriented game in the playoffs can also rub off on some of the younger Canadiens players going through a playoff run like this for the first time as well.

“He’s a great player and very undervalued, I find,” said Canadiens centre Joe Veleno, playing in the first playoffs of his NHL career. “Just the little things that he does, a lot of players can look up to him and take some notes, especially the younger group that’s coming up.”