Canadiens’ Anderson contributing much more than goals to team’s success
It doesn’t really matter that Josh Anderson only has eight goals and 18 points through 47 games, because his impact on the Canadiens’ success has been far more evident than these offensive categories would suggest.
BROSSARD, Que. — It was so subtle that even the NHL missed it.
But on the winning goal of Tuesday’s game, Josh Anderson’s slight connection with the puck changed its trajectory, enabling Joel Armia to scoop it up and send it over for the one-timer Jake Evans fired home.
Had Anderson gotten credit for it — rather than Alex Carrier, who sent the breakout pass up the ice — it would’ve been his 11th assist and 19th point of the season.
But he didn’t, and it doesn’t really matter that he didn’t.
It doesn’t really matter that Anderson only has eight goals and 18 points through 47 games, either, because his impact on the Canadiens’ success this season has been far more evident than these offensive categories would suggest.
That’s something we never would’ve said last season, when Anderson scored just nine goals and registered only 20 points and couldn’t seem to do much of anything outside of that to positively impact the outcome of the 78 games he appeared in.
But you would say that everything Anderson has done on top of scoring this season has made him indispensable.
It’s why on Sunday, when Anderson got his knee twisted up and appeared to suffer a serious injury in a collision with New York Rangers forward Arthur Kaliyev, it felt like the team was losing a player it couldn’t afford to lose.
“I felt the same way when I saw the replay, and obviously, when he came back, I felt relieved,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis after Montreal’s 5-4 win over the Rangers.
Anderson’s teammates were relieved, too.
Even more so after watching him make a key play two nights later, right before Evans fired that shot to seal Tuesday’s win over the Lightning.
Even if Anderson only got a fraction of the puck on that play, he gained position on Tampa’s Michael Eyssimont and pushed the Lightning back on the forecheck to create the space that freed up Armia for the pass to Evans.
It’s the stuff Anderson has been doing since Day 1 of training camp, and the stuff he’s brought right from the opening whistle of every game. He’s been the source of early momentum for the team, delivering the speed and energy St. Louis demands from the first shift.
It’s been early and often that Anderson has registered punishing hits to establish and extend offensive pressure. But not just early and often.
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If the six-foot-three, 218-pound winger leads Canadiens forwards with 106 hits this season, it’s because he’s consistently done it throughout every game.
Anderson has also consistently helped drive his line with Christian Dvorak and Brendan Gallagher, leading it to earn a 52 per cent share of the shot attempts and a 57 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five.
He’s also been regularly featured as a key element of a Canadiens penalty kill that’s been in the league’s top 10 throughout most the season.
It’s a role the Burlington, Ont., native didn’t play last season.
Anderson was supposed to contribute to the power play then but ultimately didn’t. Heck, he didn’t score his first goal of any kind until the 25th game of the season, and going through that slump robbed him of the confidence he needed in order to do much more than just help out on the power play.
To redeem that confidence required a complete mental reset in the off-season, and Anderson fully submitted.
He also fully embraced the changes to his job description, and he has fulfilled its requirements so well that no one even made a peep when he went 11 games without a goal earlier this season.
Talk about a change…
“He’s played such a big part of the identity we’re creating as a team, and I feel like he’s been driving that,” said St. Louis. “I think Andy’s been a great leader for our group. And I think that when you’re in a good place as a player, it’s a lot easier to lead. I don’t think he was able to do that last year. I think he was wrapped up into his own year and his own disappointment and he carried that with him a long time. And I felt this year he came in totally refreshed and was very direct. I was very direct with what I wanted from him this year, and he embraced that. I feel like from the start of training camp he was just so driven and direct in what he was going to do, and he’s been a great leader for us.”
As Evans said after Wednesday’s practice, which Anderson missed because he was receiving treatment, “He’s been awesome this whole year.”
It’s redemption the player could’ve only dreamed of before it started.
Anderson has scored big goals and added big assists since, but that one play in Tuesday’s game was just a small sample of how much more he’s done to help the Canadiens stay in the thick of an insanely tight playoff race in the Eastern Conference.
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