MONTREAL. The Winter Olympics are fast approaching, and the famous form of the best Slovak forward in the NHL is all the more pleasing.
Juraj Slafkovský collected up to 15 points in the Montreal Canadiens jersey in the last 10 games, when he added eight assists to seven goals.
Only three players in the entire league have had better form in the last three weeks.
A dangerous duo with Demidov
Before the current season, there was speculation that promising rookie Ivan Demidov could threaten Slafkovsky’s position in the first attack alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
After a few games of the season, coach Martin St. Louis really split the first attack, but not to include Demidov in it. He wanted to try the Slafkovský – Kapanen – Demidov formation to build another competitive attack.
Slafkovski benefited from the reassignment, instead of getting pucks for his star teammates, he started playing significantly more with the puck and creating play.
He developed a great chemistry with Demidov relatively quickly, and gradually his form is starting to be reflected in the points as well.
Since December 20, he has added 15 points to his account, more since that date than only three players – Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kučerov (all 19).
He and Demidov get along well off the ice, they live near each other and the young Russian drives him to home games.
On his way to a career high
The Košick schoolboy has played 44 games this season. When we divide them into four equally long stretches (11 duels each), his point average per match developed as follows in individual stretches – 0.55 – 0.36 – 0.91 – 1.36.
In the second period (between the 12th and 22nd games), his productivity decreased from 0.55 to 0.36, which was probably the main influence of the beginning of experimenting with his deployment in the second formation.
Since the second section, its productivity has been continuously increasing. At an average of 1.36 points per game, he would score at least 86 points by the end of the season.
If he maintains the average from the last 10 games (1.50), he would reach 92 points. With the average over the last 20 games (1.10), it comes out to 76 points.
So one thing is for sure, if he stays healthy, he will definitely surpass his previous career high of 51 points that he set last season.
“Currently, I feel better on the ice than ever before,” he revealed during the week to our editors, who were directly with him in Montreal.
