Phillip Danault’s 800th NHL game came in a Canadiens win, but the bigger story was how much his game still matters to Montreal.
The veteran centre reached the milestone Saturday night at the Bell Centre as the Canadiens edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4, and he did it while carrying a heavy workload. With captain Nick Suzuki out of the lineup for a fifth straight game because of an upper-body injury, Danault logged the most ice time of any Canadiens forward in all five of those wins, including a season-high 19:57 against Pittsburgh.
That kind of role is exactly why Montreal brought him in from the Los Angeles Kings last December. The Canadiens didn’t need Danault to pile up goals.
They needed him to do the unglamorous work that wins games: take tough faceoffs, kill penalties, protect leads and handle the defensive grind. He delivered plenty of that during last season’s playoffs, when he posted 2-8-10 in 19 games while averaging 15:04 of ice time and winning 56.2 per cent of his draws.
This season, he’s kept that same identity going with 1-5-6 in 14 games and a 53.9 per cent faceoff rate.
“I think Phil's helping our group tremendously in stuff that probably you don't necessarily get rewarded for it in terms of him individually feeling good,” head coach Martin St. Louis said.
Danault also picked up his first goal of the season last Thursday in Dallas, finishing off a 5-2 win over the Stars that completed a perfect 4-0 road trip. The goal came into an empty net in the final minute, but it was really Jake Evans’ moment to decide what to do.
Evans had stripped Stars forward Mikko Rantanen near centre ice and had a clear path to score himself. Instead, he slid the puck over to Danault.
“We're kind of similar players,” Danault said about himself and Evans. “Solid defensively, (playing) end of the game, faceoff on the right, faceoff on the left, PK. So we understand how hard it is to score goals and it meant a lot.
“I gave him a nice bottle of wine,” Danault added with a smile. “Honestly, I would have done the same thing if Jakey didn't have a goal. We understand our position.”
That gesture said a lot about the room Montreal has built. Evans giving up the empty-netter for Danault’s first goal of the year wasn’t treated as a surprise by anyone around the team.
“I think it would have been more of a surprise if he didn't give him the puck,” Chris Kreider said.
“I think one of the biggest compliments you can give a guy is he's not fun to play against,” Kreider added about Danault. “And he's fun to play with. The kind of guy you want on your team, but you don't want to play against.”
Alexandre Carrier felt the same way.
“I wish they had waited for me - I was coming,” Carrier said with a laugh. “But, honestly, I'm not surprised.”
Carrier said what stands out most about Danault is the way he competes and the way he prepares.
“He's such a good defensive centre,” Carrier said. “Big on faceoffs, but his details to his game are off the chart.
He takes care of his body, he still flies around, he has good pace. He just hit 800 games on Saturday and I feel like he's got another 500, which is crazy to say.
When he hit 800, I was thinking of (former Canadiens defenceman) David Savard, who played just over 800 I think in his career. And I was like: Man, 800 is a lot of games.
But I feel like Phil still got even more. He's still got his legs, it's impressive.”
Savard retired last year at 35 with 870 career games.
Danault is now one of 841 players to reach 800 NHL games, and he’s not sounding like a guy ready to stop there. In the final year of his contract, he said he hopes to stay in Montreal and keep pushing toward the 1,000-game club, where only 422 players have ever been.
“It means hard work, dedication,” Danault said about reaching 800. “Whether it's summer, practices, games, backcheck, forecehcek.
Every single effort. Nutrition.
It's all in the same boat. My wife as well, my kids.
It means a lot. It's not easy to do.
But I'm in the right place to keep it rolling. I have more.”
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