Canadiens’ Phillip Danault earned himself a large pizza after Game 5 victory

The Canadiens’ Phillip Danault deserved a large pizza to himself after Wednesday night’s 3-2 win over the Lightning in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series in Tampa.

Danault must have been starving after being on the ice for the final 3:31 with the Canadiens protecting a one-goal lead, including 2:33 when the Lightning had a six-on-five advantage after pulling goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Canadiens can wrap up the series and advance to the second round against either the Buffalo Sabres or Boston Bruins with a win in Game 6 Friday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports). The Sabres lead their series 3-2 heading into Game 6 Friday in Boston (7:30 p.m., SN360, TVA Sports2).

During the Canadiens’ run to the Stanley Cup final in 2021, Danault made it a tradition of eating pizza in his post-game Zoom news conferences during the COVID pandemic. Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes brought Danault back to Montreal this past December in exchange for a second-round pick at this year’s NHL Draft after the 33-year-old centre had spent the last four-and-a-half seasons with the Los Angeles Kings.

Danault showed Wednesday night why Hughes was willing to give up a second-round pick (one of two the Canadiens held this year) to add an experienced, defensive-minded centre to the youngest team in the playoffs.

Danault logged 19:40 of ice time in Game 5, the second-most of any Canadiens forward — trailing only captain Nick Suzuki, who had 20:42. Danault also won six of the 10 faceoffs he took and is winning 57.1 per cent of his faceoffs in the series.

“Phil’s been awesome for us all year,” the Canadiens’ Kirby Dach, who scored his second goal of the playoffs in Game 5, told reporters in Tampa. “Ever since he came in he’s really steadied our lineup. As a young centreman, there’s so much to be learned from him and how good he is on draws and how responsible he is on the ice. He’s definitely a treat to have and it’s also his veteran leadership and his presence in the room and on the bench.

“He’s able to kind of calm things down and if we need a shift he’s willing to go out there, put a puck in deep, go to work and create momentum for the next line to get out there and score,” Dach added. “It’s not always every night he’s on the scoresheet, but he impacts the game in a positive way for us each and every night.”

Restaurant Normandin made a smart move before the start of the playoffs by signing Danault as a brand ambassador and making a video of him eating their pizza while doing a mock post-game news conference. 

If Danault had a pizza after Wednesday’s game, he probably would have shared a slice with his longtime buddy Brendan Gallagher, who scored the first goal of the game after being a healthy scratch for the first four games of the series. Dach would have also deserved a piece, along with Alexandre Texier, who scored the winning goal.

Danault might have needed an extra-large pizza after the game, since rookie goalie Jakub Dobes definitely deserved a slice after making 38 saves.

The same for the defence duo of Mike Matheson and Alexandre Carrier, who were on the ice for the final 2:33 of the game. Matheson and Carrier blocked four shots each in the game. Matheson had two blocked shots in the last 19 seconds, while Carrier blocked a Brandon Hagel shot with only three seconds left. Matheson leads the Canadiens with 15 blocked shots in the series, one more than Carrier.

A big reason why the Canadiens are ahead in this series is because Dobes has outplayed Vasilevskiy, who has two Stanley Cup rings from 2020 and 2021. Dobes has a .903 save percentage, while Vasilevskiy’s is .880.

“He’s been great,” Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle said about Dobes on a Zoom conference Thursday morning from Tampa before the Canadiens flew back to Montreal. “I don’t think anyone’s shocked. He’s a confident guy. He likes these big moments, he wants these big moments.”

So does Danault.

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