Overshadowed in a 6-1 win against the Florida Panthers by a two-goal performance from Tomas Tatar and a number of highlight-reel saves from Carey Price was another terrific game by Montreal’s top center, Phillip Danault. Matching up mostly against one of the best centers in the league, Alex Barkov (who entered the game with 20 points in his last 10 games) the Canadiens out-attempted the Panthers 21-10 with Danault on the ice at even-strength. High-danger scoring chances favored Montreal 5-2 and goals were 2-0 in the 12:34 Danault spent on the ice at 5-on-5. Understated, yet incredibly effective; a microcosm of Danault’s season – a season that should garner him serious consideration for the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward.

Danault has never received a single Selke vote in his career but there is no doubt in my mind that he should finish top-5 in voting this year. He’s spent just over 600 even-strength minutes playing between Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher and the line has an expected goal differential north of 60 percent. In addition to having a career-year offensively, the 26-year old is also having his best year defensively and it’s a big reason why the Canadiens, a bottom-5 team last season, are playing meaningful hockey in late March.

Drafted by the Blackhawks in 2011, Danault played one season in Chicago with current Habs teammate, Andrew Shaw, in 2015-16. Shaw sees parallels between Danault’s game and another former teammate of theirs, who also happens to be a former Selke trophy winner. “Earlier this year I compared {Danault} to Jonathan Toews,” said Shaw after the Habs win on Tuesday. “He’s out there for every D-zone draw, he’s out there against the top line every single night. He’s still putting up points, plus minus shows how well he plays, he’s strong on his stick, he’s great in his own end and he PK’s a lot, too.”

Shaw hit on a lot of key points here, so let’s breakdown his assessment of Danault in 5 of the areas he spoke about – defensive zone face-offs, facing top lines, putting up points, being strong on his stick and contributing on the penalty kill – all areas to be considered when voting on the Selke Trophy.

DZONE DRAWS

Danault has taken the 4th most defensive zone face-offs of any player in the league and has won well over half of them.