Montreal Canadiens Prospect Jan Mysak Continues Goal Scoring Surge Over Weekend

Montreal Canadiens prospect Jan Mysak was taken in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft.

He was a relatively unknown commodity on this side of the Atlantic, playing his entire career in Czech Republic before finishing the 2019-20 season with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL.

Mysak did score 15 goals and 25 points in 22 games for the Bulldogs as a 17 year old and boosted his draft ranking a bit, leading to the Canadiens selecting him in the middle of the second round with the 48th overall pick.

Last season, with the OHL paused due to Covid-19, the Bulldogs didn’t play a game, so Mysak was in the American Hockey League with the Laval Rocket. He played 22 games with the Rocket, scoring a pair of goals, and put up three points in five games at the World Junior Championship.

This season, Mysak got off to a fine start with the Bulldogs, but the four goals and nine points in his first ten games wasn’t leading the league or anything. Since then, Mysak has caught fire, scoring nine goals and 12 points in his last six games.

His hot streak continued over the weekend when his Bulldogs took on the Peterborough Petes on Thursday night.

Mysak scored his 11th goal of the season late in the first period. It all started when he was on the receiving end of a big hit behind the opponent’s net. This left him behind the defence and he was able to find some open ice in the slot. When a Petes defender fanned on a clearing attempt, Mysak positioned himself for a one-timer and capitalized when his teammate found him wide open in the slot. He fires a pinpoint shot over the goaltender’s glove.

Mysak also picked up an assist on Thursday night and though it wasn’t a highlight reel play it shows a couple things about his game that are impressive. First, he wins the draw which is something he has become quite adept at this season. Two years ago, Mysak won 46% of his face-offs and this season he I winning 58%. That is what he did to gain possession just before his assist, but he then also drives to the net and though the defender has positioning on him, Mysak reaches in a the right second and pokes the puck loose in front of the net. This allows teammate Alex Pharand to put the puck in the net.

Mysak scored again in the third period. This goal once again came off a Mysak faceoff win. He got the puck back to his defeceman who moved it back and forth with his D partner before firing a pass up ice to Mysak. He quickly flipped it to a teammate and headed for the net, blowing past two defenders to get open. George Diaco got the puck back to Mysak and he quickly deked to the forehand and scored his 12th of the year.

Mysak hit the scoresheet once again on Saturday night. Late in the first period he stole the puck from an opponent and headed in on an odd man rush. He looked the way of his teammates long enough to get the goaltender to open up and when he did, Mysak fired a puck along the ice through the wickets for his 13th of the season.

He got a bit of a lucky assist later in the game when a point shot hit him and then he tried to shoot it at the net but it just sort of bounced to a teammate at the side of the net.

It was an impressive five point in two game performance from the Canadiens second round pick. He is now up to 13 goals, which is 6th in the OHL and his 21 points puts him 17th in league scoring. His recent surge that saw him score nine goals in his past six games has him charging up the leaderboard.

Another few games of this hot streak and Mysak could be leading the OHL in goals in the near future.