When Lawson Crouse reached the All-Star break in February, he had 19 goals in 47 games, placing him among the top 45 goal scorers in the league, and putting him on pace for 32 goals this season. His lack of success finding the net after the break mirrored the struggles of his team, which lost 14 straight games (0-12-2) from Jan. 24 to Feb. 29 to fall out of the playoff race.

Before Crouse scored in an 8-5 loss to the Rangers at Mullett Arena on Saturday, he had gone almost 20 games without a goal. Since the All-Star break, he has just two goals. It’s the second season in a row where a hot start has been somewhat muted by second-half struggles. Last season, Crouse had 16 goals before the break and eight after it.

“I was hard on myself during that time,” Crouse said mainly of the team’s winless February. “I felt maybe if I scored a couple timelier goals or chipped in here and there, we could have maybe got a couple more wins. 

“It does eat at you. It’s never fun when you go through those stretches, but the most frustrating thing was that I thought I was still getting chances.” 

All of the metrics back that assertion, whether it’s simple shots on goal — he has 57 in 26 games since the break; he had 101 in 47 games before it — or team-measured scoring chances. More to the point, coach André Tourigny said he didn’t see any change in the way Crouse was playing.

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“I think if you start to look for trouble you will find this and that,” Tourigny said. “But in reality, was he doing that differently than before? And did that have an impact? He still had energy. He was physical. He was playing [well on] the PK. He was doing a lot of good stuff for the team still.

“He’s a leader on our team. He’s really proud so you don’t want to get into a slump. You put too much on your shoulders most of the time. You take responsibility for stuff maybe you shouldn’t, but that’s what good leadership and guys who are accountable do; take ownership of their performance and the team performance. He handled himself like a pro during that time. He kept grinding.” 

While Crouse was maintaining most other aspects of his 200-foot game, he was also using every method under the sun to emerge from his scoring slump.

“A lot of meditation, a lot of visualization, a lot of positive self-talk,” he said. “I think all of that’s important. Being mentally tough is one of the hardest things to do, but if you can master that, I think that’s a really good thing for your career. Confidence is sometimes really hard to come by so mentally, you have to try and do whatever you can to gain that confidence.”

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More recently, Crouse has had the added challenge of playing alongside young linemates Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther, instead of his customary linemates, Nick Bjugstad and Matias Maccelli. While they are not necessarily facing the top matchup from other teams, they are facing tougher matchups so Crouse is there both to protect them and to shepherd them.

That switch has also forced him to alter his approach in the offensive zone.

“When I was playing with Maccelli, I’d find that soft area,” Crouse said. “Playing with Gunner and Cools, those goal-scoring areas have changed a little bit. Gunner is an elite shooter, and then Cools is just looking to make plays nonstop. It’s just about realizing that my chances aren’t gonna always be in that high slot from Maccelli. It’s probably gonna be closer to the net where I do still score a lot of goals.”

Through his struggles, Crouse discovered another facet of his game.

“I actually do a lot of video with [Coyotes skills coach] Kyle [Bocheck] and when we were going through that stretch, I actually liked that I was making more plays with the puck,” he said. “I felt like I was setting up my linemates a little bit more.”

To that end, Crouse has an offseason project.

“Continuing to make plays,” he said. “That’s a big thing: puck skills. You watch what Kells [Clayton Keller] does — and I’m not comparing myself to Kells in any way — but you watch what he’s able to do with the puck; he has it on a string. That’s going to be a big, big thing that I’m gonna work on this summer. Hopefully, that generates a lot more scoring chances for myself and my linemates.”

And while he has fallen short on one of his performance goals the past two seasons, Crouse isn’t giving up on some day clearing the high bar that he set for himself after reaching the 20-goal barrier for the first of three straight seasons back in 2021-22.

“I believe in myself and I still believe that I’m gonna get 30 goals one of these days,” he said. “You always have to continue to reset the bar. You can’t set it too high like I’m going to score 50. That’s not reasonable, but 30 is still there. I’m still visualizing it and thinking about it.

“I was on pace to do it so it sucks a little bit that I didn’t get there, but it’s out of my control now so I just have to focus on what I can do. It was frustrating going through that slump but I’m definitely happy it’s over with now and hopefully I can get on a streak here to finish the year and go into the summer with some confidence.”

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Top photo of Coyotes forward Lawson Crouse via PHNX Sports’ Danielle Cortez

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