(Winnipeg) When a team has 41 losses in 54 games, you can assume they’ve exhausted all the different ways to lose. However, the Canadian has found an almost unprecedented model by causing his own loss.
Updated at 12:20 a.m.
It was a strange encounter that took place on the ice of the Canada Life Center in Winnipeg and which ended in an 8-4 defeat for the visitors. Each of the teams has scored four consecutive goals – the Jets have even done so twice. The referees distributed the penalties as if they were paid by commission. Chris Wideman threw the gloves past Mark Scheifele, who outclassed him by a good five inches and almost 30 pounds…
This defeat, the Habs “inflicted” it on themselves, said head coach Martin St-Louis afterwards. And this long session of self-sabotaging came in different ways.
From the most general point of view, going into a 0-4 deficit after less than 10 minutes of play is not a practice that is recommended by the greatest thinkers in hockey. More specifically, taking seven minor penalties isn’t the smartest plan either, especially when they happen repeatedly in the offensive zone, and even more so against an attack as lethal as the Jets.
“I’ll speak for myself: I can’t sit in the penalty box,” agreed Brendan Gallagher, guilty of two consecutive third-period offenses that led to two goals.
“Their numerical advantage is too good to give them so many chances. I can’t do this,” the striker whispered to members of the media. When he left the press room, he found his voice, shouting a nasty word, which we will keep silent in a family newspaper.
Details
If one continues to adjust the lens, there are the good old little things. That rude turnover from Mike Hoffman that led to Adam Lowry’s goal short of a man. This puck lost on the counterattack by Joel Armia, shorthanded, who paved the way for Pierre-Luc Dubois’ goal.
St-Louis, he underlined the very small details. Like this clearance denied to Alexander Romanov, who got rid of the puck “two feet behind the red line” just before the Jets’ first goal.
“I believe that all games are important,” said the coach. Romanov’s “wasn’t big, but he changed the period.”
As for the string of penalties imposed on his team, it resulted in “giving time” to the best Jets players to “gain confidence, touch the puck” and “hurt” his team on the power play. .
This point is particularly interesting, because the said confidence of the Jets players is extremely fragile these days. The Winnipeggers had dropped four of their previous five games, including two against direct opponents in their run to the playoffs.
As soon as Josh Anderson cut the lead to 4-1 in the first period, we felt the jets were shaken. At 4-3, it was clear the Canadiens would tie the game – precisely what happened.
But the CH players have returned to their visits to the penalty bench. And confidence has returned to the other camp. With the result that we know.
At least, we saw in this rise of four goals material to “build” for the next matches.
“At 0-4, the guys hung on; there was still a lot of hockey to play, and I liked the way we fought,” said Josh Anderson, unfortunate author of a hat trick eclipsed by the loss.
Fight
We couldn’t avoid talking about it, but a heavy cloud hung over this meeting: Should Mark Scheifele, who almost beheaded Jake Evans in the playoffs last spring, pay for his sins?
For 56 minutes, we thought not, especially since in the morning, the players on both sides had sworn to have moved on.
Then there was this display of boxing as succinct as it was awkward between two adversaries who would not belong to the same category in a federated fight. Chris Wideman quickly fell on his back and Scheifele returned to the locker room, smiling, asking the crowd to cheer him on. The judges have handed over their cards: Scheifele advantage all the way.
Wideman not having met the journalists after the match, it was necessary to question those who rub shoulders with him to find out if this fight was linked to the events of the spring – which he did not otherwise attend, since he joined the CH only in July.
“I assume that could be it,” St-Louis replied.
Josh Anderson, on the other hand, said that the temptation to attack Scheifele earlier in the match was suppressed in order, ironically, to avoid unnecessary penalties which would have “got the team in trouble” .
He added, however, that Wideman had “reacted well” and was pleased that another matchup against the Jets was scheduled for April 11, this time at the Bell Centre.
It was written, no later than the day before, that love still existed. Obviously, the “code” too.
In details
Chills !
It’s not the kind of news item that sets Fabi’s discussions ablaze at night, but Manitoba has an impressive population of Ukrainian descent – 180,000 people, according to a recent CBC article. To pay tribute to immigrants or people of this ancestry who reside in the province, the Winnipeg Jets entrusted the interpretation of the Canadian national anthem to the Ukrainian ensemble Hoosli, which preceded O Canada by Chtche ne vmerla Ukraïny, anthem of the country currently invaded by Russia. The male voices that echoed through the arena sent shivers down the spines of all on-site spectators, who responded with a warm ovation. A very emotional moment.
Suzuki and the face-offs, the sequel
Earlier this week, before flying to Winnipeg, Nick Suzuki commented on his recent successes in the face-off circle. Since Martin St-Louis arrived behind the bench, Suzuki had won 61.7% of his duels. Because it got seriously tough for him in this department against the Jets: he only posted a meager success rate of 21% (3 in 14), a performance weighed down by a one-sided confrontation against Adam Lowry ( 1 in 8). It was precisely a face-off lost by number 14 that directly led to the first goal for the locals. Let’s not therefore qualify the young center player too quickly as a specialist in the matter, although he received a star sticker on his team’s second goal, scored quickly after a face-off.
Flowers for Mama Dubois
After the Jets’ morning practice on Tuesday, Pierre-Luc Dubois spoke of the importance for his team of imposing its own law on the opponent at the start of the game, and not the other way around. He had also kindly deflected a glowing remark from a Winnipeg reporter who pointed out that he had been a rare spark plug in the Jets’ unhappy streak leading up to the CH clash. Obviously, the Quebecer did not intend to laugh in the evening. He was directly involved in his team’s first two goals, and he himself scored in the third period by lodging the puck in the top of the net defended by Samuel Montembeault. On the press gallery, Éric Dubois, the father of the other, was an attentive spectator. The man who is assistant coach of the Manitoba Moose, a school club for the Jets, obviously appreciated his boy’s shot and exclaimed with a laugh that he “got it from his mother”. We therefore pay tribute to him here.
They said
When you give up four goals in the first period, you might take your goalkeeper out, but I thought the goals weren’t his fault. As a coach, I learn to manage that. After seven, I wanted to protect him a bit.
Martin St-Louis on Samuel Montembeault
At five against five, we were the best team tonight. We will correct the errors. When you take a lot of penalties and try to get back into the game, you spend a lot of energy. I think we were tired.
Martin St Louis
I’ve had lethargies in my career before, but nothing like that. You try to remember that it’s a process more than results. In the last five or six games, I had at least one good chance to score, and for some reason it didn’t fit. I must continue to do what I have always done.
Brendan Gallagher
It was an interesting game. I don’t know if I had ever experienced one like this, with so many penalties and goals. We could have done better.
Joel Armia
The repeated penalties were a problem, I myself had two in the offensive zone. It can’t happen. We shot ourselves in the foot.
Josh Anderson
Rising
Josh Anderson
An obvious choice, even if it was already going very well for him before the meeting. He scored the first hat trick of his career. Here he is at 15 goals, a peak for the Canadiens.
Falling
Samuel Montembeault
Unfortunate outing for the Quebecer, who had won his three previous starts. Seven goals allowed on just 23 shots.
The number of the game
6
At his 16and career game against the Canadian, Kyle Connor had his 6and evening of 2 points or more.