(Tampa) The players of the Canadiens were happy to offer a victory to their head coach Martin St-Louis on his return to Tampa, but the main interested party recalled that everything no longer revolved around him.
Posted at 10:20 p.m.
Updated at 11:03 p.m.
Nick Suzuki decided in a shootout and the Montreal squad defeated the Lightning 5-4 on Saturday at Amalie Arena.
Suzuki ended the game by scoring with a superb change of direction and a backhand shot into the top corner.
St. Louis was back at the site where he won the Stanley Cup in 2004. He has played in 972 of his 1,134 NHL games as a Lightning and holds the team record with 953 points.
“It will never be about me, it’s about the team, the Canadian, not Martin St-Louis, insisted the one who has been behind the Habs bench since February 9. The message today was not to play harder because I played in Tampa. It doesn’t relate. »
“What I liked about the game was our commitment – mentally, how well we played five-on-five,” added St-Louis.
Cole Caufield, Corey Schueneman, Josh Anderson and Jesse Ylönen scored in regulation time for the Canadian (19-39-11). Jake Allen stopped 37 shots in 65 minutes.
PHOTO JASON BEHNKEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cole Caufield (22) scored in the second half
The Canadiens concluded their four-game road trip with a 1-2-1 record. He ended his journey on a high, after tougher performances against the mighty Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.
“We really paid attention to the details that we talked about after the two losses,” said St-Louis. We have taken a step forward and it is satisfying for a coach.
“When you step forward in a win, it helps players understand why you’re asking them to do things a certain way. It’s encouraging. »
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists, while Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli also scored for the Lightning (43-19-6), who had won their previous four games. Brian Elliott stopped 27 shots before the shootout.
Defender Jordan Harris was playing his first NHL game with the Canadiens, having signed his rookie contract last Saturday after a four-year internship at Northeastern University.
“I loved his game. His skating seems so easy, St-Louis noted of Harris. He was committed and gave us very good minutes of play.
Forward Ryan Poehling was back in action after missing nine games with an upper body injury. Chris Wideman and Laurent Dauphin have been dropped from the squad.
The Canadiens will be back at the Bell Center on Tuesday, when the Ottawa Senators will be the visitors.
Action at both ends
The Canadian fired seven of the first eight shots on goal in the game, but he came up against Elliott.
The Lightning opened the scoring on their third shot of the period at 8:57. Stamkos deflected a throw-in from Kucherov into the opener after breaking free from Justin Barron’s cover pushing him.
The local players returned to the charge at 13:32, during a numerical inferiority. Anderson lost control of the puck, allowing the Lightning to attack two-on-one.
Cirelli deflected the puck into the goal with her skate, in addition to hitting Allen’s right pad on the sequence. The goal was disputed by the Canadiens, but NHL officials ruled there was no obstruction against Allen on the streak.
The Canadian did not give up and continued to attack Elliott’s net. The latter was smoking against Christian Dvorak, going from a roll to make the stop with his right leg in the air.
The Canadian’s efforts were finally rewarded at 8:57 of the second period. Caufield beat Elliott in the upper end after a two-man attack on the keeper along with Rem Pitlick.
The Lightning replied at 11:34, when Kucherov hit the target on the power play with a powerful one-timer.
Once again, the Canadian found a way to climb the slope. Schueneman closed the gap to 13:56 with a long shot that deflected off Ondrej Palat before shaking the ropes. Anderson tied the game 1:54 later, scoring on a breakaway.
The Lightning were unfazed by the turn of events and took a 4-3 lead with 15.6 seconds left in the second period. Point deflected a Palat throw-in to the slot in the goal on another power play.
Ylönen responded for the Canadian with a good one-timer after 2:18 of play in the third period.
The goalies closed the door afterwards, forcing a tiebreaker to be presented. Suzuki finally played the heroes in a shootout.
Locker Room Echoes
Defenseman Joel Edmundson praised Jordan Harris, who went 15:55 in his first NHL game.
“We were playing a tough team to play against, which is among the best in the league for a reason. Our young defenders played with calm and determination. It was special to see Harry in his first game. He looked like a veteran. He looked very good. »
Edmundson pointed out that the players wanted to win the game for Martin St-Louis and another former Lightning glory now a member of the Canadiens organization: Vincent Lecavalier.
” [St-Louis] told us that it shouldn’t be for him, that it wasn’t important to him. But in the locker room we wanted to win for him and Vinny [Vincent Lecavalier]. They have their number on banners in the heights of the arena here. It was his first game. We wanted to win. »
Jordan Harris noted that everything was on another level in the NHL.
“The game is definitely faster, but my few practices helped prepare me for that. Guys are also stronger and I will have to try to get better at killing games faster. The players are faster and smarter, the level of skill is also raised, as is the knowledge of the game.”