(Washington) Friday noon in Detroit. The Canadian’s locker room is slowly emptying, the pre-game interviews are coming to an end. Remains the point of press of Martin St-Louis.
Updated yesterday at 11:51 p.m.
The head coach’s conference will have to wait. St-Louis is on the ice with the players left out that night, namely Samuel Montembeault, Corey Schueneman, Michael Pezzetta and Jonathan Drouin.
It’s usually the job of an assistant coach to take care of the reserves, make them work, but also help them keep their spirits up. Except that St-Louis is there too, with the usual energy of a relatively young retiree.
The press briefing arrives and it is colleague Marc-André Perreault who asks him the very simple question: why stay on the ice with the assistants instead of delegating the work to them?
WILLIAM LFRANCOIS
Friday practice in Detroit
“One, I like that. One of the things I love the most about coaching is the individual work and it’s a chance to do that. I know it sucks being the guy who doesn’t play, I’ve been that guy before. I think they know that if I’m there, it’s because I’m trying to help them and I’m thinking of them. It is important. »
St-Louis had a first opportunity to see the fruits of this work, on Saturday, during the duel between the Canadiens and the Capitals. It was settled 3-1 for Washington. Collectively, the CH did better than the day before in Detroit, even if the attack remains timid.
But in this year of reconstruction, development is the watchword and player progression is essential. Drouin had a first chance to show this progression; he was inserted in the training in place of Rem Pitlick.
“I think he played a good match, he was very involved, very committed,” summarized St-Louis.
This involvement did not translate into numbers; Drouin only had one shot attempt on his record, and he didn’t turn into Steve Bégin overnight either. A few interventions in the defensive zone here and there, a few offensive plays that ended up aborting; nothing to write home about, but when a team is limited to 22 shots, six scoring chances (according to Natural Stat Trick) and one small goal, many of them don’t have any mail for mom.
While waiting for the results, Drouin is enjoying the process. ” It’s motivating. Martin wants to work with certain players. We’ve been talking all week, getting my feet moving, getting moving before the puck comes. We worked on it in Detroit, summed up the new number 27. He’s a coach, but for me, he’s still a player of this caliber and it’s big for my confidence to have him with me. »
At the end of the camp, St-Louis had once made a criticism of a player, saying that Drouin should play with more tempo.
The coach says he has seen improvement. “He was calm mentally, but there was a lot of rhythm in his game. When you have that, you have a lot more touches. I liked his rhythm and what he did with his keys. »
It will be interesting to see how St-Louis will carry out this project. At times, we believed that Claude Julien had managed to extract the maximum from Drouin, especially in the first quarter of the 2019-2020 season. It all came to a screeching halt right here at Capital One Arena when he injured his wrist following a collision with Alexander Ovechkin. Mental health issues then forced him out, while last year it was another wrist injury that slowed him down.
A return of Drouin to an optimal performance would not necessarily serve the CH only in the immediate future. Players in the last year of their contract, in a team expected outside the playoffs, are more often targets for a trade at the end of the season.
Moreover, the sometimes strained relationship between Drouin and a certain part of the Montreal market — even if Drouin said that the public reception at the opening game made him “warm to the heart” — makes one wonder whether he is in everyone’s interest that the union between Drouin and the CH extend beyond this contract.
But it would be quite a player development achievement to help the left winger get back to his best. Let’s see what we have in store for the next few months.
Up: Kirby Dach
He played the best of his three games for the week. The face-offs finally smiled on him; he won five out of eight.
Down: Mike Hoffman
He was invisible offensively and received a penalty. A bad mix.
The number of the match: 6
Kaiden Guhle was a questionable case before the game. He was finally at his post. Although he wasn’t as reliable as his first two outings, he gave up six hits.
In details
A subtly effective duo
We weren’t sure what to expect from Jordan Harris and Johnathan Kovacevic; both are inexperienced in the NHL and Kovacevic did not make camp in Montreal. This duo has proven to be rather surprising so far in defense for the Canadian, in the laudatory sense of the term. Failing to go for the wild climbs that will be the highlights of the evening, their game is simple and they excel in breaking the offensive sequences of the adversary, often more skilful than them. In the third period, for example, Kovacevic fended off an attack by the always dangerous TJ Oshie in a one-on-one sequence. Kovacevic stands out mostly with his stick, ending numerous overplays by blocking passes. “I find him really good, especially without the puck. He is well positioned in one on one, he has a good stick to cut plays. He’s a very solid defender,” said goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault. The two former rivals in the Hockey-East division (Kovacevic played at Merrimack College) are benefiting from the absence of Michael Matheson and Joel Edmundson so far.
A first for Montembeault
The last time he met the Capitals, it had more or less been for Samuel Montembeault. It was last April, and he was the victim of eight goals on 41 shots, in an 8-4 loss. “I didn’t want to give eight again tonight!” joked Montembeault after the game. But I had the whole summer to work on things, we have a different team too, so it’s a new game. This time, despite the loss, Montembeault and his defensive unit fared better. The former Armada goalkeeper even made several important saves in the first half of the duel, before the “Caps” opened the machine. He admitted, however, that he did not like Anthony Mantha’s goal, the Capitals’ second. “I have to avoid that, the pucks going through my body. »
Ovechkin still pending
Alexander Ovechkin has accustomed us, throughout his career, to a strong start to the season. Here he is without a goal after three games. It is only the second time in his career that the counter is at zero after three games; in the shortened 2013 season, he waited until Game 5 before breaking the ice. Number 8 thought he had put on the 781e goal of his career in the first period, but Martin St-Louis filed a protest request and he won his case: Aliaksei Protas was offside at the start of the zone. Ovechkin still got six of 29 shots. We guess it’s a matter of time.
They said
I felt good. I was a little nervous, I was looking forward to playing, it had been a week and a half since my last exhibition game. I felt good, it went well in training this week.
Samuel Montembeault
The match is over and he went to hit Suzuki. I will always react like this. I do not know what to say. It happens, it’s part of the game, you have to deal with the situation when it happens.
Brendan Gallagher on his altercation with TJ Oshie at the sound of the final siren
It’s hard to comment on everyone’s game, so many things are happening. I feel that he touched the puck more, it’s always a good sign.
Martin St-Louis, about Juraj Slafkovsky
It was more competitive. The Canadian was. It wasn’t open play, it was trench battle.
Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette