(Dallas) There has been a lot of talk about the weather around the Canadiens these days, but there has also been a lot of talk about standards.
It was Martin St-Louis who repeated this word during the club’s visit to Denver in the middle of the week. Basically, the head coach of the Canadiens explained that the Canadiens had done things a certain way at the start of the season, and that when they don’t do them that way anymore, things don’t go very well. At least, that’s what we understood.
Well, standards took to the field again on a chilly Friday in Dallas, marked by a 4-2 Stars victory.
This time it was indiscipline that sank the club. The Canadian had a nice 2-0 lead, but he started sending guys to the penalty box like Joey Chestnut is sending hot dogs down his throat. Which is usually not a good idea, either way.
So Jonathan Drouin was the first to go to the penalty box in the second period and feel guilty. This allowed the Stars to score their first goal, that of Roope Hintz, then we felt that the Canadian’s boat was taking on water.
The winning goal for the Stars was also scored on the power play, while Michael Pezzetta was on the guilty bench, and you should have seen this poor young man leaving the arena in silence at the end of the evening, the cowboy hat not on the head but in his hands, as if he no longer felt worthy of wearing this victor’s headgear.
“I thought I was playing well until I got this stupid penalty,” he summed up angrily.
The standards, therefore. We can assume that to receive five minor penalties in this way is not part of the standards.
“It’s a good team and the more opportunities we give them, the more they will feel confident,” commented Martin St-Louis. I think we played a good game when we were five against five. But they were able to execute their plays when they got on the power play, and those were penalties we weren’t able to kill. »
The other unfortunate problem, when you spend so much time at four against five, is that inevitably, you touch the puck less. It’s not for nothing that the Canadian took almost 10 minutes to get a first shot in the third period, while three different players were going to sit on the wood of guilt – unless it was aluminum?
“We set our standards since the start of the season, and it’s my job to maintain them,” added Martin St-Louis. We have already had good discussions on this with the players… ”
In total, only two players came to speak to the media at the end of the evening, the team having to clear off as quickly as possible in order to try to return as quickly as possible. It was therefore not the occasion for great dissertations on the future of the club, the future of the special teams or the future of the consumer society. Another time maybe.
But at the time of the Christmas break, we feel the club is at a kind of crossroads: not good enough to claim a place in the playoffs right away, but just good enough to hold on most of the time, even against the best teams.
The standards? They can disappear as quickly as an excellent Yule log, and that’s the problem: when there are no more standards, or even a Yule log, what is left, exactly?
Fruitcake, no doubt. And then, by the way, Merry Christmas!
Rising
PHOTO TONY GUTIERREZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michael Pezzetta (55)
Michael Pezzetta
We’ll forgive him for his penalty late in the game, which led to the Stars’ third goal, because he still had a goal and an assist before that.
Falling
PHOTO TONY GUTIERREZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jonathan Drouin (27) tries to escape pressure from rival Jamie Benn (14).
Jonathan Drouin
After a very good evening Wednesday in Denver, it was much more difficult this time.
The number of the match
PHOTOJEROME MIRON, USA TODAY SPORTS
Roope Hintz (24) scored his two goals Friday night on the power play.
3
Number of power play goals by the Stars, Friday night
In details
Dadonov scratched from training
It had to happen again, and it happened on that very cold Friday night in Dallas: Evgenii Dadonov was dropped from the squad. Michael Pezzetta was chosen to take his place in the group, and he rose to the challenge very well (see below). Invited before the game to explain what he expects from Dadonov, Martin St-Louis did not beat around the bush. “It’s a bit of everything, began by answering the coach Montrealers. Of course, we want to see more offense from him, and also better defensive play from him. But it’s not just him; we do not play according to our own standards at the start of the season. Right now, we’re not even close to that. In 28 games this season, Dadonov has managed just two goals.
Strong comeback for Pezzetta
In addition to showing up at the arena with a sublime cowboy hat on his head, Michael Pezzetta stood out in another way, Friday night at the American Airlines Center: by scoring his second goal of the season, at the start of the second period. The one who had been left out in the previous two games looked very good overall, having also assisted on Jake Evans’ superb goal on the power play in the first period. Of course, there was the penalty at the end… “I didn’t try to trip him, he explained. I got a little sideways, but I can’t stretch like that. I am not happy with this penalty. »
Traditions that are not lost in Dallas
The Dallas Stars don’t have dozens of great traditions, having moved from Minnesota in 1993, leaving behind the finest uniform in hockey history. But there are two that endure and date from the crazy spring of 1999, that of the Stanley Cup and Brett Hull’s skating in the semi-circle. The first is the way fans shout “Stars! when that word is spoken during the US national anthem. The second is the song Puck Off, recorded by Pantera especially for the Stars during those glorious years. In those days, Stars defenseman Craig Ludwig was a good friend of the late Vinnie Paul, then Pantera drummer. To this day, this classic is heard after every Stars goal here.
They said
Michael [Pezzetta] is a guy who cares about the fate of the club. I know he’s going to have trouble sleeping tonight because of his punishment. It happens so fast. I don’t know if I agree with this punishment he was given…I don’t know if I agree with many of the punishments in this game. But it’s like that. You know what you get from a player like him, and he’s been rewarded a few times, but that punishment cost us, and I know he’s going to struggle with that.
Martin St Louis
It’s frustrating to lose a game after a 2-0 lead. I feel like we shot ourselves in the foot with the wrong penalties. We played well in the first two periods at five against five, and we should have continued like that.
Jake Evans