Sometimes it can’t be so easy to be called Joel Armia.
A player like him, strong, former first-round choice, prototype of the modern “power forward”, as we say in English, always arrives somewhere raising expectations. Unrealistic, sometimes, but so are the expectations.
And then we see him go, Armia, in a game like this, on a festive Saturday night at the Bell Centre, when the “ôlé ôlé ôlé” are already ringing out in the square in the second period, and then we wonder why he don’t do that more often.
He scored twice this time around, including the tying goal, in a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Blues.
Armia, a man of few words, was not going to explain in detail the recipe for this sudden success at the end of the evening. It will be for another time. But he at least explained what was wrong before that sudden outburst of three goals in two games.
“I was playing really badly,” he admitted to his locker. And then there comes a time when you have to know how to look in the mirror. »
There comes a time when you have to know how to demand better of yourself.
Joel Armia
The mirror, demanding better, all that is fabulous, but you still have to be able to put it in to get out of the mire and see life on the bright side. At only 29 years old, Joel Armia is certainly not a finished player, but he is also a frustrating player; the hands, the skills, the power, it’s all there, just like this “ceiling” that Martin St-Louis likes to talk about from time to time, when he wants to discuss the potential of such and such.
Everything is there, therefore, and in an ideal world, Joel Armia would be that player, that of Thursday, that of Saturday evening, capable of seasons of 30, perhaps 40 goals. “It feels good to be able to get favorable bounces,” he sighed, hinting that the puck isn’t always his best friend.
“We have had several discussions since the start of the season, explained Martin St-Louis. Discussions can only bring it to a certain place. Then it’s up to him to think about it, to try to get out of it. »
The wind of change
Jonathan Drouin is another who has had discussions with Martin St-Louis. He thought he had finally scored his first goal of the season, but at the end of the evening, the people of the NHL reviewed the goal and instead credited it to Josh Anderson.
But Drouin, like Armia, senses that the winds of change are blowing despite everything.
“Like Joel, I’ve been getting chances to score since the last games,” explained the Quebec forward. So I understand very well how he may feel. I was just talking about it with Martin [samedi matin] ; There’s no point in worrying when you get chances to score, because it’s going to happen eventually. »
Jake Evans, the center of Armia recently, sees plenty of qualities in his right winger.
“He’s one of the best around in puck protection,” he explained.
Heading into the last two games, he might not be getting the production he wanted, but never did he show it, he didn’t feel sorry for himself. He really is a smart player.
Jake Evans
Apart from that, and it must be emphasized, there was a great evening atmosphere at the Bell Center on this festive Saturday. For a team that is at 27e rank in the overall standings at the time of writing this is still noteworthy.
Martin St-Louis spoke of the “Saturday night energy”, which is not far from Saturday night fever, and besides, isn’t the biggest success of the Bee Gees stayin’ alive ?
It’s a bit like what Joel Armia did, the time to remind us of what he is capable of doing.
Rising
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Joel Armia
Who else ? A two-goal game, and he came within two or three centimeters of adding a third during the third period.
Falling
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Michael Pezzetta
An energy player like him can’t end up in the penalty box like that. His second penalty led to the Blues’ fourth goal.
The number of the match
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Joel Armia, author of two goals on Saturday evening, receives congratulations from his teammates.
3
Number of goals by Joel Armia in his last two games.
They said
It’s Saturday night energy. You knew there would be energy in the building. We built our match, the more the match progressed. Our special units were good. The guys knew we were playing a good game. When you come in third and you’re in the game, it’s easier to have passion than if you lose by three or four goals.
Martin St Louis
During the last minute, we were nervous on the bench, especially that Joel [Armia] broke his stick. When a player breaks his stick in the defensive zone, you start to stress. But we had two big blocks from Savard and Edmundson. You win games like that.
Jonathan Drouin
I think it was one of my favorite games this season… We managed to take advantage of good favorable conditions, and we played well all along the line. I think our whole line is doing a good job, it’s fun to play with these guys.
Jake Evans
We left a lot of chances in the enclave. Now we are more sure of our decisions. We give less chance, we play better in the defensive zone and we get out faster.
David Savard
Interview by Richard Labbé and Guillaume Lefrançois, The Press
In details
The voice of Michel Lacroix in the absence of a goal
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Jonathan Drouin
It took a few minutes, but the National League ended up confirming what was apparent on the slow-motion replays: the game-winning goal went to Josh Anderson, not Jonathan Drouin. Anderson gave the puck a final push as it slowly crossed the red line. He therefore deprived his good friend of his first goal of the season. At the time of speaking to us, Drouin did not yet know that the goal was officially attributed to Anderson. The house announcer, Michel Lacroix, knew it himself in the last minute of the game and judged that making the announcement after the final siren would have broken the festive atmosphere that reigned at the Bell Center . “It was 4-4. Whether it was me or Anderson who scored, we were happy,” Drouin said. But it was good to hear Michel Lacroix say my name! »
Evans’ other achievement
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Jake Evans
Behind every great winger hides a center, goes the saying we just invented. Joel Armia and Evgenii Dadonov are having a good time and it is important to look at the work of their center, Jake Evans. He himself has struggled offensively this season, scoring his first goal in his 34e match. But he seems to have energized his two wingers. This trio delivered a thundering performance on Saturday, a performance all the more remarkable as the three forwards faced the Blues’ first line, Robert Thomas, all evening. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Canadiens outshot the Blues 4-0 on high-quality scoring chances for the roughly nine minutes that Evans and Thomas were on the ice at the same time at five-on-five. “He has a big responsibility in the center, on the face-offs, he passes the penalties. I’m glad he’s been rewarded because he’s a hard worker,” summed up Martin St-Louis.
A diverse power play advantage
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Kirby Dash
Too often, the Canadian’s threats on the power play come from Nick Suzuki with his wrist shot on the right side, or Cole Caufield with his one-timer shot on the left side. So it was striking to see where the scoring opportunities came from on Saturday. Nick Suzuki had a ton of it from the top of the enclave, what English speakers call the position of the bumper. Kirby Dach also scored from there, because Suzuki, rather than making his usual cross stint at Caufield, changed the angle of his pass to join Dach. Jonathan Drouin got quality shots from the point. “We talked about it before the game, we wanted to balance our game,” explained Drouin. When we always do the same thing, you watch the video and you can know what we are going to do. We wanted to try to stretch them as much as possible and use both sides. Cole had his one-timers, he hit the post and then we went to the other side and Suzuki made a really nice pass to Dach. »
Guillaume Lefrancois, The Press