Bruins 4 – Canadian 2 | To each his own victories

(Montreal) “Of course we didn’t get the result, but you have to be careful how you measure success. »

For a coach whose team had just lost 4-2, on a winning goal preceded by an error from the officials, Martin St-Louis looked rather proud.

Losing your head held high is one thing, and that’s what the Habs accomplished on Tuesday night. After all, holding out for 57 minutes against a hockey machine worthy of the 1977 Canadiens, the 1996 Red Wings or the 2019 Lévis Knights is honorable.

CH’s performance seemed even more impressive when the team’s army of cripples left the Bell Center in front of the journalists who were waiting for the locker room doors to open. A brace here, a protective boot there. From Cole Caufield to Kaiden Guhle to Sean Monahan, the parade was impressive.

Add to these extenuating circumstances the fact that the measure of success of the Canadiens, as St-Louis evoked, is not that of a normal sports team. After all, didn’t his boss, Kent Hughes, say that “wins are good up to a point”? It takes a very specific context for a sports leader to express himself like this, but here we are in Montreal in 2023.

It was quite the opposite in the opposing locker room. The measure of success of the Boston Bruins is not very complicated: it is done in wins and points. The triumph brings their record to 38-5-4; never in NHL history has a team reached 80 points as quickly as they, who played their 47 on Tuesday^e match.

“There are several things that we could have done better and that we will correct,” said Patrice Bergeron. I’m proud of the resilience we show every night. We find ways to win. That’s what we’re here for, to win games. »

For its part, the CH wants to win some matches, but has other projects to progress. From a collective perspective, St-Louis has often pointed out that his team got “lost” during their harrowing holiday trip. A revival was essential, to prevent the specter of last season from resurfacing.

“Three weeks ago, we were at our lowest,” recalled St-Louis. We found a way to fix ourselves, even to become a better version of ourselves than before. I believe that the group is capable of growing. »

And from an individual point of view, the team also needs to develop about twenty players, either to help in the long term or to serve as a bargaining chip for the GM in the coming weeks.

Two projects are particularly crucial. In net, of course, where Samuel Montembeault continues to put up amazing performances. Then, in the center.

Hughes acquired Kirby Dach to bolster his center line, and in the first half of the season Dach was more successful on the wing. But the loss of Jake Evans forced the return of the great Albertan to the center, and this time, the experience is much more conclusive than in October. We could talk about his two goals, but his time of use of 23 min 59 s speaks even more. It was the first time this season that Dach was his side’s most-used player in a game.

“I feel good in the center. I never felt it was strange, because it’s my natural position. I have fun and play freely,” Dach described.

“He brings a lot of consistency these days,” added St-Louis. You see a player showing his potential. It’s hard… You have to be consistent to convince the world of your potential. »

This will be Dach’s next challenge, consistency. In five games since he’s been at center, he has five points. If he has a hit-or-miss end to the season, this series of matches will only be anecdotal.

If he finishes it strong, we will see these January games as a possible start of something. And it is precisely in several months that we will know if what this organization measures as being success was really success.

In details

The face-off that mattered

Since Patrice Bergeron arrived in the NHL in 2003, no center has been involved in more faceoffs than him – 25,547, to be precise. And among the busiest members of his brotherhood, he ranks fifth in the same interval for the efficiency rate: 57.9% over almost 20 years. We are therefore talking about a master. However, against the CH, Tuesday, it did not work. Not only did he lose the majority of his duels, but he especially struggled against Nick Suzuki. Number 14 of CH won two thirds (12/18) of their confrontations. Bergeron, however, won the one that mattered the most, that is to say the one that led to his winning goal. The Quebecer explained that he noticed a “lack of rhythm” in his face-offs all evening, especially on his strong side. Moreover, on his goal, he explained that it was a prepared game which, with a little luck, worked perfectly.

Factor of change

When the Bruins are in Montreal, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand are the two players who get the most attention. One for his love rating with Quebec supporters, and the other, exactly for the opposite. However, the big star of the Oursons across the league is David Pastrnak. The Czech enjoyed a four-point night against CH, and it was the 12^e times in his career that he hit that plateau. We know the violence of his shot, but it was two pucks sent from a distance towards the net that led to the goals of David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron – a deflection and a return, respectively. “These goals happen because we go to hard-to-reach places,” said head coach Jim Montgomery. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s the type of goal you have to score in the playoffs. “Pastrnak is a” gamebreaker “, added Bergeron, sorry to use an English word. “The kind of guy who changes the momentum of a game into a presence,” he continued, praising “his reading of the game, his dynamism, his skills and his agility on the skates”. The winger now has 69 points, third in the league.

Montembeault “on the head”

We make a big deal of the beautiful sequence that Samuel Montembeault is going through in front of the Canadiens’ net, and it continued against the Bruins. Despite the defeat, the goalkeeper kept his teammates in the game and multiplied the spectacular saves. Jim Montgomery praised his “reading the game”, pointing to some great streaks against David Pastrnak and Trent Frederic. Jeremy Swayman, vis-à-vis the Quebecer, said that Montembeault had “played on the head at times”. “It’s good to see what’s happening to him, I like the way he plays,” Swayman said. At the Canadiens, Martin St-Louis was more circumspect. “It’s Boston, for sure he has to make good saves,” he said. You can ask the question to all the other teams, their goalkeeper must be alert [contre les Bruins]. That’s what Montembeault has been for a while. Despite the defeat, the goalkeeper of the CH maintains a save rate of.922 at five against five since the start of the season, at 20^e ranked among the 55 busiest goaltenders in the NHL.

They said

Rising

Josh Anderson

His three-game goal streak came to an end, but he delivered another inspired performance nonetheless. He made several crucial plays in the defensive zone.

Falling

Mike Hoffman

His penalty, an unnecessary gesture in the offensive zone, allowed the Bruins to tie the game on the subsequent power play. And on the fourth goal, he lost the puck after playing softly on the blue line.

The number of the game

4

With an assist, Justin Barron has four points in his last four games. His overall game can still be improved, but he’s starting to get comfortable offensively.

With Simon-Olivier Lorange, The Press