LAS VEGAS | You went to bed late, you have dark circles under your eyes this morning while sipping your coffee. If it’s because you watched the Canadian’s game, you can tell yourself that it was worth it.
Martin St-Louis’ troop pushed the Stanley Cup champions, undefeated in regulation time since the start of the campaign, to the limit of possibility. A spectacular match at the end of which the Habs players finally fell 3 to 2 in a shootout.
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Despite the result, they were able to leave T-Mobile Arena with hearts full of pride. It was certainly St-Louis himself who best summed up his troop’s evening of work.
“It’s the best game we’ve played since I’ve been in office,” said the coach who has now sat behind the Canadian bench 128 times.
“I’m so proud of them. I told them that I was giving them 30 seconds to be disappointed with the result, but that afterward, they had to focus on the process,” St-Louis continued.
The famous process is this idea according to which the team must grow through the different experiences and trials it will go through over the coming months and years. This baggage that the group will have to acquire if it wishes to aspire to great honors one day.
Monday evening, St-Louis saw its team take a step in this direction.
“It was a match during which we raised our standards. It’s not the coach who does that. We direct them, but it’s the group that ultimately makes this decision.”
The bottled champions
Despite setbacks, there is indeed something to be proud of. Few gave this inexperienced team any chance of standing up to the golden knights. This will definitely be good for the confidence of the group.
“It shows that we can compete with these teams,” said Samuel Montembeault.
Constantly first on the puck, fierce in one-on-one battles, the Canadian gave practically nothing to his rivals. So much so that in the second period, the Golden Knights were limited to two shots on goal.
“I think I received as many shots in overtime as I did in the second and third period,” said Montembeault.
Bécancourois was not far from the truth.
In those five minutes, he faced six shots. Seven, if we add the penalty shot awarded to Jack Eichel. Which is one less than in the second and third thirds combined.
“We paid attention to the small details. Our positioning and that of our stick made the difference. We limited their reaction time and their space, which allowed us to limit their number of quality chances,” analyzed Sean Monahan.
Now, we just don’t want the Canadian to collapse during his next outings. If this were to be the case, this sublime performance would quickly pass for a stroke of luck.
Matheson visibly inconvenienced
Furthermore, a doubtful case for the match, Mike Matheson played the match. Injured in the lower body on Saturday against the Jets, the defender seemed uncomfortable. On a few occasions during the massive attack, we saw him drop the puck.
The overtime period allowed him to move up in the hierarchy of defenders most used by St-Louis. He finished the evening with 22 minutes of playing time, four fewer than Kaiden Guhle.
At one point, only Arber Xhekaj had been on the ice less often than him.
His state of health will certainly be a matter to follow closely.