(Elmont, New York) This evening ended with the opposing players returning to the locker room shouting with joy at high volume, while at the other end of the corridor, the visitors retreated to their own locker room in silence , looking a little down.
We must have seen this scene dozens of times this season. Another close game, another one-goal game, and another victory that goes to the opponents’ record, this time the New York Islanders, by a score of 3-2 in overtime.
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We understand that all eyes are already turned towards the abacus, towards the repechage and towards the 1er July, but if the Canadian ever wants to be like the best, he will eventually have to learn how to win these matches.
“It’s frustrating not to be able to win at the moment,” Mike Matheson began by saying in a large deserted locker room at the end of the evening. We have to see this as a path that leads us to the next season. We know that we are really close, and the work we have done is starting to show results. For us, this end of the season is a bit like the start of our next training camp…”
This Canadian match in the New York suburbs was the 41e this season to end with a single goal. The Canadian’s record in such games is now 17-11-13, which is less impressive considering the last two columns represent losses.
“We see that it is often very close, and for us, the next step will be to learn how to win these matches,” explained Brendan Gallagher. Most of the games we lost by just one goal were probably games we could have won. »
I hope we can find a way to eventually get the results we want. This is how we can learn to grow as a team.
Brendan Gallagher
Also, you don’t win when you don’t shoot, and the Canadian had 10 shots after 40 minutes of play; he finished the match with 14 shots. “Our execution wasn’t there,” noted coach Martin St-Louis. She was there from time to time, but not as consistently as we are capable of. We didn’t have our fastball, but the other team will sometimes prevent you from having your fastball…”
Other than that, Gallagher saw what pretty much everyone else saw in this game (“they were better than us, they were the first on the puck, they created more things, they were in it all the time). our face”, he summed up suddenly), but like everyone else in this locker room, he dreams of better days, and perhaps also of a better world, where his club can dream of a spring.
Martin St-Louis dreams of all that, too.
“That’s what hockey is,” the Montreal coach philosophized at the end of the evening. There are good teams in the league. I like that we put ourselves in these scenarios often this year, more than last year. »
In the meantime, this film ended in the same way as the others very often: with a team celebrating and with the Canadian who cannot celebrate.
This will undoubtedly be the Canadian’s biggest challenge next season: managing so that the film does not always end the same way.
On the rise: Cole Caufield
A game of one goal and four shots is a good game for him.
Down: Michael Pezzetta
A game with two penalties is not good for a guy whose position is far from assured next season.
The number of the match: 6
It’s the Islanders’ sixth straight win, and their second six-game winning streak this season.
In details
The code, more code
Do you know the code? This is a secret code, present in the world of the National Hockey League, which gives the right to a player to leave after another player for reasons of revenge, among other things. In the case that concerns us, Brendan Gallagher had to be on his guard, because during the last match between these two clubs, on January 25 at the Bell Centre, he allowed himself a solid blow to the head against the defender Adam Pelech. The Canadian forward had indeed been suspended for five games for this attack, but no problem, a member of the Islanders was going to have to “pun” him, as they say in the industry, and this member was Jean- Gabriel Pageau, who started the fight with him during the second period. “I expected it,” Gallagher said after the match. I’ve been playing against Pageau for a decade, I knew this was going to happen. I have a lot of respect for him, and that’s part of the game, you have to answer for your actions. »
A big victory for the Islanders
With this victory, the Islanders took another step towards the playoffs, and Patrick Roy was still quite happy with this result at the end of the evening. “I like what we’re doing right now,” said the coach Islanders. Varlamov is in the zone right now. He is big in his net, he is square and he is difficult to beat… It was a match where experience was key. We needed a big performance from Varlamov, even if he wasn’t very busy. They had good chances to score. It was a very close playoff match, we had to compete to get this big victory. »
Lane Hutson coming soon?
Meanwhile, Canadian prospect Lane Hutson’s season has come to an end somewhere in the world of American college hockey. The young 20-year-old defender was cut with his club Boston University, and he could be added to the Canadian by the end of the season. “I think our team management will make the best possible decision in his case,” commented Brendan Gallagher on this subject. We will make the best decision for him and also for the team. I don’t know if he’ll end up joining us this season, but if he does, we’ll be excited, and if he doesn’t, he’ll eventually come later! »