The Canadian focused on development, but for the first time this season, the results followed for three games in a row.
The Habs have stringed together victories against the Seattle Kraken, the Colorado Avalanche and the Philadelphia Flyers, including the first two on the road.
For the members of the Montreal club, this is a sign that the tide is about to begin to turn.
“I think in the last 10 games we were having good games, but the results weren’t keeping up,” defenseman Mike Matheson said after Thursday night’s 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre. It’s a lot more fun to win. It’s good when the results follow. »
During the 2022-23 season, the Habs had two streaks of seven losses and the team had indicated that it had to avoid this type of long losing streak.
This winter, the Canadian reached five losses in a row only once. He will also have to start winning with more consistency next season.
By analyzing the last three victories, David Savard found some common denominators.
“We’re playing well shorthanded these days,” he said. It makes a big difference. And we don’t give away free goals. When we gave away one or two goals following mistakes, it was difficult to stay in the matches. We are limiting these errors these days. »
Last spring, the Canadian won only one of his last eight matches, even though he was weakened by numerous injuries.
Even though it is difficult to quantify the impact of a good end to the season on the start of the next, the Canadiens’ players insisted that they saw significant value in the handful of games they have left. to play.
“We have to continue to build, to replicate the way we want to play,” Matheson said. We can’t decide when we do it or not. We have to be engaged every night, whether it’s the first or last game of the season. »
Imagining this vision without really wanting to talk about it, head coach Martin St-Louis simply declared that he was focusing on the next match.
“I’m not going to talk about camp or next season,” he said. I’m focusing on Saturday’s match. But we still want to see progression. These are matches that we cannot replicate. The second half of our schedule was very tough. We had several big challenges, which allowed us to compete against good teams. I’m happy with what I see. »
The Canadian took advantage of a day off on Friday. He will take charge again on Saturday, when he welcomes the Carolina Hurricanes to the Bell Centre.