(Boston) It was a dapper Martin St-Louis who presented himself to the media Saturday noon in the concentric hall of a luxury hotel in the city center.
His eyes lit up when he talked about the possibility of “doing something that no one has done yet this year”: beating the Bruins at TD Garden in 60 minutes.
He became animated again by coming to the defense of Brendan Gallagher, whom he had criticized after Thursday’s defeat. “As a coach, you have to be careful not to hold guys back too much, otherwise, will you have enough competition? »
It’s a Saturday in Boston, there will be emotion, but you have to be a thermostat, not a thermometer.
Martin St-Louis, before Saturday night’s game
Ten hours later, his team responded with possibly its worst effort, commitment-wise, this season. Forget the thermostat or thermometer; It looked more like an air conditioner. By the numbers, it settled with a score of 5-2 for Boston. And in words?
“We were slow on the puck all night,” according to captain Nick Suzuki.
PHOTO MICHAEL DWYER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jeremy Swayman (1) and Alex Newhook (15)
But again, Mike Matheson? “Their life was far too easy. They had a lot more time than us when they had the puck. »
And St-Louis has planted the last “nail in the sundae”, to quote a rogue from the Sports section of The Press. “I thought we were soft,” said the head coach.
St. Louis will sometimes analyze – publicly, we understand – certain results with rose-colored glasses, but Saturday was not one of those evenings. A coach can criticize his team in many ways, but calling it “soft” – “soft” in English – is one of those words that is almost taboo in hockey, because it calls into question the involvement of the players. Watching CH play on this Saturday evening which must have been full of emotion, we quickly agree with the observation of coach.
From Gustav Lindström with his soft passes, almost into his own goal, at the start of the match, to the passive defense of Juraj Slafkovsky after he committed a turnover, on the Bruins’ fourth goal, the examples abounded.
That’s without counting all those sequences where the Bruins players had space like a wide receiver on a Canadian football field. The second and third goals were eloquent demonstrations of this.
“There’s a fine line between being too careful and getting burned,” Johnathan Kovacevic said. When I was punished and it gave them a 5 on 3, it was because I was too aggressive at the blue line. Sometimes you have to learn to retreat if you’re not there. But the statistics say a lot about the success you can experience if you successfully enter territory in puck control. »
“We gave them way too much respect, in the 1-on-1 battles, the body checks, the battles for the puck. We were soft tonight,” repeated St-Louis.
Hard week
Casually, the Canadian concludes the week with four defeats in four games, including his two worst performances of the young season, Thursday and Saturday, according to Natural Stat Trick indicators.
In possession of the puck, the Canadian only controlled 35 and 32% of shot attempts at 5 on 5 in these two games. In other words, the opponent spent twice as much time in the CH zone as in his own zone, which is quite similar to the observation we made at first glance. In terms of scoring chances, it was 22% on Thursday, 37% on Saturday. In the last two games, Montreal had 13 scoring chances and allowed 33.
We recall that this week began the day after a resounding victory against these same Bruins the previous Saturday. “We don’t expect to be perfect, but I expect us to have standards,” Jake Allen testified. We know where our standard is, we have to go back there. »
PHOTO WINSLOW TOWNSON, USA TODAY SPORTS VIA REUTERS CON
Jake Allen (34)
It appears that the last two losses of the week were recorded against the two best teams in the NHL. “That’s the level we want to reach,” admitted Matheson, regarding the Golden Knights and Bruins. Sometimes it doesn’t feel good, but you need, as they say in English, a good smack in the face and you answer. »
A good slap in the face. Wasn’t that the impression that came from the loss earlier this month in Arizona, which followed the game in Vegas? How many slaps in the face will they need to at least be tougher to face?
On the rise: Nick Suzuki
PHOTO MICHAEL DWYER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nick Suzuki
His trio is the only one that was the least bit competitive in this match.
Down: Sean Monahan
Martin St-Louis’ new combinations did not please him. With the young Juraj Slafkovsky and Jesse Ylönen, he spent the evening besieged in his territory. His failure to face off (4 in 12) probably didn’t help.
The number of the match: 18
The Vegas Golden Knights moved one player away from the target on Thursday; the Bruins succeeded. Each of the 18 players in uniform put at least one shot on target on Jake Allen.
In details
New combinations, in vain
Is this a message from the hockey gods? The first time that Martin St-Louis dared to dismantle the so-called gray hair trio, the Minnesota Wild corrected the Canadian 5-2. The head coach defeated the unit of Sean Monahan, Tanner Pearson and Brendan Gallagher again on Saturday, and the result was – literally – the same, 5-2. Monahan struggled, Gallagher looked very bad on the Bruins’ third goal and Pearson was invisible. If there’s any consolation for the head coach, it’s that the top line did well. Alex Newhook, in particular, seemed invigorated to reunite with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. He had some good forecheck sequences, including one that led to Juraj Slafkovsky’s goal.
When Frederic disturbs
If the Canadiens and the Bruins end up meeting again in the playoffs, one day, certainly not tomorrow, Montreal fans risk finding a new enemy in Trent Frederic. This late choice of 1er round (29e in total) continues its blossoming which began last year. With two goals in the victory, he increased his record to 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 16 outings this season. On his second goal, he showed impressive acceleration for a 6’3, 220 lb colossus. Frederic also disturbed the CH with his physical presence, so much so that at the end of the second period, he had a chatting session with Juraj Slafkovsky, so much so that Nick Suzuki, then Johnathan Kovacevic, had to come ‘interpose. At 25 years old, Frederic could bother the Habs for a long time to come.
Poor parents
Clearly, the trips of fathers and mothers do not go to the current group of Canadians. Last year, with mothers in the arena and on the plane, the Habs were beaten 9-2 in Washington and 6-3 in Nashville. This time, the fathers witnessed this clear setback in Boston, as well as a 6-5 defeat against Vegas, but during which the team was outrageously dominated. “They have done so much for us in our lives. It would have been fun to show them a higher effort and better results,” lamented Mike Matheson.