The last preparatory match between the Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators degenerated to such a point that the head coach of the Montreal club Martin St-Louis admitted to feeling a little apprehension at the approach of another duel between the two teams at the end of camp.
On Tuesday, the Senators’ Ridly Greig applied a dangerous check against Kirby Dach in the first period. Arber Xhekaj then delivered a similar blow against Tim Stützle and the Habs defender was sent off in a second match in a row.
The two teams will face each other again on Saturday in Ottawa. St-Louis said he asked general manager Kent Hughes if he could speak with his counterpart in the Canadian capital, Steve Staios, to find out what type of formation he planned to deploy against the Canadian.
“I would like to know what Ottawa is thinking about doing too,” St-Louis said Friday, after training at the Gilles-Cadieux arena in Mont-Tremblant. It’s been an emotional camp, not just for the rest of us, we’ve seen it all across the league. It’s disappointing to lose players. I hope we start the season healthy on Wednesday [face aux Maple Leafs de Toronto].”
Last Saturday’s preparatory match against the Maple Leafs was also marked by incidents that caused talk across the hockey world. Canadian forward Patrik Laine suffered a sprained left knee during a collision with Cédric Paré. Xhekaj was kicked out of the game after trying to attack Paré a little later.
The Canadian had organized six preparatory games this year, including two each against the Maple Leafs and the Senators, its two natural rivals geographically and two sectional rivals.
“There are always good games between us, with intensity,” said defenseman Kaiden Guhle about the duels against the Senators. The teams don’t like each other.
“I expect the same thing on Saturday. There will be physical play,” he added.
Despite the distractions associated with the preparatory games in the last week of camp, St-Louis nevertheless said he was happy with the work accomplished since returning to work. The club has allowed just two goals at five-on-five in its first five outings. He compiled a record of 2-3-0.
“It shows in the behavior of the players on the ice, in our collective game,” said St-Louis. It’s not like we changed a lot, but we made small adjustments. We attacked things chronologically, starting with the most important things.”
St-Louis therefore indicated that it placed emphasis on defensive play and numerical inferiority.
“There were a lot of gray areas last year because we were making reads, but we weren’t all on the same page,” defenseman Mike Matheson said of working in the defensive zone. We needed to improve on this and it is an aspect that we revised.
“It’s not like football where all the plays start from a standstill. Hockey, you can say that all the games are a little different, he continued. There will always be a lot of gray in hockey, but that’s why everyone has to be on the same wavelength, to react the same way when we find ourselves faced with a new situation.
St-Louis and the Canadiens players are also aware that there is still a lot of work to be done on the numerical advantage. The Habs have not scored on 25 occasions in their first five preparatory games.
Matheson recalled that the members of the first unit had only played two games together so far. He also noted that the team had made a lot of changes at the tactical level.
St-Louis mentioned that he would probably look at this aspect of the game early next week.
“The end of things was the offensive side, and the numerical advantage is part of that,” he said, returning to his program during camp.
Until then, he hopes not to lose any soldiers in combat against the Senators. St-Louis also recognized that management will have to make difficult decisions to cut four players and confirm the composition of its 23-player roster which will begin the season.