A lot can change in 24 hours. Wednesday night, Martin St-Louis went to the defense of his team after a loss against the Ottawa Senators.
Two hours before the duel against the Anaheim Ducks, the head coach claimed to have “a good feeling “.
His tone had changed after the game.
Victim of a bad start that cost him two goals in 28 seconds in the first minutes of the game, the Canadian finally lost 5-2 against the worst team on the circuit. And for once, St-Louis was more critical of its players.
“We didn’t deserve this game-the. Even if we had won, we wouldn’t have deserved it,” the head coach dropped after the game.
Victory was however very close to CH. Before the meeting, the Ducks were 32are overall, 32are outnumbered, 32are for goals conceded, 32are for goals scored and 30e on the power play… But an old adage says that hockey is played on the ice.
We started badly. […] Our passes were not precise. We shot each other in the foot a bit at the beginning. We have shown in the past that we are capable of coming back, we have come back again, but I think they deserved this match more than us.
Jonathan Drouin
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Jonathan Drouin
“We fought well in the last game and I thought we would have a better game tonight, but we came out amorphous,” lamented Nick Suzuki.
On Wednesday, the Habs faced Senators deprived of their first two centers. The CH may not be the Lightning of 2019, but they are still four points lost in 24 hours against accessible teams.
“All the losses are disappointing, but it’s still a good league, even against teams that are struggling,” recalled Jake Allen. Any team can win on any given night. »
The normality ”
On October 12, the Canadiens won their first home game against their great rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, in a packed Bell Center. Satisfied with the performance of his young players after the meeting, Martin St-Louis said he was eager to see how they would react in “normality”.
Thursday’s game was what you might call “normal”; it was the 30e confrontation of the season, against a team at the bottom of the classification, in an amphitheater where the empty benches numbered in the hundreds. In other words, it was the complete opposite of the opening game. And in this cozy atmosphere, it was a flat team that showed up on the ice.
It’s such a tough league. If you go back to 24 hours minus two periods ago, we felt good about where we were. Now it’s two defeats one after the other. It was a poor performance tonight.
Martin St-Louis, head coach of the Canadiens
According to Jake Allen, this poor performance is more the exception than the rule.
PHOTO PAUL CHIASSON, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jake Allen is beaten by Troy Terry in the first period.
“Martin reminds us to always arrive with the same enthusiasm, whether we’re on a winning or losing streak. I think it’s been pretty consistent this season, said the goalkeeper. You won’t feel 100% every day, it’s an 82-game season, that’s a long time. But you have to find a way to bring out the best and we’ve been pretty good at that. »
“The sun will still rise tomorrow and we have a game on Saturday,” added the goalkeeper.
Precisely, this game may be the shock this team needs, as they face the Tampa Bay Lightning, who beat them in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021.
Up: Jonathan Drouin
In his second game since his return, he showed great flashes in addition to amassing an assist and winning 67% of his faceoffs.
Down: Juraj Slafkovsky
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Juraj Slafkovsky
After a few good games, Slafkovsky finished Thursday night on the fourth line.
The number of the match: 2
The victory is only the Ducks’ second in regulation time this season. Their other six victories have come in overtime or a shootout.
In details
Under the boos
It makes you wonder if Steve Yzerman, Brian Rolston and Ken Daneyko weren’t disguised as Ducks players, because at times, it looked like the Canadian was facing the greatest penalty kill in NHL history. The Habs’ first three power plays were nothing short of atrocious, and that led to spectators heckling this club copiously as if it were 2012. The loudest boos were heard when the always hated pass backwards neutral zone lacked precision, killing yet another counterattack. We can understand the exasperation of the fans: the Montrealers managed only one shot during their first six minutes of power play. Cole Caufield ended up putting a good mood in the stands by scoring at the start of the third period, ending a streak of 23 consecutive goalless power plays for CH. It should be noted in passing that Juraj Slafkovsky, employed in the first unit in the first two periods, was replaced there by Christian Dvorak when Caufield scored. Dvorak was not directly involved in the action, but whether his hearing will proceed will have to be seen.
Lack of consistency
Jake Allen has been in fine form since his tough night in Edmonton. In his three starts before Thursday’s game, the goaltender was .941. This time it was the slightly rougher Jake Allen who was in goal. His stats (3 goals on 30 shots) aren’t catastrophic in this match, but the second goal of the game, an offering from John Klingberg between his legs, is the kind of shot he needs to stop. And we saw him fumble on several routine shots. In short, it was a reminder that consistency will always remain an essential issue for a goalkeeper who has not had the workload of a number 1 for five years.
The playmaker
For those who still doubted it, Trevor Zegras has indeed become the cornerstone of the Ducks’ attack. Cole Caufield’s old pal was at the heart of most of the Ducks’ threats. He set up the first two goals for the winners, but he could have done even more damage. In the first period, twice rather than once, it was Kaiden Guhle, both thanks to his skating and his physical strength, which prevented him from taking advantage of CH turnovers to threaten. After a 61-point campaign last year, Zegras has raised expectations for him this season. He now has 25 points in 31 outings, not necessarily the explosion some would have liked. But his creativity leaves no doubt and, sooner or later, it will be reflected in his production.