Lightning 5 – Canadian 1 | Ambitious standards

“The Lightning created a standard that we all want to achieve. These words were those of Martin St-Louis, Saturday morning, a few hours before the duel between the team he coaches and the one to which he devoted 13 seasons as a player.

This standard, it is certainly not in the defeat without appeal of 5-1, suffered in the evening Saturday, that the Habs reached it. But that is not the point.

As recently as Thursday, St-Louis recalled that the organization had not yet reached the point of trying to “win at all costs”. A way of saying that it is more important to manage the long term, even if it means making short-term sacrifices.

But in the longer term, there’s nothing more normal for a team than to aspire to become the Lightning, a club that’s been to the last three Stanley Cup Finals, four of the last eight, and just to sign a 20^e victory in 30 games this season.

“Everyone talks about their attack, but they are really dedicated in the other phase of the game,” added St-Louis, still on Saturday morning.

It is indeed a poor team defensively that the Canadian rubbed shoulders on Saturday. In the first two periods, when they were still relatively in the game, quality chances were rare. It was only at 4-0 that the CH really showed teeth.

And when there was a chance, a guy named Andrei Vasilevskiy stifled the threat. Which brings us to the other problem when it comes to hoping to reach Lightning standards.

Outstanding Core

This team has become a power in part because it was able to get its hands on some exceptional players in the repechage. Vasilevskiy is one of them. The best in the NHL at his position according to the latest Players Association poll.

Does the Canadian have a budding Vasilevskiy germinating somewhere? Not really, and there must be 25 teams coming to the same cruel conclusion.

In defense, Victor Hedman is an anomaly of nature. Players as agile and fluid, who measure 6 ft 7, do not run the streets. This is why it was claimed at 2^e rank in 2009 and has not budged since. Kaiden Guhle has the tools to become an excellent defender. Plays like the one he made mid-game, nullifying a Nikita Kucherov breakaway, demonstrate that potential. But between that and becoming the next Hedman, there’s a gulf.

Steven Stamkos is a sensational shooter, who has added other dimensions to his game over the years. At 21, he scored 60 goals. Cole Caufield also has a sensational shot, but at 21, soon to be 22, he still has some crusts to eat to have the overall impact of the Lightning captain.

Kucherov, meanwhile, had 128 points four years ago and has been running at a similar pace since last year. On Saturday, he needed a quality chance, late in the game, to hit the target. This is still a very high bar for what Nick Suzuki will become, even if he is hatching before our eyes.

This core is the basis of what has made the Lightning so dominant for years. To this core is added a collective je-ne-sais-quoi. St-Louis evoked “the other phase of the game”, defensive. Guhle also sees beyond pure talent.

“They play together, explained the defender of the Canadian. They’ve been a winning team for so long, they won the Cup, they play for each other. They play to win. Honestly, I don’t think we’re that far from them. We have the tools, we have the right people who want to play together. »

“Just bad” power play

Added to this is a good dose of stability. The most cynical will point out here the favorable conditions typical of the Florida market, but who cares. When the Lightning got a power play on Saturday, four of the five players deployed (Hedman, Stamkos, Kucherov, Brayden Point) had been on the team for at least six years.

Meanwhile, the CH screw up one chance after another on the power play, a phase of the game that cuts its wings while generating boos. It’s now one goal in his last 27 attempts, the kind of number that explains why the Habs are 2-5-1 in their last eight outings.

“Our power play is just really bad,” Suzuki said. You have to work on it, be in symbiosis. Our zone entrances aren’t that bad. But it’s often a shot and it’s over. Look at their power play, they’ve been together a long time and all teams want to get to that point where the players have been together a long time. »

These are legitimate wishes, no doubt. But Saturday evening reminded us that it is a long-term job that awaits Martin St-Louis and his bosses in order to bring the Canadian closer to this standard.

Rising

Michael Pezzetta

We have rarely seen him so much in the offensive zone in a game. The hairy winger got at least three quality shots.

Falling

Cole Caufield

His trio certainly had a very strong third period, but it had been painful before that. Excluding Monday’s game where he was injured, it’s the second time this season he hasn’t gotten a shot in a game.

The number of the game

13-1-2

This is Andrei Vasilevskiy’s record against the Canadian. If we add the 2021 final, the Lightning goaltender has beaten the Canadian 17 times in 21 starts.

In details

Brandon Hagel’s Engine

The Canadian, like the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, tasted the medicine of Brandon Hagel. For the second time in two games, the 24-year-old striker registered two goals and an assist in the victory. The Saskatchewan native first scored on a breakaway just three minutes into the game. It was the Lightning’s first shot; the Canadian had the upper hand until then, but the momentum changed sides thereafter. Hagel added late in the second period by deflecting a shot from Victor Hedman on the power play. He also collected an assist on the fifth goal, that of Nikita Kucherov. Hagel has 9 points in his last 5 games (26 points in 30 games). “His engine is constantly running and he never gives up a puck,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. He is always around the goal. It was the place of[Ondrej] Palat for several years and Hagel fits in perfectly. It’s really good for us. »

A costly indiscipline

This time again, the Canadian was very unruly, granting 14 minutes of power play to the Lightning. It was not quite the thing to do, considering that Jon Cooper’s troupe arrived at the Bell Center with an efficiency percentage of 27.1% with one more man (6^e in the NHL). It cost two goals in the second period. In its last four meetings, the CH offered 21 numerical superiorities to the adversary. It’s a lot. “We talk about it before each of our games,” said Nick Suzuki. […] It must stop. We’re wasting guys’ energy and wasting our momentum. According to Martin St-Louis, it’s more of a stick control problem than puck control. “We have to control our sticks and not put the referee in a position where he could call a penalty,” said the coach. Sometimes these are unfair decisions, but it can’t just be the fault of the referees. It is also our fault. »

A new trio that does well

Martin St-Louis explained on Saturday morning that he wanted to “manage” the center position more as he approached a series of seven games on the road, where he will not have the last word in line changes. He therefore placed Kirby Dach in the center, flanked by Jonathan Drouin and Juraj Slafkovsky. The three forwards may not have scored, but they delivered an honest performance. To be honest, they formed the best line of the Canadiens in the loss. They weren’t on the ice for any of the opponent’s five goals. Drouin and Dach together led 5 pucks to the net. St-Louis also wanted the two players to “help each other” in face-offs, which they did. Drouin won 67% of his faceoffs and Dach 50%.

Katherine Harvey-Pinard, The Press