Martin St-Louis is not the type to vilify his players in public. This is why when he criticized his troops for having been “soft” in Boston, we said to ourselves that the coach’s patience had possibly reached a certain limit.
Two days later, the Laval resident invited his flock to work before the team left for three matches on Californian soil. Yes, the Canadiens players had to finish training by doing the good old crossings of the ice rink. But St-Louis was not like Herb Brooks wanting to punish his players.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
“It wasn’t a punishment. It’s a question of responsibility,” argued St-Louis after training.
“We had to realize that the effort we made against the Bruins was not enough. We had to respond and demonstrate that we understood and that we would be ready to work,” said Mike Matheson.
A punishment would have required the players not to touch any puck during the entire training (are we still allowed to do that in 2023?). However, that is not what happened.
St-Louis led an intense practice, but made sure it was constructive. Effective forecheck, battle for the puck; these two elements which were missing on Saturday were on the agenda.
“We skated by working on the aspects of the game that we need to improve. We killed two birds with one stone,” said the coach.
Too comfortable
Let’s hope that St-Louis knew how to use the right remedy, because their team is going through a more than difficult period. She only won two of the nine matches she played in November. Two overtime wins.
“We have just suffered four defeats in a row. In the first two, we played good hockey. There, it’s been two matches since we’ve stopped looking the same,” said the pilot.
“We are going through a trough. It’s part of a season. The important thing is how you correct yourself,” he continued.
Which aspects are most essential?
“There are several,” noted Sean Monahan. We played well for a long time. When you get too comfortable and think it’s always going to be like this, that’s when it slips away. And that’s where we are right now. »
Disaster to avoid
The trip of three meetings in California and the one that will follow, in Columbus, therefore come at the right time. St-Louis and his troops will have 10 days to pull themselves together and try to get the boat back afloat.
“The way we played against the Bruins was unacceptable,” said Nick Suzuki. This is an important journey that awaits us. We cannot continue to accumulate defeats. »
Experiencing a catastrophic journey would be rather embarrassing. In addition to the Kings, who are off to a very good start to the season, the Habs will face, during this trip, the Ducks, who have only collected two points more than them, the Sharks, who are languishing at the bottom of the standings with only seven points, and the Blue Jackets, who have won only one of their last 10 games.
“It’s a great opportunity for us because we will face teams who are within our reach. We have to get back to the team we were a few weeks ago,” argued the captain.
Apparently, we are talking about easy prey. Except that these opponents probably say the same thing about the Canadian.