The state of mind is still good among the Canadian, even if the Montreal team finds itself 10 points from a place in the playoffs upon its return after a week off.
Nick Suzuki, who wasn’t able to escape winter by attending the NHL All-Star Game festivities in Toronto instead, said his teammates were happy to get together and share vacation memories.
In reality, the Canadian’s situation did not improve during this leave. On the contrary, the team lost an important element in Sean Monahan, traded to the Winnipeg Jets. The mission to play “meaningful matches” in March is becoming more and more difficult.
“We talked about it,” said goalie Samuel Montembeault. In a way, we have been deprived of important elements since the start of the season, with [Kirby] Dach who was injured for the season in the second game. We were deprived of [Alex] Newhook for two months, [David] Savard for two months. Other players must take their chance. »
The recent recalled players, however, do not have profiles that are enough to arouse the passions of supporters. Lucas Condotta is a 26-year-old support player who only had one career NHL game in his experience before this season. Brandon Gignac is also 26 years old and although his skating is electrifying, he has only played one game in the NHL so far, on March 9, 2019.
Newhook is not expected to face the Capitals on Tuesday in Washington. The Habs could employ a formation with 11 attackers and seven defenders, according to indications observed in training on Monday.
And as coach Martin St-Louis has been saying for two days, the other NHL teams have nothing to worry about the situation in which the Canadian finds himself. St-Louis therefore prefers to continue to develop the collective play of its group.
“I deal with things on a day-to-day basis and what happens across the league at this time of year is out of my control,” he said in reference to the approaching date. trading limit, March 8. As a group of coaches, we try to improve the team’s game, regardless of who is injured, who is in or out of training.
“The quality of our collective play is one of the important factors explaining why we are competitive, why we often find ourselves in close matches. I see a significant improvement compared to last season. We have raised the bar of what is acceptable and we will continue to raise it by repeating simple things, with a good collective base. »
Suzuki echoed his coach, emphasizing that everything started with good team play.
“If we can play well in our zone at five-on-five, that will carry over to other aspects of the game,” he said. When you waste less energy playing in your zone, it helps you offensively. »
Although the Canadian has slipped in the standings with only five wins in its last 16 games (5-8-3), and despite the fact that the Habs’ attacking group increasingly resembles that of a club from the American League, Suzuki remains certain to see the team compete with the opponent night after night.
“At this point in the season, teams are fighting for a playoff spot. The intensity of the last third of the season resembles that of the playoffs. The teams are fighting for their survival, he said. For our part, we have to keep putting our hands together and I’m making sure the guys are ready. We are not out of the race and we have to fight for every point.
“The energy is good. The guys are happy to see each other after the week off and tell each other vacation stories. Our group is always like that, it is always positive. We are happy to be back and getting back to work,” he concluded.
Furthermore, Montembeault will face shots from the Capitals on Tuesday. The Canadian also announced that the Quebec goaltender was the Molson Cup winner for the January segment.
Montembeault was 4-2-1 during this stretch, with a 3.50 GAA and a 0.909 save percentage.