Panthers 4 – Canadian 3 | Like the coach

Something strange happened at the Bell Center late Thursday evening, when the last siren confirmed a Panthers victory: people started to applaud.

Richard Labbe
The Press

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

Montreal fans happy in defeat, we’ll tell each other, we don’t see that often. From memory, bad seasons like this usually provoke other kinds of reactions. It can range from brown bags on the head, to guys who have exceeded .08 in the heights and who scream that this player is rotten and that another is not worth a fifrelin.

But then, why all this joy and good humor in the building when it was the visit of Florida which collected a victory of 4 to 3?

Let Martin St-Louis answer for us.

“I think people appreciate our effort and also the style of play we play,” he said late Thursday evening. It’s rare that we are not competitive during a match. For us, it’s fun to see the support of the fans. We played against a good team and we fought very well. It’s not the result we wanted, but it’s fun to play this kind of match, to lead this kind of match. »

The Martin St-Louis effect is a bit like that, among other things: he is behind the bench of a team that does not give up, a character trait that recalls his own career, the player who is too small , who has often been told no very often, but who ended his life as a hockey player with a total of 1033 points in this league.

It’s all very contagious, it seems.

“Confidence is one thing, it sure makes a big difference,” said forward Paul Byron. This confidence means that we can win every time, and the style of play we play is so much better than before.

“I don’t think we’re as bad as we were at the start of the season, and I don’t think anyone thinks we’re that bad either. We have good players here, we have a good group on which we can build. We have to forget what we looked like in November, December and January, and focus on what we are doing at the moment. »

So yes, the fun is taken in the place, and yes, everything is fabulous. But despite all that, despite the moral victories and the wave at the Bell Center and the number of times the Canadiens come close, that club is still in the same place, that is to say last in the general classification of the league.

In the present context, without pressure and without any expectations, it’s fine, everyone just wants to have fun and dream about Shane Wright. But in October, for example? Will we continue to dance with a smile if the defeats accumulate at the same rate? “I don’t know, it’s not October,” replied Martin St-Louis, obviously not a fan of crystal balls.

Joel Edmundson, he sees nothing but beauty in it.

“We know we’re not going to make the playoffs, so we have to make room for the younger guys,” explained the veteran defenseman. If we can give them playing time, it will be beneficial to them… Also, we have shown that we can stand up to any team in this league. Two months ago, we wouldn’t have been able to say that, but now, we give a hard time to all the teams we face. »

The rest of the calendar will be used for this: preparing for October, and trying, one day, to avoid matches where the 32^and place in the general classification is at stake.

It won’t always be this festive at the Bell Centre, but at least if this team continues to play the way their coach does, they’ll still be in the game.

Up: Jake Evans

Another goal for him, and also one of his best performances of the season.

Down: Laurent Dauphin

We haven’t seen him much, but it seems to be going a little too fast for him for a few games.

The number

5

The number of points scored by Alexander Romanov in his last 7 games.

In details

Romanov wins

It was already going well for Alexander Romanov for a few weeks, but following the departures of Ben Chiarot and Brett Kulak, all eyes are on him more than ever. The Russian played an excellent match, he who spent most of his evening against the first two lines of the Panthers. He was his club’s most-used defender (22 min 52 s), blocking six shots and directing four pucks himself towards the net. It was his shot from the point that led to Jake Evans’ goal. His exploits did not escape his trainer. “He sees the entire ice,” said Martin St-Louis. Before, he looked more at what was in front of him, and that’s why he plays more “complete” matches now. Generally speaking, St-Louis finds him “calmer” and acknowledges that he “is not always looking for the big check”. “He reads the game better,” he summed up. Romanov could be called upon even more in the coming games, since Jeff Petry, injured in the “lower body”, left the game in the second period. His case will be reassessed over the next few days.

Waiting for Chiarot

A capricious schedule for the Panthers coupled with a visa problem prevented Ben Chiarot from joining his new teammates before Thursday, although he had been traded more than a week earlier. He therefore contented himself with a morning session of skating before starting a match in the uniform of the jungle cats. The coaching staff, however, did not try to spare him by giving him more than 22 minutes of ice time, which made him the second busiest defenseman in his camp after MacKenzie Weegar. Chiarot explained that the challenge for him was not so much adapting to a new team as chasing the rust after 11 days without playing. He found in the Panthers locker room a good dose of enthusiasm and “good energy”. “Guys are excited to play,” he said. There are many good signs of a good team. “He notably praised the” feverishness “which lives in this group at this stage of the season. The Ontarian also got his first point on Anthony Duclair’s goal in the second period.

Scary Five Attack

Much had been made in the morning of the first wave of the Panthers power play which, in the absence of Aaron Ekblad, was made up of five forwards. And not just any: Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Claude Giroux, Sam Reinhart and Anthony Duclair. The experience has been… mixed. The skaters exchanged the puck well, but did not get a shot on the net defended by Jake Allen. Worse: they were on the ice for three shots from the Canadiens. This unit finally scored a goal in the third period, but MacKenzie Weegar filled the position of Duclair. “We totally expected that,” said head coach Andrew Brunette after the game. “They are generous players, they wanted to produce Giroux, and Giroux wanted to return the favor. It will get better and better for them. “Anthony Duclair, he was shown to be much more excited. “Playing with these four guys, who have so much talent, is the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” said the Quebecer. We want it to work, we have to keep finding our chemistry. With all this talent, we can do damage. »

They said