The Montreal Canadiens still rank last in the National Hockey League in terms of power play efficiency, despite Kirby Dach’s goal Saturday night at the Bell Centre. However, head coach Martin St-Louis liked some aspects of his players’ performance in this area in the 5-4 win over the St. Louis Blues.
“The guys worked well together, they created a lot of confusion and it opened the game,” said St-Louis during a press scrum that followed a rare Sunday practice at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard, in the day before the Seattle Kraken passed.
The Montreal team has posted a poor efficiency percentage of 15.1% so far with the advantage of a man. On Saturday, she surpassed that success rate with a goal from four attempts through Dach, who hit the target in the second half off a minor double to Ivan Barbashev late in the second period.
Power Play
During his meeting with the journalists, held near the locker room of the club, St-Louis dwelt on the importance for a team, but also for individual players, to feel that the power play is at all less threatening.
“I’ve said it before, it’s not just about not scoring. Whether [l’avantage numérique] doesn’t generate much, it drains energy from players on the five-man attack. It weighs on them, they come back to the players’ bench bored, disappointed, with a lot of negative thoughts, and it’s hard to get rid of them. In addition, it has repercussions on the game at five against five,” explained St-Louis.
During his presentation on the numerical advantages, St-Louis insisted on the importance of forming a united and homogeneous group.
“The best numerical advantages, they are five [joueurs] on the ice, but it’s like they’re all working with the same brain. They all know where they are going. Yesterday [samedi]we looked like that,” said St-Louis, who has scored 101 of his 391 career goals on power plays.
“But it’s something we miss a lot,” he immediately admitted. It just takes a guy who doesn’t realize where the game is going and then you’ve got no more game. You have to read each other, not just your teammates, but you have to you read the other four on the other side too. […] The power play is a game of chess. »
In the locker room after the team’s practice on Sunday, Nick Suzuki also spoke about the power play and its overall importance to the players and the team as a whole.
“I think we had some good moments on the power play. The guys worked well with the puck and had good scoring opportunities,” analyzed the young Habs captain.
“You feel better, individually, and I think that’s positive for the rest of the game. We must continue in this direction and do the best we can. »