Stars 4 — Canadian 3 | The norm and the exception

Kent Hughes said a lot on Thursday morning on a multitude of topics.

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

Richard Labbe
The Press

A few hours after trading his number one defender for a gift package of long-term projects, he discussed specific files as well as more general issues, and he answered a question about Carey Price, because there is always a question about Carey Price.

But two elements in particular deserve to be kept in mind for a long time, especially when watching Canadian matches and discussing them afterwards, whether informally among office colleagues or in the pages of the largest French daily newspaper in America.

First, the GM will not trade all the players on his team. It screams the obvious, but it wasn’t so clear not so long ago. Then, some wise words: you have to evaluate everything in terms of their context.

In other words, every action, good or bad, begs the question: is it the norm or the exception?

Take Thursday’s game, for example, which ended with the Canadiens losing 4-3 in overtime to the Dallas Stars.

When Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki combine for two goals, you can begin to suspect that this is the norm. Evidence has been building for weeks now that both have found their attacking stride.

Joel Edmundson had a tough game. It would obviously be hasty to establish a verdict in his case, since it was only his second game of the season. Exception, therefore, until proven otherwise. But what about his partner Jeff Petry, who multiplies the individual errors – a perfect pass to Joe Pavelski, a completely flawed decision-making at center ice, a run lost by a mile against Roope Hintz. After 61 games, are these exceptions, as his coach still seemed to suggest earlier this week?

Defense

Jake Allen who gets his defenders out of trouble is a case that we have seen many times in the first half of the season, before an injury deprives him of more than two months of action. But what about the performance of the workers in front of him?

That is suddenly a very good question. Because with the departure of Ben Chiarot, and with Jeff Petry, of whom we may never see a better version in Montreal if he is traded, a huge construction site is opening up in front of Hughes and his partner Jeff Gorton. , vice-president of hockey operations for the club.

Hughes said it explicitly: Chiarot’s replacement is probably in the organization. If his name is Alexander Romanov, it’s not for tomorrow, but it’s not that far away either. If his name is Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Jayden Strubble or Arber Xhekaj, all 20 or 21 year old defenders, it will obviously be much longer.

Because there are many flaws in the current formation. Corey Schueneman is certainly doing a very honest job, and his first career goal is a nice reward for his journey marked by perseverance. But the duo he formed Thursday with Chris Wideman was, at the very least, vulnerable.

Everyone loves Brett Kulak, whose game reflects his personality: unpretentious. Even if his bosses offered him a new contract, he will not become, at 28, a locomotive for his teammates.

In the absence of Chiarot and David Savard, injured, the lack of robustness in defense is obvious. Think of that streak, in the third period against the Stars, when Radek Faksa knocked down Jake Allen in obvious fashion. The Texan was punished for his gesture, but only by the referees. Kulak, precisely, was in the front row, and did not even speak to his opponent.

The shock did not compare to the violence with which Zach Kassian hit Samuel Montembeault a few weeks ago, but the CH players had been crucified for their gentleness at that time. This time, Martin St-Louis said he was “happy to have had a numerical advantage, but not to have “thought of the rest”.

Long or not?

This somewhat disjointed reflection brings us to another issue. This famous reconstruction, whatever name we give it, will it be long or short? Already, since the arrival of Martin St-Louis, many are those who want to cancel the rental of the bulldozer. “This team is not so far” from lasting success, even predicted Ben Chiarot in his final press briefing before flying to Florida.

But is she really?

Kent Hughes, again: “The needs of the team, I believe they are still there. They haven’t changed. That dart was right in the middle of the target.

Christian Dvorak returned to action on Thursday after recovering from a neck injury sustained Jan. 24 at Minnesota. He had a good match, he who was already on an upward slope before falling in battle. But is the Canadian where he would like to be with his center players? We can doubt it when Jake Evans seems to have fallen under Laurent Dauphin in the hierarchy of Martin St-Louis.

We could go on like this for a long time. But inevitably, on the way to a verdict, we will have to return to this constant duality between the norm and the exception.

The Canadian again found himself playing catch-up against the Stars. Twice rather than once. We risk repeating it often, over the next few months, the next few years.

But he created the tie, again. And never let the game get away from him. And that too is becoming more and more frequent. And that’s damn good news.

“We won’t win every game, but we will give ourselves a chance every game,” promised St-Louis more than once.

This standard will be precious.

Up: Jake Allen

The player of the game. In the first five minutes alone, he deprived the Stars players of two certain goals. Visibly in great shape, he did not rush his return. It looks.

Down: Jake Evans

His ice time has melted, and he is now employed at the center of the fourth line. He was, after Michael Pezzetta, the least used player of his team at five against five.

In details

Here comes Radulov again

Yes, Alexander Radulov is still a member of the Dallas Stars, he who left the Bell Center to join the Texas team in 2017-2018. The forward certainly isn’t having his best days — before Thursday night’s game against the Canadiens, he had only collected 18 points in 52 games — and he started this meeting with the fourth line, along with Michael Raffl and Radek Faksa. Eventually, the likeable 35-year-old striker concluded the game with one assist and a total of 10:39 minutes of playing time. transaction for a few weeks already.

Here comes Allen again, here comes Dvorak again

There were two big comebacks Thursday night at the Bell Center. First, goalkeeper Jake Allen, absent since January 12, but also striker Christian Dvorak, absent since January 24. Of the two, it was Allen who stole the show, often with a series of spectacular saves, he who finished the game with 31 saves on a total of 35 shots. “I didn’t feel so bad, a little rusty, but I felt pretty solid overall,” explained the goalkeeper. I realize that the club has been very different since January. The guys are having fun, the style of play at the club is pleasant, and everyone is confident. Everyone is having fun and we are trying to conclude the last matches of the calendar in a good way. The guys have been playing well since the coaching change. »

A first for Schueneman

It’s unclear if this is a historic moment, but Corey Schueneman scored his first NHL goal on a hotter than usual Thursday night at the Bell Centre. But that’s not what we remember; what we remember is the 26-year-old defenseman’s sense of humor, who explained his goal this way, when the 20,714 spectators were all screaming that it would be a good idea to throw the puck: “That’s exactly why I threw it, yes…I think it was from Section 114?” In a slightly more serious way, the defender admitted that he was going to store this moment very preciously in his memory drawer. “Scoring this goal is pure adrenaline, it’s incredible, you dream about it as a child. I will remember it all my life. I’m going to put that puck in my house one day, I think…”

They said