There was euphoria in the air in Laval Monday night. In the heat of the playoffs, the Rocket signed an emotional 4-0 victory in an electric Place Bell.
In the Rocket locker room, however, there was one player who had one more reason to celebrate: Joel Teasdale. The fiery attacker had just been cleared, but he had given his all as always. After the meeting, he was expected in the office of the coachwhere Jean-François Houle and two “guests” were, Martin St-Louis and Kent Hughes.
“I didn’t even know that Martin and Kent were at the game, Teasdale admitted after Tuesday’s practice with the Canadiens in Brossard. When I got called into Jean-François’ office after the game, I thought he just wanted to talk to me about the game. I came back and the two were there, so it was a surprise!
“First they talked a bit about the game I just played, that it was a big win, that all Rocket games are important with the playoff race. For the rest, they told me it’s a treat, a reward for my season. »
At 24, without ever having been drafted, Teasdale was therefore entitled to his first recall on Tuesday, and he will join the National League on Wednesday, during the visit of the Canadian to Long Island. A first game in the NHL is always special, but it is even more so for a player who, by his own admission, played “at 4 years old with a Canadiens jersey in the roundabout in front of the house”.
“I slept very little, I was very excited. I ran all over the place yesterday, I made calls, my father, my mother, the family. »
The parents will not be there, “it’s too last minute”, he said, but three relatives of his entourage will be on site at the UBS Arena. “It’s going to be fun,” he adds, a phrase he didn’t really have to say because his big smile said it all.
A funny situation
Teasdale did not arrive alone from Laval. Defender Frédéric Allard was also recalled. In his case, it will be a third game in the NHL, a second with the CH.
The decisions of the Habs, however, recall the strange situation in which the organization navigates. The Rocket are fighting for their survival and occupy the last place in their division giving access to the playoffs, with a small point ahead of Cleveland and two games to play. One of these two matches will take place on Wednesday; Teasdale and Allard will therefore be absent.
However, Allard was completely excluded from training on Monday, a victim of the rotation of Rocket defenders. Since being released to the Rocket on March 6, he has only played five games and been cut ten times.
Teasdale was demoted to the fourth line on Monday and has been shut out in his last four games. If the Habs had wanted to recall the player most likely to help them beat the Islanders, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard or Jesse Ylönen would have received the call.
“It’s a balance,” St-Louis said, noting that we’re getting to the point where the balance has to favor the Rocket “for the right reasons.”
But between scoring his first goal of the season on Dec. 14 and mid-February, Teasdale had a 16-goal streak in 21 games. According to fellow Rocket game radio reporter Anthony Marcotte, he was the AHL’s most prolific scorer during that stretch of the schedule. In 57 games this season, he has 23 goals and 15 assists for 38 points.
His recall is therefore much more like a thank you for services rendered to a forward who kept the fort while the multiple injuries in Montreal required one recall after another.
Advice from a friend
Teasdale will now want to use his short audition to show that he can emulate his good friend Harvey-Pinard and make an impact in the NHL.
The two friends also returned together from Place Bell on Monday, since they are practically neighbors in the northern crown. But under the circumstances, the conversation was not exactly about the latest developments to be the island of love.
“I had questions, I asked them, he answered. He was a good friend like always, a good person. »
Questions about what? “It was the dress code, how to dress for the plane, for games on the road, the time of team meetings, if there are training sessions. »
Martin St-Louis has often spoken of the importance of generating emotion in his players at the end of the season. Here’s one that won’t need to bend an arm to generate it.
What’s going on with Jake Allen?
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jake Allen
Jake Allen hasn’t played since March 27 and wasn’t close enough to returning to practice with the team this week. Again on Tuesday, Karel St-Laurent was the second goaltender in training in Brossard. The Habs, however, confirmed that Allen would indeed accompany his teammates for the short trip to Long Island. It was important for the team to announce it since Martin St-Louis said, a few minutes before leaving for the airport, that he did not know “yet” if Allen would make the trip. The head coach was clearly in no mood to discuss the goalkeeper’s case. The situation is special, because if Allen cannot fill the role of substitute on Wednesday, the Canadiens will have to recall Cayden Primeau from Laval, but the Rocket will play the penultimate game of their season on Wednesday, in the heart of a race for series.
Guillaume Lefrancois, The Press