(San Jose) It was brightly sunny on Thursday afternoon in San Jose, but Josh Anderson chose to lock himself in an arena before everyone else to shoot pucks.
It may seem trivial, throwing pucks, but in the case of a player who is looking for himself, who hasn’t scored all season, and who in fact hasn’t scored since March 14, it’s probably all that’s left to do is throw, and then throw again. Hoping that one day the puck will end up going in.
“It’s probably the hardest series of my career,” Anderson admitted at the end of Thursday’s practice. I don’t think I’ve ever had to experience anything like this before. But as I said before, we must not give up…”
This season, it’s 19 games without a goal for the veteran striker, who will try to get rid of this bad luck in the next match, Friday at the Sharks. He has already experienced worse; once, as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets, he went 21 games without scoring.
He has now reached the point of trying everything, anything; at Thursday’s training, he even wanted to borrow the stick of a colleague, Justin Barron, probably to try something new.
Should we therefore believe, to quote Dave Hilton Jr, that the damage is “inside” the head?
“I don’t know if it’s psychological,” he replied. It’s frustrating, obviously. But I think I’m in a good place. I have to keep my head up and continue to try to be the player I know I am capable of being. »
While waiting to find answers, Josh Anderson remains a player who is looking for himself and who better than Martin St-Louis to revive him? The coach, himself an accomplished scorer in his younger days, says he is working closely with his player to put an end to this never-ending drought.
He must not lose his identity while trying to score a goal. Josh must continue with what allowed him to play in this league: his skating, his strength, and his shot, for sure… But he must not just think that he must score. He must continue to take positive actions that will help him score.
Martin St-Louis on Josh Anderson
“I don’t want him to forget the details of his game just because he’s trying to score a goal. If you forget the details of your game, you just wait until you have an easy chance, next to an open net… If you do that, you might score one, but not many. So Josh has to keep working on the details. »
Anderson himself admits that he has difficulty aiming where he wants, and besides, he spent part of his individual Thursday lunchtime routine posted near the goal, looking at the posts , as if the dimensions of the goal were suddenly no longer the same.
“To be honest, I’m not comfortable with the way I’m aiming, where I’m sending the puck these days…I’ve always been so good at putting the puck exactly where I want it. It’s a matter of inches, but I haven’t been putting the puck where I want it recently. »
What happens next Friday night in San Jose, and who knows? Maybe Josh Anderson will end up putting one in there.
In any case, Martin St-Louis is confident. “He’s going to get through this,” he added.
Primeau against the Sharks
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Cayden Primeau
No, it won’t be Samuel Montembeault in San Jose on Friday evening, even though he is coming back from a very big match. For what ? Martin St-Louis did not give details, but it appears that the Canadian has established a type of rotation with his goaltenders recently, and Friday evening, it will be Cayden Primeau’s turn. Montembeault is starting to get used to it. “Of course I would like to play more often, but there are pros and cons,” explained the Quebec goalkeeper. It allows us more time to work with the goalkeeper coach during training, and also, it gives me more time to refine my game.”
No Monahan in training
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Sean Monahan
There was only one absent (apart from the injured of course) at Thursday’s training with the Canadian: Sean Monahan, who was excused to undergo treatments. The Canadian did not provide any other details regarding this absence.