TAMPA | Already decimated, another element could be taken away from the Canadian’s formation in the match against the Lightning. And this time not because of an injury.
• Also read: Premiere for 41 years: CH loses an offensive festival in Florida
• Also read: Canadian 5, Panthers 9: “This is unacceptable of us” – Nick Suzuki
Jonathan Drouin missed a team briefing on Friday morning and was suspended from practice.
“For me, some things are non-negotiable. He missed a meeting. So there are consequences,” said Martin St-Louis at the end of the session, which lasted just over 70 minutes.
Visibly angry, the Habs head coach had not yet decided whether the striker would play in uniform on Saturday night.
“Let’s start with that,” he said, assuring that Drouin was still on the team.
If St. Louis showed Drouin the way to the bridge, he would have to make do with just 11 uniformed forwards.
“Culture is the most important thing. She is more important than everyone else. And it’s important all the time,” stressed the Lavallois.
A message to pass on
Missing a team meeting is to be avoided in normal times. This is even more true the day after a 9 to 5 thaw where everything went wrong.
Also, it’s no coincidence that St-Louis held a training session a little longer than usual. Without necessarily sweating profusely, his herd was treated to intense and close exercises that focused on learning and correction.
“It’s important to have a message. You can’t just turn the page and move on, said St-Louis, still keeping his emotions in check. I had never seen a game like this, with so many chances to score and so many goals. »
“What kept us really competitive during a good series, our defensive play, we started to move away from that starting with the Colorado game,” he continued. Yesterday (Thursday) we had another sign that we are moving further away. We need to bring it back to our standards. »
“It wasn’t fun”
And the guards, who managed to save the furniture in moments of confusion, had difficult evenings. Especially Jake Allen, who was pulled from the game against the Avalanche and against the Panthers. In the latter case, it was after he replaced Samuel Montembeault.
“It wasn’t a good game for me. I take a lot of blame for this loss,” Allen said the day after that night when he conceded six goals from 18 shots in just over 21 minutes. Yes, it was a crazy game on both sides, but it wasn’t me good enough. “
“I’ve had crazy games before, but nothing like that. It wasn’t fun,” he added.
St-Louis has confirmed that he will give Montembeault the net against the Lightning. This is the third consecutive start for the Quebecer. On Thursday, St. Louis had him out of the game after giving up three times on the Panthers’ first six shots. He sent him back into action in the second period.
“Coming back into the game was not an easy situation for him. Still, I think he did a good job on his return,” said the Canadiens coach.
Suzuki punished
Kaiden Guhle was also absent from training. In his case, it should be treated. The defender appeared to have injured his left knee in the third period of Thursday’s game when Colin White caused a fall.
It was an injury to the same knee he picked up in Florida that caused him to miss 23 games in January and February.
In the morning, Nick Suzuki was fined $2,500 by the NHL Player Safety Committee for checking Anton Lundell.