Martin St-Louis is not the type to publicly denigrate his players. That’s why when he criticized his team for being “soft” in Boston, we said to ourselves that the coach’s patience might have reached a certain limit.
Two days later, the Laval resident put his flock to work before the team left for three games on California soil. Yes, the Canadiens players had to finish practice with good old-fashioned rink crossings. But St-Louis wasn’t like Herb Brooks, who wanted to punish his players.
Watch his press conference in the video above.
Photo agency QMI, JOEL LEMAY
“It wasn’t a punishment. It was a question of responsibility, St-Louis argued after training. You must understand that your actions have consequences. I’m sure the players expected this today. If a young player didn’t expect this, a veteran probably warned him.
This was the case with Mike Matheson, who saw it coming.
“We had to realize that the effort we put in against the Bruins wasn’t enough. “We had to react and show that we understood and were ready to work,” said the defender.
A penalty would have required players not to touch pucks throughout training (can we still do that in 2023?). However, this is not the case.
St-Louis led an intense training session but ensured it was constructive. Effective forecheck, fight for the puck; These two elements that were missing on Saturday were on the agenda.
“We ran while working on the aspects of the game that we need to improve. “We killed two birds with one stone,” said the coach.
Too comfortable
Let’s hope that St-Louis knew how to use the right remedy, because their team is going through a more than difficult time. She won only two of the nine games she played in November. Two overtime wins.
“We just suffered four defeats in a row. We played good hockey in the first two games. “It’s been two games since we no longer look the same,” said the pilot.
“We are going through a trough. It’s part of a season. “The most important thing is how to correct yourself,” he continued.
Which aspects are most important?
“There are several,” noted Sean Monahan. We played well for a long time. If you get too comfortable and think it will always be that way, then it slips away. And that’s where we are right now.”
A catastrophe that must be avoided
The trip with three meetings in California and the subsequent one in Columbus comes at the right time. St-Louis and his troops have ten days to pull themselves together and try to refloat the boat.
“The way we played against the Bruins was unacceptable,” Nick Suzuki said. This is an important journey that awaits us. We cannot continue to pile up defeats.
Experiencing a disastrous trip would be quite embarrassing. In addition to the Kings, who have made a very good start to the season, the Habs will face the Ducks on this trip, who have only collected two points more than them, the Sharks, who are at the bottom of the table with just seven points, and the Blue Jackets, who have won just one of their last 10 games.
“It’s a great opportunity for us because we will face teams that are within our reach. “We have to get back to the team we were a few weeks ago,” argued the captain.
Apparently it’s easy prey. Except those opponents probably say the same thing about the Canadian.