WASHINGTON | The Canadian has lost his last four games and signed just one win in his last eight, but that didn’t stop the players from happily training on the ice at Capital One Arena.
• Also read: Canadians: Nick Suzuki is looking offensively
• Also read: Devante Smith-Pelly bows
No magician in the shootout, Joel Edmundson scored the decisive goal in an organized short game at the end of a short practice session the day after a 7-2 loss to the Panthers at Sunrise.
“It’s been a long season,” Edmundson said. There will be games like that (in Florida). We try to avoid them, but the next day the sun still rises. We have to focus on the next game and we are doing that. We do it while having fun. »
There was another element that justified this surge of good humor. For this last part of the journey, namely the stops in Washington and Nashville, the Canadian has invited the mothers of the players. A total of 19 mothers made it to the US capital.
“It will do the boys good to have their mother! It’s something special, said Martin St-Louis. Every player here, be it their father or mother, knows the role they played in achieving their goal. I can’t wait to meet them because I’m watching my team, we have good guys and it starts from home. We have to take our hats off to her mother. My mother passed away in 2014, but I know that for all children, especially men, mother is the first love. To share that with people who have played a big part in where they are today is something special. »
Bad loser
Brendan Gallagher couldn’t wait to find his mother (Della) at the hotel.
“There’s a pressure to win, whether it’s a trip with the dads or the moms,” said Number 11. My dad is competitive, but my mom is even more so. She’s a bad loser. I learned that from her. »
If Washington is a beautiful city full of museums and rich in history, the next stop in Nashville will be very different.
In Tennessee, moms discover the state capital and famous Broadway. There’s always a danger of losing a mother in this country bar madness where the music plays from dawn ’til dawn.
“There are a few candidates to get lost in,” Captain Nick Suzuki replied with a smile on his face. But I’d probably say my mom (Amanda) and Josh Anderson’s (Michelle). You could have late nights in Nashville! »