“We’re going back home. » Quite leisurely in normal times, the Canadian’s own account chose this title on the social network X (formerly Twitter), accompanied by a photo with the final result: Canadian 3 – Blues 6.
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There was nothing overly happy about this game. The happiest aspect was the trip to Montreal after the game after a long three-game trip to Las Vegas, Tempe and St. Louis.
A trip in which the CH collected a meager one of six possible points. It was a point in a 3-2 loss to the Golden Knights, a game Martin St-Louis called the best in nearly two years.
But St. Louis will erase his troop’s missions in Arizona and Missouri more quickly from his memory.
Defensively, the Canadian’s boat prevailed against the Blues.
“We deserved the fate we experienced tonight,” admitted the head coach to the media present in St-Louis. Our execution was not there. The intentions were right, but our execution was not. There were also too many risks. »
Mike Matheson has been very good since the start of the season and had a difficult game against the Blues with a -3 record. He was no shadow of his former self, especially in his own territory with several bad coverages.
Let’s not forget that he suffered a lower-body injury last Saturday in Montreal against the Jets. He hasn’t missed a single game since that incident, but he’s clearly not at 100%.
Matheson wasn’t the only culprit. Christian Dvorak, Alex Newhook and Josh Anderson also had poor physical performances. In Dvorak’s case, we’ll forgive him in his first game of the season after returning from a knee injury. But for Anderson, it’s still the same song.
The three best players on the ice wore Blues jerseys. Brayden Schenn (1 goal, 2 assists), Jordan Kyrou (1 goal, 2 assists) and Brandon Saad (1 goal, 1 assist) dominated the game. Kyrou fired nine shots toward Samuel Montembeault.
Slafkovsky in the first trio
Due to the failure of Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who injured his lower body, the CH drew a new card from their game for their first trio.
Juraj Slafkovsky inherited the mandate to play right wing alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
Photo AFP
Slafkovsky took advantage of the opportunity and scored his first goal of the season. A goal that will do him very well. He found the net in the first period while being present in the second wave of the power play. He took a pass from Newhook to thwart Joel Hofer with a shot in the pay zone, very close to the goalie circle.
Going five-on-five with Suzuki and Caufield, the No. 1 class in the 2022 draft has generally done well. In this position he passed his first exam.
“Slaf played a good game,” St-Louis noted. He is one of the positive points for tonight. He didn’t look uncomfortable. I’m happy for him, he scored a goal. I’m not surprised, he’s a good hockey player. »
If CH intends to build this young team on a meritocratic basis, Slafkovsky does not deserve this promotion. But with the loss of Harvey-Pinard, St-Louis ran out of ammunition. He had no intention of bringing back Anderson, a winger who had yet to score a goal this season. He therefore relied on his young 19-year-old winger. Without winning the lottery, we can say that he made the right decision.
Slafkovsky could come out of this stronger, especially in terms of confidence. A trust that seemed very fragile for several days.
In the defeat, Brendan Gallagher scored his fourth goal of the season, his second in two games.
No punishment
The Habs achieved a first this season in this encounter by never going to the penalty box.
The match sheet shows a two-minute mark for CH, but it was a penalty for Arber Xhekaj after the final siren.
CH (5-4-2) will benefit from a day of rest on Sunday. The Tampa Bay Lightning will be their next rival on Tuesday with a visit to the Bell Center.