If it is true that travel educates the youth, we can assume that the players of the Habs have returned grown from their four-match journey to the western part of the continent.
Stops in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Seattle on their return, from which they returned with five more points overall. Since the goal since the beginning of the world has been to return from a trip with half the points available, we can call it a success.
And the beauty of it is that Martin St-Louis’ men were entitled to a few lessons without it costing them too much. For a coach who prefers to focus on progress rather than outcome, at least for now, we can say the Habs have killed two birds with one stone.
The importance of discipline
What have Canadian players learned? First, that the Oilers should not be offered a two-man numerical superiority. Actually, they already knew that. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl only reminded her of that by giving each other a four-point night. Bet we won’t see her again.
They also learned that late goals are often deadly. Three times in those four games, the Canadians scored in less than 30 seconds in the second period. And in Vancouver, 1 minute 32 seconds remained. Again we were not far from the end of the period.
Consequently, the Montrealers often started the third third on their heels. Additionally, the Habs would never have emerged victorious from Calgary against the Flames had Jake Allen not been at the top of his game.
Kovacevic has to be careful
In that regard, we’re betting that by the time the engagement ended, Johnathan Kovacevic would have learned some lessons from his adventures. On two occasions, in Edmonton and Seattle, he was directly responsible for the home club’s reaction as the dying seconds ticked by.
Each time he disposed of the disk rather than keep it or lock it up while he patiently awaited the deadline. His first mistake in Edmonton had earned him criticism from his coach. “That was a disappointing goal. All games count. You need to be aware of how much time is left on the clock. Kovy could have done a better job there,” he analyzed after the defeat.
The 25-year-old defender, who scored the first goal of his career against the Kraken, was nonetheless able to return home with a smile.
Better advance management
At least in Seattle, the Canadian was able to convince himself that he could maintain a two-goal lead in the third period, although a late strike revived the opponent before returning to the dressing room.
It made up for a difficult exit the day before in Vancouver, where panic subsided when the Canucks came back from a four-goal deficit.
“It was the same result as against the Canucks. But we handled it better. I was happy with our reaction and I’m very proud of the boys,” said St-Louis.
Had they evaded that win again, the Blue-White-Reds would have had to ponder this renewed collapse for days, as the next game wasn’t on the agenda until Saturday with the visit of Phillip Danault and the Kings of Los Engel.
For a young team like the Canadiens, confidence probably would have suffered.