ANAHEIM | There is no such thing as perfection. Martin St-Louis knows it, but he can talk about it with a bigger smile after a win, especially when his team puts the brakes on an ugly four-game losing streak.
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The Canadian fulfilled his primary role against the Ducks, leaving the Honda Center with a 4-3 victory. Samuel Montembeault repaired several mistakes made by his teammates and offered his team the two points. For those who wore a clean slate, the masked man was the best player on the ice.
In a corridor of the amphitheater, St-Louis found the right words to analyze his team’s performance.
“We needed a win tonight. We’ll watch the video, we still have a lot to correct, but the effort was there. Sam was excellent. I think we fought in imperfection. We went for the win that the group needed. »
“It wasn’t an easy game behind the bench. It’s not an easy league. It won’t always be Picasso, but we found a way to win. »
When St. Louis talks about a difficult game to coach, he’s referring to the numerous turnovers in the neutral zone that resulted in overkill for the Ducks.
From the great Montembeault
Author of two goals, including the winner at the end of the third period, Alex Newhook didn’t hesitate for a second to describe the real star of this game.
“Monty (Montembeault) was unbelievable for us,” Newhook noted. He probably made two of the saves of the year in the NHL. When he plays like that, it’s nice to see. He kept the team in the game. He calmed the storm with big saves. »
Montembeault scored two gems against Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano. In the first period he stopped Killorn with a quick move to the right. And in the third period, No. 35 pulled out his big mitt to frustrate Vatrano, who had just fired a shot after a pass from Mason McTavish on a two-on-one down.
In the opposing team’s locker room in Anaheim, Montembeault returned to his flight against Vatrano.
“I’ve seen Carey (Price) make saves like that quite a bit. I was happy to be able to block him. I know Frankie. I played with him in Florida. After this stop he also came to talk to me. But I would say he has my number, he scores against me a lot. In the end he beat me with a good shot. »
“Sam was a support for us in this game,” added defender Kaiden Guhle. Without him we would be talking about a different result. He made the big saves at the right times. »
Too many errors
CH struck early and quickly in this game, scoring two goals in 38 seconds. Newhook and Guhle took turns thwarting John Gibson. In the first 15 minutes the Habs were without a doubt the better of the two teams.
But that feeling quickly passed. The Ducks controlled much of this game from the end of the first period.
McTavish, who played in center for Vatrano and Ryan Strome, was a headache for Canadian defenders. The third overall pick in the 2021 draft scored two goals in addition to Vatrano’s preparation.
In the third period, St-Louis led to victory and not further development. He didn’t use Michael Pezzetta and Jesse Ylönen and relied on just ten attackers in the final 20 minutes. Ylönen, who got an assist for Guhle’s goal in the two-on-one run, didn’t have a bad game in his body.
But St-Louis had decided to rely on experience. With Jayden Struble, playing his first game in the NHL, and Gustav Lindström, he already had to trust a brigade of inexperienced defensemen.
However, Struble performed very well under the circumstances.
With this win against the Ducks, the CH celebrated their first win in regular time since October 23rd against the Sabers in Buffalo (3 to 1). Before this stop in California, the Canadian had not felt the feeling of victory for 60 minutes in his last 13 appearances.