The Montreal Canadiens were back at work in Brossard on Monday and Martin St-Louis meant business.
After having a day off on Sunday, the Montreal Canadiens were back at practice in Brossard on Monday morning, and it was a lengthy one. With such a compressed schedule this season, practice time is hard to come by, and after an intense week in which the Habs dropped crucial games, Martin St-Louis decided it was time for a thorough practice. For nearly 60 minutes, the coach put the players through their paces, and both the penalty kill and the power play received extra attention.
Not long after the start of practice, the coach blew his whistle a couple of times and made it clear to his players that he wasn’t impressed with their intensity level. His charges picked up the pace when he blew the whistle again, and the rest of the session went smoothly.
Usually, after the on-ice session, the Canadiens open the room for the media availability, but not on Monday. The doors stayed closed as a team meeting was held before the players were made available to the press. Given the fact that the Habs have lost their last two games to divisional rivals and are now in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, some would say it was high time that such a meeting took place.
While it was held behind closed doors, Zachary Bolduc was asked what was said during his media availability, and he explained that it was about the details that led to Saturday night’s defeat. Asked to be more specific, he added:
Sometimes we try to execute plays that shouldn’t be; we force plays. When you’re leading by a goal, and there are seven or eight minutes left, you shouldn’t be forcing the play in the offensive zone. Things like that may look insignificant, but they can make a difference in the end.
When the coach spoke to the media, he explained that when a player goes into the offensive zone and takes a shot on net when there’s no one around to get a rebound or make a play, he’s creating chaos. He feels his team needs to wear out the opposition, not give the puck away easily, force them to come back and defend, tire them out, and make it hard for them. St-Louis felt his team didn’t do that on Saturday, and in the end, it cost them.
This is all down to game management when in the lead, a situation St-Louis argues his team didn’t experience too much in previous years, meaning they still have to learn how to handle those scenarios.
Another topic that has made the headlines of late is the penalty kill, and both Phillip Danault and Alex Carrier were asked about its difficulties and had very similar answers. The former gave a ringing endorsement to the PK coach:
Roby [Stephane Robidas] does a very good job; he gives us rules, and we should be following them in every game. Whether we’re tired or not, it’s on us. […] We have three rules with Roby, and we have to respect them. If a couple of guys are asleep at the wheel, it’s going to cost us, and that’s how it is right now.
As for the latter, he added:
We have rules in place, we all know them, it’s just about executing them and being on the same page. […] It’s not rocket science; it’s about communication, being on the same page and executing.
While St-Louis is usually reluctant to show his hand when it comes to his goaltender for the next game, waiting until the day of the game to reveal it, on Monday, he confirmed that Jakub Dobes would be in net to face the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. After Samuel Montembeault lost the last two games, the coach didn’t really have many options, and the Canadiens desperately need a big performance from the Czech goalie on Tuesday night.
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