Montreal Canadiens' coach Martin St-Louis briefly met with the media on Wednesday morning, and he did his best to put out the fire that has consumed the city since the Habs' Game 2 overtime defeat.
As is often the case after a playoff loss in Habsland, all hell broke loose when the Montreal Canadiens lost the second game of their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in overtime. Fans took to social media to express their disappointment about the loss and made it clear that Kirby Dach’s latest mistakes were too much for them to bear. Some took it too far, however, attacking the forward on his Instagram account, prompting him to deactivate it.
It’s against that background that Martin St-Louis met with the media for a short 5-minute or so availability through Zoom. It only took a couple of questions before the day's hot topic came up. La Presse’s Guillaume Lefrançois asked the coach what he made of Dach’s play since his latest return to action. The bench boss sounded rather defensive when he replied, “Are you asking that because he made the icing?” and then added:
It was one play, it was only one play. He brings physicality. As I said, I need to rewatch the game, but his intentions… For me, in the last two weeks, he has played with a lot of combativity.
It’s hardly surprising that St-Louis didn’t want to throw his player under the bus, especially considering the storm his overtime gaffes caused on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning. There’s no doubt the Canadiens’ communications department, which has its collective finger on the beat, had briefed him about the developments.
There was no need for the coach to voice his displeasure publicly; he probably did that behind closed doors in a one-on-one chat with Dach. What matters now, though, is how he decides to move forward. While St-Louis doesn’t owe anything to the fans or to the keyboard warriors that attacked Dach online, he does owe something to his players, especially those who are currently healthy scratches.
Over the last four seasons, we’ve seen some players get scratched for “just one play,” like Arber Xhekaj, for instance. How can you justify not giving Joe Veleno or Brendan Gallagher a shot after Dach’s actions in overtime had such dire consequences? The coach said he feels like Dach brings physicality and combativity. Still, from the outside looking in, unfortunately, that sounds like what the organization would like Dach to bring, rather than what he’s actually bringing.
All eyes will be on the Canadiens’ practice facility in Brossard on Thursday morning when the Habs are set to hit the ice at 11:30 AM. The lines and pairings we see there may give us a clue as to what’s to come on Friday night.
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