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Montreal Canadiens’ win is a sign of progress — and a gift for coach St. Louis
They were the six minutes that defined this impressive win for the Montreal Canadiens, and all of them were spent neutralizing one of the most potent power plays in the NHL.
Against a lethal unit composed of Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, Valeri Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen, which had helped the Colorado Avalanche score on 28 per cent of its opportunities at Ball Arena coming into Tuesday’s game, the Canadiens snuffed out every chance, broke up the most threatening passes, and they sacrificed their bodies in front of goaltender Samuel Montembeault. They held these dominant players to just two shots on net over three power plays by being organized, coordinated, and uber-competitive — the way Martin St. Louis always wants them to be.
It mirrored the way the Canadiens played throughout this game, punctuating a 2-1 win against a team that had won nine straight contests.
Afterwards, the coach qualified the performance to reporters in attendance as “a nice team win.”
“I’m really proud,” St. Louis added.
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You can only imagine how grateful he was to witness it live after 10 days away on personal leave to attend to his youngest son, Mason, who was hospitalized last week following an injury suffered in a hockey game the week prior.
He watched the Canadiens play from Connecticut, watched the coaching staff band together to assume his duties and the players bond through three tough games in Western Canada and another challenging one in Seattle, and he had come away from it feeling as though they were all enabling him to put his most of his focus where it was most needed.
With his 16-year-old boy finally returning home and getting, as St. Louis put it earlier on Tuesday, “back into his normal routine,” he felt comfortable enough to get back to the Canadiens.
“I’m happy to be back for several reasons, but the main reason is that things are stable at home,” St. Louis said. “It wasn’t an easy week. But I’m happy to be back because my passion is my family and hockey, and it’s in that order.
“So, it’s fun to be back because things are going better and I’m happy to be with the group.”
St. Louis showed it on Monday.
Martin McGuire, play-by-play man for Cogeco radio station 98.5 Montreal, said he witnessed an emotional reunion between the coach and his players in the hotel lobby following a team dinner in Denver that evening. He relayed that St. Louis greeted each one of them, along with members of the coaching staff and management, with handshakes and hugs.
“I was happy to see them again yesterday,” St. Louis said, “and I thanked them in person — not just for the support, but for how they carried themselves while I was gone.”
The Canadiens weren’t perfect in his absence.
But they faced down challenging circumstances with professionalism and determination, giving the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers all they could handle in hard-fought losses before stumbling in a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks and rebounding with a 5-1 win over the Seattle Kraken.
And they saved their best for last, in the Mile High City, for St. Louis.
“I was happy to be there,” he said.
To see the culture St. Louis had worked so hard to establish lead the Canadiens to prevail over one of the league’s best teams had to have been rewarding.
And it had to have only emboldened what St. Louis had been feeling in the lead up to puck drop.
“Going through 10 days like this reminds me why I fell in love with hockey,” St. Louis said before the game. “It’s not just the sport on the ice, it’s everything it brings. It’s a small community. The support I got across the league, from my team, my players, you can’t buy that. It’s special.”
They gave him something else on this night — a reinforcement of the feeling that all the work they’ve been doing together this season has seen them progress both as a group and individually.
Nick Suzuki scored his 29th goal of the season just nine seconds after MacKinnon opened the scoring 43 seconds in. It was his 67th point, giving him a new career high and ultimately rubber-stamping the growth he’s experienced in the role St. Louis has thrust him in (in a nightly matchup with the world’s best players).
Linemate Juraj Slafkovsky assisted on the play for his 40th point of the season to make this the most productive campaign a teenager has ever had in the 115-year history of the organization. No player has benefited more from St. Louis’s coaching and influence than the 2022 first-overall pick, except for maybe Cole Caufield, who once again displayed the complete game St. Louis has worked so hard to help him establish.
But this was a game that required everyone on the Canadiens to be at their best, and they were up for it.
Joel Armia scored the winner, Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher made key third-period efforts that drew power plays, and Jordan Harris and Jake Evans playing pivotal roles on the penalty kill. Montembeault was brilliant when he had to be, and the Canadiens blocked 20 shots in front of him to make sure he didn’t have to be too often.
They played together, played within the structure St. Louis has worked tirelessly to implement, and they closed out the game with poise.
“I liked our maturity and attitude,” St. Louis said.
They are the attributes the Canadiens also displayed in his absence, leading to a 2-2-1 trip that only strengthened character.
