2023-12-17 20:10:08
MONTREAL – The holiday trip that the Canadian will begin on Monday in Winnipeg is never… a party. It’s never easy. In fact, it is always difficult.
Not just on the ice.
Back when journalists traveled aboard the Habs plane – Bob Gainey ended this tradition when he arrived as general manager in 2003 – faces were also long at the front of the economic section where were confined the “guests” only at the back where the players were grouped.
Especially when we met the day after New Year’s Eve to begin the second part of this trip that has always been necessary because the Canadian is chased from his home by the Ice Capades, by Disney or the Cirque du Soleil today.
“In the old days”, the Canadian returned to Montreal after the traditional match on December 23, a match which he lost most of the time, and often left the metropolis even before the stores reopened for “Boxing Day”. And it was in a large room of a hotel or on board the plane that they made the jump to the new year.
Today, it’s more “human.” At least for Santa’s visit.
The NHL and the Players’ Association have decreed strict parameters regarding the Christmas break. A three-day truce from December 24 to 26. It’s short. But during these three days, the teams do not have the right to impose training. They can’t travel either. The Leafs also paid a fine of $100,000 last year when management made the decision to go to St. Louis on December 26 – for the game on the 27th – in order to avoid the constraints of a threatening storm that swept across the northeast of the continent. Normally, teams must arrive the day before their games that night if they are playing the evening before. But this rule is relaxed for the matches on December 27.
The Canadian is “lucky” this year. He will complete the first part of his holiday trip on December 22 in Chicago. And he will return to the ice only on the 28th, in Carolina.
It will help!
Because over the past few years, this holiday trip has often been catastrophic.
Last year, the Canadian, despite his youth, his inexperience, injuries and a lack of talent, flirted with the .500 mark (14-15-2). He then lost six of seven games (1-5-1) during his holiday trip. His only victory, snatched in Arizona, was the result of a highway robbery perpetrated by Samuel Montembeault.
The season ended there!
Disaster averted
This year, the Canadian is heading to Winnipeg – he will then make stops in Minnesota on Thursday and Chicago the next day – with a record of .500 (13-13-6) the day after his 30th meeting of the season.
Difficult to say if he will get bogged down during the three matches scheduled this week. Even more difficult to make a prediction about what will happen to him in Carolina, in Sunrise, Tampa and Dallas, which he will visit as part of the second part of this trip.
However, we can advance without the slightest risk of being mistaken that Saturday’s victory allows us to maintain a bit, and maybe even two, of optimism.
That this gain allowed the Habs players to fly away happy towards Winnipeg on Sunday. That they boarded the plane with their heads held high and not between their two legs as would have been the case if they had blown the 4-0 lead they had given themselves in the second period on Saturday against to the Islanders.
After blowing two-goal leads twice and losing the game to the Penguins on Wednesday, losing a four-goal lead and the game afterward would have been nothing short of a disaster.
The Canadian therefore saved much more than two points by resisting the Islanders’ comeback on Saturday. He may have saved his season.
Not to the point of claiming that this gain will propel him into the playoffs.
No! But the excitement associated with this victory and the possible positive outcome this victory could bring over the next seven games is likely to maintain hope that the season will not end in the next two weeks.
Unlike last year.
Which would be a nice step forward.
But if the Canadian had let his first four-goal lead of the season melt away and on top of that he had given his fans another setback as a Christmas present, the players would have been heavily booed and not given a standing ovation after the match and it would be impossible to begin with any optimism whatsoever a journey which would undoubtedly still have sounded the death knell for his season.
Guhle imperial, Slafkovsky involved
Several factors explain Saturday’s victory.
Josh Anderson’s two goals certainly top the list.
Kaiden Guhle was nothing less than imperial on the blue line. After a series of more ordinary performances, he once again became the one that many, including me, see emerging as the Habs’ number one defender. I also wonder if the fact that it did not exceed 20 minutes of usage time is not a clear indication that there is a clear advantage in not overusing it. Especially at his age.
I also thought Juraj Slafkovsky played a terrific game to the right of Caufield and Suzuki. His best since getting a chance on the top line. He imposed himself physically to win battles. He was creative in the enemy zone. He has demonstrated everything that is asked of him to demonstrate to justify the hopes placed in him by the general staff and the partisans.
Sean Monahan returns to being the leader he was on the ice at the start of the season. Without forgetting the good saves from Samuel Montembeault. Both those made when everything was going well for his team, as well as when things started to heat up…
The contagious calm of St-Louis
But the element that struck me the most in Saturday’s victory was the timeout that Martin St-Louis called after Brock Nelson’s second quick goal at the start of the third period.
In fact, it’s not the stoppage time as such – let’s face it, this decision could not be more justified – but rather the attitude displayed by St-Louis during the 30-second break that I like. jumped out at me.
Far from vilifying his players, St-Louis remained remarkably calm as he made his remarks. I don’t have the ability to read lips, but it wasn’t so much the words chosen that seemed important to me in 30 seconds, but the way the message was delivered. St-Louis spoke and everyone listened. Not just the players, if you have the chance to watch the match again, pay attention to the look of Stéphane Robidas who was to the left of his head coach. He didn’t just hear the coach’s instructions, he listened to them. Like the players crowded in front of him.
By remaining calm, refusing to panic in the face of a situation that invited panic, St. Louis allowed its players to stay in the game.
Yes, the Islanders came within a goal of the Habs later in the third. And yes his players were far from perfect until Christian Dvorak scored a crucial goal into an empty net. But by remaining calm and therefore calming his players, Martin St-Louis prevented this third goal from coming as quickly as the second had followed (96 seconds) the first.
This downtime, as timely as it was important, and the way in which Martin St-Louis used it maintained confidence – even fragile – within his troop.
And that made a big difference in the outcome of the match I’m convinced. And it will make a big difference in how the Canadian begins his long holiday trip.
Anderson’s real return?
It is this form of confidence that St-Louis has displayed in its players since the start of the season which seems to be one of the coach’s greatest qualities. A confidence that Josh Anderson rewarded with his two goals scored on Saturday.
Let’s face it, there are few people who still have confidence in Anderson.
But St. Louis always did. And by assuring Anderson – and it is without a shadow of a doubt the same thing for all his players – that he would maintain confidence in himself as long as Anderson maintained his confidence and his involvement to get out of the bad situation in which he had been bogged down since the start of the season, the coach did what every coach must do to help his athlete get through it. I thought maybe it was time to give Anderson some time off to help him out. St. Louis proved that the best way to help Anderson was to give him the chance to score a real goal at some point.
He scored two.
Will this time be the real return of Josh Anderson? We’ll see. But St. Louis offers him this return on a silver platter.
We’ll see what happens next Monday in Winnipeg.
Happy Football Sunday. Hoping your favorites don’t do to you what the Steelers did to me on Saturday!
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