Since he took over the helm of the Canadiens last February, rarely have we seen head coach Martin St-Louis show so much bitterness than after the 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators Wednesday.
Unhappy with the treatment reserved for his players by the officials in charge, St-Louis was in no mood, contrary to his habits, to provide detailed analyzes to the journalists.
From the start of post-match press briefingthe Quebec instructor showed his exasperation.
“Have you seen the game? I think you know my answer,” he snapped at the first question posed to him.
He obviously refrained from giving his thoughts on the three minor penalties imposed on the striker Kirby Roof.
“His game misconduct, (Kirby) can’t do that. But the two punishments that were awarded to him (…) Anyway he sighed.
“We deserve better,” simplified St-Louis.
Asked afterwards about the second period when everything was difficult for the Habs, the coach did not intend, there either, to blame his players.
“What did you see (in 2e period)? he asked the reporter rhetorically.
“OK… That’s it,” he opined when it was suggested to him that several penalties had been called against CH, leading to two goals from Sens on the power play.
Despite everything, St-Louis took the trouble to salute the work of Jonathan Drouinwhich was used for 12 minutes 39 seconds in his return to play.
Frustration, indiscipline and lack of opportunism
Guilty of three minor penalties during the game, all in the second period, Kirby Dach accepted some of the blame for the final result.
“I have to accept the consequences of my penalties. The moments when I got them were not very good,” admitted the author of a goal in defeat.
Christian Dvorak believes that the scenario could have been different if the Canadian had avoided the penalties.
“We knew they had a good power play and we took too many penalties. They took advantage of it. We were the best team at five against five. »
Author of 28 saves during the defeat, Samuel Montembeault noted a peculiarity of the Senators’ power play.
“They have two players in front of me and like to send the puck to my left to Brady Tkachuk. Then he finds himself with a lot of options, because they have three right-handers in front of him,” summed up the goalkeeper.
The Habs, who are 14-13-2 this season, will face the worst team in the Bettman circuit, the Anaheim DucksThursday at the Bell Centre.