The Montreal club head coach Martin St-Louis has instilled the concept of “What’s Next” to his troop, that is to say that the most important is the following or comes, or the following action.
The Canadian is in control of his destiny. Before Thursday’s matches, he occupied the last rank giving access to the playoffs in the East association. The Red Wings, the New York Icelanders, the Blue Jackets of Columbus and the New York Rangers were all eight points behind the Habs and were all in action on Thursday evening.
There are different scenarios so that the tricolor confirms his place in series this weekend.
“We know a good sequence, we win matches,” said goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault, while the Habs won his last six games. We try not to think too far.
“If we continue to play well and get points, then we will possibly confirm our participation in the series,” he added.
The Canadian has not participated in the NHL series since the spring of 2021, when he possibly lost in five games in the Stanley Cup final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
A dozen Canadian veterans have experience in series, such as defender David Savard, who also brought the colors of Lightning in 2021. Savard believes that the experience acquired in recent weeks will be beneficial for young members of the team who would be in their first dance this spring.
“The emotions are strong and vary quickly in series,” said Savard. A defeat can hurt, but you play again two days later. Even if you lose 10-1, it’s just a defeat in the series. You have to know how to sail this.
“We have learned this season to leave things behind when it’s less good, knowing what to improve,” he said.
These days, the Canadian actually shows a very different face from that of the team which was completely lost in its defensive territory at the start of the campaign.
-“I think we have won a lot in maturity this season,” said Savard. In the past, during the matches where we were playing less well, we let things slip into our hands. There, we are able to correct ourselves and get points. ”
This maturity has helped the Canadian to garner points by filling in deficits after bad start of the meeting in recent weeks.
St-Louis is aware that his team will have to correct this poor trend before the start of the series.
“You have to send washers in the bottom of the opposing area,” said St-Louis. It is difficult to make passes from one stick blade to another when the opposing team puts a lot of pressure, when there is no space. But can you short-circuit this pressure and deploy your failure before? It is not particularly fun, because you do not keep possession of the washer. But you can recover it, thanks to your failure before.
“Sometimes we try too cute things, and that’s normal. But you have to be able to correct yourself, “said St-Louis, noting that his team managed to do it more and more often during the games.
St-Louis also mentioned that his team had also learned over time to better manage their emotions, which could be particularly important in series, but also this weekend against the senators, then against the Maple Leafs, on Saturday, in Toronto.
“It is important to stay on the line,” he said, recalling not to cross it.
St-Louis confirmed that Montembeault will face the senators’ shots on Friday. He did not want to advance further about the use of his guards during the next match, against the Maple Leafs.
In addition, the team is still awaiting the arrival of hope Ivan Demidov, who signed his first contract with the team on Tuesday.
St-Louis said that the 19-year-old Russian striker was “in transit” and was still waiting for his documents to be able to enter and work in Canada. He did not want to reveal his intentions to the fifth choice of the last NHL recovery, repeating that he focused on what was coming, so the duel against the senators.
