(Brossard) Martin St-Louis used the adjective “soft” to talk about his team’s play against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, and the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens therefore focused on the work during the back to work.
Players from the Montreal club participated in several exercises focused on battles along the ramp at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard. They even did a few laps of the ice rink at the end of training.
After a session with training targets last week, the coach’s choice of exercises caused a reaction again on Monday morning. St-Louis, however, insisted that this was not punitive training.
“I don’t think I fired a round,” he said. You must understand that your actions have consequences. I’m sure the players expected that today. If a young player didn’t expect this, I’m sure a veteran warned them.
“But we shouldn’t make them work just to work. You need a goal,” St-Louis added.
Although the Canadian is going through a four-game losing streak, St-Louis recalled that he was satisfied with the play of his group during the first two losses.
The story was different on Thursday, in a 6-5 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, and then on Saturday, in a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.
“They’re two different themes,” St-Louis said. Against Vegas, we did not manage the risk well. We had shot ourselves in the foot a lot. Against Boston, we chased the puck because we weren’t working together on the forecheck.
“It’s been two games since we looked like we did before,” he added. It’s a low point for us, but every team gets through it. »
The players therefore expected intense training.
“We didn’t play yesterday (Sunday) and we don’t play tomorrow (Tuesday), so it was a good opportunity to have a work-oriented training, no matter how good our game has been recently,” the defender Mike Matheson.
“Our effort against the Bruins was not enough and we need to bounce back,” he added. We must show up to work with the intention of being ready to work. We will have another good practice tomorrow, then we have to be ready to face Anaheim. »
The Canadian (7-9-2) will face the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday evening, then the San Jose Sharks on Friday afternoon and the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon.
The Canadian recalled defender Jayden Struble from the Laval Rocket before leaving for California.
Struble, who is 22, has yet to play in the NHL. He has one goal and five assists in 12 games with the Rocket this season.
He was in a restaurant in the Centropolis district of Laval on Sunday noon when he received a call from Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle telling him the good news.
“It was pretty crazy,” he said.
“Everything around the NHL, it’s a little more stressful, even when I was coming here this morning, I was a little nervous,” added the Rhode Island native. But once on the ice, you regain your calm. I know most of the guys, since I trained with them at the end of the summer. »
The Habs selected Struble in the second round, 46th overall, in the 2019 draft. He joined the Rocket at the end of the season last spring after a four-year internship at Northeastern University in Boston.
“I’m proud to have overcome adversity,” he replied when asked about what makes him most proud of his journey since the draft. I suffered injuries in college and things didn’t always seem to go in my favor. But I think I had a click this summer. I knew what I needed to do to prepare for the professional level. »
To make room for Struble in his team, the Canadian placed the name of striker Rafaël Harvey-Pinard on the injured list.
Harvey-Pinard is dealing with a lower body injury and has missed five of the Habs’ last eight games. He was limited to 13 games this season and had only four assists.
For his part, defender Arber Xhekaj is injured in his upper body. His state of health remains under daily assessment. He missed the game against the Bruins after being injured in Thursday’s game against the Golden Knights.
Harvey-Pinard and Xhekaj did not accompany their teammates on the plane to California on Monday.
For his part, defender Jordan Harris missed the Canadian’s training Monday morning as he was enjoying a day of treatments. Harris returned to action on Saturday after missing two games last week with an upper-body injury. However, he accompanied his teammates to the American West.
