There was euphoria in the air in Laval on Monday night. In the heat of the playoffs, the Rocket signed an emotional 4-0 victory in an electric Place Bell.
In the Rocket locker room, however, there was one player who had one more reason to celebrate: Joel Teasdale. The fiery attacker had just been cleared, but he had given his all as always. After the meeting, he was expected in the coach’s office, where Jean-François Houle and two “guests” were, Martin St-Louis and Kent Hughes.
“I didn’t even know Martin and Kent were at the game,” Teasdale admitted after Tuesday’s practice with the Canadiens in Brossard. When I got called into Jean-François’ office after the game, I thought he just wanted to talk to me about the game. I came home and both were there, so that was a surprise!
“They talked a bit about the game I just played first, that it was a big win, that all Rocket games are important with the playoff race. For the rest, they told me it’s a treat, a reward for my season. »
“I slept very little, I was very excited. I ran all over the place yesterday, I made calls, my father, my mother, the family. »
The parents will not be there, “it’s too last minute,” he said, but three relatives of his entourage will be on site at the UBS Arena. “It’s going to be fun,” he adds, a phrase he didn’t really have to say because his big smile said it all.
Teasdale did not arrive alone from Laval. Defender Frédéric Allard was also recalled. In his case, it will be a third game in the NHL, a second with the CH.
The decisions of the Habs, however, recall the strange situation in which the organization navigates. The Rocket are fighting for their survival and occupy the last place in their division giving access to the playoffs, with a small point ahead of Cleveland and two games to play. One of these two matches will take place on Wednesday; Teasdale and Allard will therefore be absent.
However, Allard was completely excluded from training on Monday, a victim of the rotation of Rocket defenders. Since being released to the Rocket on March 6, he has only played five games and been cut ten times.
Teasdale was demoted to the fourth line on Monday and has been shut out in his last four games. If the Habs had wanted to recall the player most likely to help them beat the Islanders, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard or Jesse Ylönen would have received the call.
“It’s a balance,” St-Louis explained, noting that it’s getting to the point where the balance has to favor the Rocket “for the right reasons.”
But between scoring his first goal of the season on Dec. 14 and mid-February, Teasdale had a 16-goal streak in 21 games. According to fellow Rocket game radio reporter Anthony Marcotte, he was the AHL’s most prolific scorer during that stretch of the schedule. In 57 games this season, he has 23 goals and 15 assists for 38 points.
His recall is therefore much more like a thank you for services rendered to a forward who kept the fort while the multiple injuries in Montreal required one recall after another.
Teasdale will now want to use his short audition to show that he can emulate his good friend Harvey-Pinard and make an impact in the NHL.
The two friends also returned together from Place Bell on Monday, since they are practically neighbors in the northern crown. But under the circumstances, the conversation wasn’t exactly about the latest developments at The Island of Love.
“I had questions, I asked them, he answered. He was a good friend like always, a good person. »
Questions about what? “It was the dress code, how to dress for the plane, for the games on the road, the time of the team meetings, if there are practices. »
Martin St-Louis has often spoken of the importance of generating emotion in his players at the end of the season. Here’s one that won’t need to twist an arm to generate it.