After an emotional evening on Saturday, the Canadian must already come back to Earth.
The Habs will conclude their doubleheader against Cam Neely’s former teams on Sunday. The day after his spectacular victory against the Bruins, he must now do battle with the Vancouver Canucks.
“It’s hard to sleep, honestly, after a game like yesterday,” admitted defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic, in a press scrum at the Bell Center on Sunday morning. You saw all the energy in the arena yesterday. It’s good to know that we’re still playing tonight and that the match counts just as much as yesterday. We arrive, we do our activation, our video session and we focus on Vancouver. We don’t have much time to savor the victory. »
The nuance is important. Two weeks ago, the Habs delivered another brilliant performance in Vegas, losing in a shootout this time. Martin St-Louis then declared that his team had “raised its standard”, but his men then suffered three more or less glorious defeats in a row.
Saturday evening, St-Louis was significantly less talkative, just like Sunday morning.
“We’re looking for consistency,” Kovacevic added. Look at the Bruins, they have had this consistency for years, because they have real pros who know how it works. That’s what we’re trying to do. We don’t congratulate ourselves too much. Above all, we have the chance to end a pretty good week. »
Montreal has in fact garnered four points out of a possible six so far this week.
It is still unknown if Jordan Harris will be there to help his friends in their quest for a third victory in a row. The Boston defender left Saturday’s game with an upper body injury. On Sunday, he was back on the ice and loosened his legs with Joel Armia and Jesse Ylönen, who share Finnish passports, supernumerary status and certain physiognomic characteristics like two arms and two legs.
After training, Armia was transferred to the Rocket, in order to make room for the recalled Gustav Lindström. If Harris cannot play, Lindström will be able to replace him in the squad on Sunday.
Jake Allen will defend the Montreal net. He will try to redeem himself after Tuesday’s short outing against the Lightning, in which he allowed four goals on nine shots in 13 minutes.
The meeting will mark Tanner Pearson’s reunion with his former Canucks teammates. Kovacevic also put pressure on Pearson by saying he expected to see a large amount on the board before the match.
“He was having a hard time warming up, he should watch his own money! “, joked Pearson.
The winger spent four seasons and dust in Vancouver, an association which ended in fishtail due to the criticized management of his hand injury by the Canucks medical team. Acquired at the end of the season last winter, Anthony Beauvillier briefly knew Pearson.
“I was only with him for a few months. We were talking about a storm, but he went through something pretty big for him and his family. You wish him success and everyone in the locker room is happy for him,” argued the Quebecer.
Pearson will have difficulty recognizing his former team, brought out of its slump of recent years by new head coach, Rick Tocchet. The Vancouverites field the best scorer in the NHL (Elias Pettersson, 25 points) and the leader among defensemen (Quinn Hughes, 22 points). This is a surprising outcome for a coach who has never been known for the offensive success of his teams.
“Personally, I don’t think he’s a defensive coach,” Beauvillier argued. We have structure in our zone and in the neutral zone, but in the offensive zone, he lets us go with our imagination. He wants us to make plays, to score goals. He has been good to us and everyone appreciates him. »
Pearson won’t be the only one to reconnect with his former teammates. The one for whom he was traded, goaltender Casey DeSmith, was designated to face the Habs.
DeSmith, whom the Habs obtained from the Penguins in the trade that sent Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick to Pittsburgh, is off to an interesting start with a 3-0-1 record and a .919 save.
His name will forever be associated with those of Steve Mason and Tony Salmelainen, all players acquired by the CH, but who never wore the blue-white-red uniform. The kind of information that will impress the visitors around the dinner table on Sunday.