In the past, when these two clubs faced each other on this date or thereabouts, it signaled the arrival of spring, warm winds, warm evenings too.
In the past, a Canadian-Bruins in April was a classic, a must, because it happened every spring, or almost, and because that meant that there was going to be intense hockey as we like it for at least four games, often seven.
Of course, we are no longer in the past. We are now, and now, the 2022-23 Canadian is no more, even less after this loss, honorable moreover, by 5-4, in what will have been the last game of an interminable season, Thursday evening at the Bell Center.
Late in the evening, the players spent some time waving to the crowd, with the injured behind the bench almost outnumbering the guys on the ice. If there’s one image to sum up this season, it’s this one: 20 guys in uniform, 15 guys in ties behind them, including Carey Price. Of course, you don’t win hockey games with a tie.
The following ? It is very difficult to predict, the continuation. Of the 20 guys who were members of the Canadiens on this last night of the season, how many will be back when camp begins in September?
These decisions will eventually come to pass, and we may have some answers on Friday in Brossard, when the club takes stock.
In the meantime, in the opinion of the coach himself, anything is possible.
“Who knows what our training will look like next season? But I know there will be plenty of guys coming on board and helping us sell our concept to others. And it takes time. Where is Boston right now? It takes time. As a player, I played them in 2011 in the playoffs in the conference finals, along with a lot of their big names, and it’s been 12 years…so it takes time I guess.
“We’re still at the infant stage of where we want to end up. Next season, we will have come a little further. How fast are we going to get there? I do not know. I do not know when we will be able to make this change, but I am looking forward to this day. »
Remains the lottery, and the continuation, the very long continuation. The Edmonton Oilers have drafted several top players well over the past few years, but they’re barely getting out of the mire.
But the Canadian has a coach who does not like to lose. It’s already that.
“You can lose in the Stanley Cup final, you can lose in the conference final, and it’s always the same thing: when it’s over, it’s a feeling that’s flat,” he explained. . No matter how, when it’s over, it’s boring…”
What could be better than playing your first game in the NHL, and also taking the opportunity to score your first goal?
Another game where we did not see it. Can the Canadian really bring him back?
The Canadian’s rank overall, giving him the fifth-best chance for the draft lottery. This gives the Canadian an 8.5% chance of winning the lottery.
If this was Patrice Bergeron’s last game in Montreal, it would have been… special. The veteran with an uncertain future was in the starting lineup of the Bruins and was treated to a warm welcome from the public. He played the type of first period that has earned him five Selke Trophies so far, winning eight of his nine faceoffs and pulling off a crucial defensive drop to snap a 2-on-1 run from Nick Suzuki and Chris Tierney. Except it ended there. After the first period, the Bruins advised that Bergeron’s game was ended preemptively with an upper body injury. After the game, the team’s head coach, Jim Montgomery, wanted to be reassuring. ” He is correct. He wanted to continue the match and I told him no. The situation will be interesting to follow between now and the start of the playoffs on Monday, because the very presence of Bergeron surprised some of them. There was indeed no standings issue for the Bruins, but the team still sent all of its veterans to Montreal, with the exception of David Krejci and Linus Ullmark. “As the playoffs approach, the best way to prepare is to play games,” Bergeron said Thursday morning. Speaking of injuries, Michael Matheson didn’t finish the game either, but his injury seemed very real. The CH defender injured his “lower body”, according to the team’s official version, in the second period.
Like Mario Lemieux in 1984 and Daniel Carr in 2015, Lucas Condotta scored in his first appearance in the NHL. The attacker with the contagious smile, recalled the same day of the match, opened the scoring in the fourth minute. It was the start of a good night’s work for him, who had five shots on goal and three hits despite only playing 11 minutes. Never drafted, he signed a contract with the Canadiens last spring, as a free agent, after four seasons at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and he has 30 points (16 goals, 14 assists) in 71 games this season with the Rocket. “I was just really happy for Lucas, he deserves it, he works so hard, underlined his Rocket teammate, and linemate with CH Thursday, Joel Teasdale. We just continued to do this work throughout the match. We were good at working in the lower end and going to the net. Teasdale got an assist on that goal himself, his first NHL point. The two lads will now return to Laval where the Rocket will play the last game of its season on Friday, at the height of the playoff race.
The Bruins had no stake in the standings in this game, but the CH could still move. With 68 points, the CH could still “climb” to 27th place, ahead of the Coyotes, who totaled 69 points before their match against the Canucks. In short, from the point of view of the draft lottery, Montreal had no interest in winning this game. But Martin St-Louis and his players obviously did not care about the draft lottery. The head coach called Samuel Montembeault back to the bench to send a sixth skater, and even called a timeout with 28 seconds left. “We played to win. If you do things the right way, things will go in your favor,” St-Louis explained.
