(Winnipeg) If you missed this succulent Canadian-Jets on Monday, be sure to watch colleague Rachid Issoulaimani’s montage on our screens. The CH goals would have been perfect for the defunct TVA Sports Fricassee, perhaps less so for the games of the week. No one in this locker room will complain about that, mind you.
Justin Barron scored in overtime and the Canadian triumphed 3-2 over the Jets on Monday night.
CH’s victory was very imperfect. These are not our words, but also those of Jake Allen. “It wasn’t pretty tonight, but it won’t always be perfect,” mused the winning goalkeeper. “We really didn’t play our best game, but we didn’t give up,” added Christian Dvorak.
This victory, however, was enough to satisfy CH head coach Martin St-Louis, for at least one reason. The message he conveyed at every opportunity, that of “playing within”, seems understood and put into practice. And it is done by one of the attackers best equipped to do it. At 6’3 and 224 lbs, Josh Anderson indeed has the size to allow himself to pass near the blue paint without being bothered by his rivals.
So that’s what he did on his goal, heading towards the net passing between the faceoff circles, before gloriously scoring with his skate. That said, if he had stayed on the periphery, the puck that hits his blade would have simply ended up on the boards.
Then, on the visitors’ second goal, Anderson cut toward the net, this time with the puck in his hands like a handball player, before handing it to his former London teammate Christian Dvorak. No doubt: he benefited from the leniency of the officials, or the lack of a clear recovery, but the fact remains that he ventured where it generally pays off, and hey, it paid off. Here he is, casually, with seven points in his last eight games.
“We have been talking for the last week about having as many people as possible in the enclave. This is where teams generate chances. I go there a lot, looking for feedback, anything to grab,” Anderson described.
At the other end of the ice, the Habs survived a few appearances where they were disorganized, but generally defended well. We were talking about the games of the week: we probably won’t find Allen there either, for the simple reason that he wasn’t forced to perform miracles. At 5 on 5, the Montrealers limited high-quality chances, and they only gave the Jets two numerical advantages.
All of this put together greatly excited St-Louis. “I feel like as a group we are at the point at the moment,” said the pilot. I have never felt so organized since I took this job. It’s something that takes a long time to build. We evolve as a team.
“Offensively, defensively, with or without the puck… When you have five guys on the same [wavelength], it’s a lot harder for the other team.
It will now be up to the players to make sure their head coach doesn’t look bad. After the very worthy shootout defeat in Vegas on October 30, St-Louis declared that the team had just played “its best game” since his arrival and that it had “raised its standard”. The Habs continued with three defeats in a row, and seven losses in the next nine games.
Without being a spectacular goal, Justin Barron’s winning net was still more elegant than the other two. He was also scored 4-on-3.
This goal, however, put an exclamation point on a nice family day for number 52. Barron’s parents came from Nova Scotia for this duel which pitted Justin against his big brother, Morgan.
With both brothers still relatively inexperienced, their chances of playing an important role in overtime were slim. But now, Dave Lowry was chased away, which forced Rick Bowness to employ Morgan Barron shorthanded. On the same sequence, Mike Matheson was punished for the CH. Justin Barron therefore had to drive the numerical advantage.
After a timeout spent preparing for the play that led to the goal, the CH quartet got to work, Cole Caufield joined Justin Barron, who scored with a precise shot.
“It was pretty cool,” Barron admitted. I didn’t necessarily expect to go on the ice, but I came in, and so did he. It was special. »
Despite the -1 on his record, he made a large number of defensive plays to stop opposing attackers, including one against the always dangerous Nikolaj Ehlers. After 13 games in the NHL, he’s playing with confidence.
After a series of strong games, it was more difficult for the 2022 first pick, who made some poor decisions with the puck.
The Canadian now has five overtime wins this season, an NHL high.
