Martin St-Louis likes to talk about culture, and Saturday night in Tampa, we had a little idea of what that means.
The culture in question here does not consist in being able to quote Kundera between two exercises in Brossard, but rather, this culture is a state of mind that the coach of the Canadian seeks to implant.
Basically: the team that comes first, and everyone that respects the logo, as they say in the industry.
Jonathan Drouin did not respect the logo. He arrived late for a meeting, and in the world of Martin St-Louis, that is not done. So it came up with this: a forced night off for the one who spent his Saturday night drying off on the bench at Amalie Arena.
At least the Quebec forward had a very good place to see another defeat for the Canadiens, this time by a score of 5-3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
With the infirmary overflowing, St-Louis had no choice but to give Drouin a jersey, because the initial idea was to leave him in the stands and bet on training with a defender in more. But the injury to Kaiden Guhle did not allow such a scenario.
At the end of the evening, Jonathan Drouin did not show up. In his eyes, the page is turned. He will be training for the Canadiens on Monday, as planned.
For details, we note that Drouin has “not even heard” his dial, but above all, we note that he still believes he has a place with the team.
“I’m going to practice (Monday) as planned,” he added. Me and the coaches, we are on the same wavelength. We spoke (Friday) Martin and I. I arrived late, there are consequences, and I understand that. »
Already that Drouin’s return for next season was far from certain – the Quebec player is still without a contract – this dial that did not ring will not help matters.
“Jonathan cheered on the guys on the bench all night,” captain Nick Suzuki said. It’s a difficult situation, but we have standards, and if we don’t reach them, we don’t play… arriving late is unacceptable. It’s been like that since Martin has been here. »
Moreover, this punishment will have allowed Suzuki to play quite a bit, for more than 25 minutes, and this diminished Canadian will have demonstrated a certain strength of character, because despite everything, the Lightning did not dominate as we could have. believe him. Brandon Hagel, he largely dominated with his three goals.
For fans, this Saturday night suggests that the Canadian is on the right track, with a coach who will not tolerate half measures. Players just have to behave themselves… and make sure their dial sounds the way it should.
If he showed that kind of energy every night, he would be quite the player. In addition, he got a goal and an assist.
What more can be said ?
The number of wins the Canadiens have won in their last 10 games.
The Canadian announced on Saturday morning that Kaiden Guhle would not be able to face the Lightning in the evening. The young defender injured his left knee in a collision Thursday night at Sunrise. He had suffered an injury to the same knee, also at Sunrise, on December 29, a bad twist of fate that forced him to sit out until his return on February 28. After Thursday night’s collision, Guhle still returned to the ice for four more appearances, in a 9-5 game in favor of the Panthers, and in a game without real stakes for the Canadian. “I don’t know if it was his decision (to come back to the game on Thursday night), I don’t know what’s going on back,” replied Martin St-Louis. Me, I’m in the process of directing a match, I don’t have time to know who makes the decision. »
The Canadian’s injury list, already long enough, almost grew even more during Saturday night’s game in Tampa, when Josh Anderson tried to block a shot with his right hand during the third period of this meeting against the Lightning. The striker then went to the locker room writhing in pain, but he was able to return to the game afterwards. He was still able to get an assist on Denis Gurianov’s goal in the second period. This brings to four his series of consecutive games with at least one point, he who collected five points during this good sequence.
It was the Lightning Hall of Fame Introductory Weekend in Tampa, and the three newest members of this highly select club were introduced to the early evening crowd. Thus, Phil Esposito, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St-Louis came to perform the ceremonial face-off between the two captains, the three dressed in blue jackets in the colors of the Lightning, while in the arena, portraits were unveiled at the effigy of these three immortals on one of the walls. Several former club players were also in attendance during this dream weekend in Tampa, including Enrico Ciccone and André Roy, who made fans laugh on several occasions with his appearances on the giant screen.
