(BUFFALO, NY) Every athlete has their own method. Brendan Gallagher imposes the two-hour rule. He allows himself to mope about a misfortune, a bad match, for two hours, but then has to move on.
In tennis, Leylah Annie Fernandez said this summer that she clears her mind between each game, turning towards the wall, where she thinks of a word or a song.
Kaiden Guhle follows the “midnight rule”. That’s not actually the name of the said rule — the naming is not controlled — but it’s the best way to summarize it.
“I think about it until midnight, then I move on to the next game,” he explained to La Presse, after Saturday’s morning practice, in preparation for the evening’s duel against the Sabres. It doesn’t work every time, but that’s what I try to do. I learned this from my coach in junior. »
What he had to try to forget was this play in particular, in Thursday’s 4-0 loss against the Kings.
Guhle offered a very frank assessment of the sequence. “I was screwed from the start, because I gave him too much space,” analyzed the 21-year-old defender, standing in front of his locker. A player of his caliber is capable of skating, he is big. I should have played a better game.”
Guhle assures that he did not need a long video session to dissect the sequence. “I usually know it right away. For this game, I knew it immediately. They took the puck at their blue line and I was at the red line. I was screwed. »
This play was in addition to the first goal, which he accidentally scored in his own net while trying to prevent Drew Doughty from attempting a cross-ice pass. As if that wasn’t enough, Guhle finished this first period on one blade, after the other blade had come undone. Luckily for him there are no tarantulas at the Bell Centre, because he would definitely have been bitten.
It wasn’t over. Guhle took an additional -1 in the third period, when his partner, Justin Barron, ran into the skates of a linesman, throwing Trevor Moore on a breakaway.
“The official came, obviously, he didn’t want to get in my way, he told me he was trying to get out of the way, but it happens,” Barron said. At the time, I was a little angry, but he apologized. This kind of game happens. »
Forty-eight hours later, the two young backs, former partners with Junior Team Canada, once again formed a tandem in training. There is no question, for St-Louis, of separating what has been one of its most stable units this season. According to the specialized site Moneypuck, only the Barron-Mike Matheson tandem (171 minutes) has played more than the Guhle-Barron tandem (147 minutes) so far.
“I have no qualms about keeping them together. They gave us some very good matches together. If it happens more in matches, or several matches in a row, you separate them, but we are not there, indicated the head coach of the Canadian, Martin St-Louis. We teach, we make corrections and we turn the page. »
Before Saturday’s training, Barron sat down in front of the computer in a corridor of the arena with Stéphane Robidas, the assistant coach responsible for the defensemen, to watch some sequences from Thursday.
“Stéphane always has clips of the defenders for each game, whether we watch the next day or the day after, things we have work to do, or good plays,” summarized Barron.
They come with complementary qualities, namely certain offensive skills for Barron, who has 5 goals in 23 matches, and a very complete overall game for Guhle. In the Sabers locker room, rookie Zach Benson, who played against Guhle two years in junior, called him “the toughest defenseman I faced in the WHL. His double-checks really hurt! »
The idea of bouncing back will be in vogue this Saturday at the KeyBank Center. Cayden Primeau will get his first start since his release on November 30, when the Panthers beat him five times rather than once on the glove side.
“It will be his first period,” St-Louis recalled. You have to play well in front of him so that he gets into his rhythm. »
The only other change in the lineup: Joel Armia will take Michael Pezzetta’s place. Armia has made a habit of highlighting his returns to the game in a big way so far. In his first game after his dismissal to Laval, he hit the target. The Finn also hit the target on November 29, after he was traded to the Rocket again.
For the Sabres, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin will return to the game after missing the last game. And everything indicates that Devon Levi will defend their net, in what will be a duel between two former Northeastern University Huskies goalkeepers.
