The Montreal Canadiens stopped their losing streak at six games by simply refusing to lose Monday afternoon to the Buffalo Sabres.
The Montreal club’s players finally displayed a sense of urgency powerful enough to win 7-5 in a roller coaster match.
Still at the bottom of the standings despite this victory, the Habs will have to repeat this kind of effort night after evening if they wish to return to the playoff race.
“It wasn’t a perfect game on our part, but our energy and sense of urgency was very high from the start,” noted captain Nick Suzuki after returning to work on Wednesday.
Suzuki noted how the Canadian scoring the first goal early in the game set the tone.
The two teams then exchanged the lead, but the Canadian players kept a cool head.
“Above all, I think we managed our emotions well,” said goalie Samuel Montembeault, who replaced Cayden Primeau early in the third period. It was a crazy game, but we didn’t give up when they took the lead. And when we scored two goals to regain the lead, we weren’t overexcited. The guys did a good job closing the books late in the game. »
Suzuki was one of the stars of the meeting. He came out of his torpor by collecting two goals and two assists.
About 24 hours earlier, he had said that it was sometimes difficult for him to play his role as leader when he was going through a slump.
“Nick is our guy. He is our leader, insisted Cole Caufield. Even when he doesn’t write his name on the scoresheet, he remains effective on the ice. I know he has his standards, he wants to do both: produce and be efficient. He has high expectations of himself. For the game in Buffalo, he played the way he wanted. But you can’t always be at the top.
“We are all going through tougher times. When the team doesn’t win and you don’t get a point, you feel guilty. That’s probably what he was doing. He didn’t show his feelings too much. Nick remains a very humble player. I know everyone in this locker room looks at him as our leader. The game in Buffalo will serve as a turning point. We don’t have to worry about him,” he added.
St-Louis also sought to put things into perspective when it returned to Suzuki’s four-game pointless streak.
“He’s an offensive player and we’re going through a season of transition between development and learning to win,” St-Louis said. When you learn to win, you have to manage your risk. When you experience this as an offensive player, you are more cautious in your decisions and that leads to hesitation in offensive anticipation.
“I’m happy that he experienced this match, and I hope that it will help him find a balance and be calculated in his anticipation,” continued St-Louis.
The Canadian will complete his four-game road trip by visiting the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Montembeault would have liked to be opposed to veteran Marc-André Fleury. Instead, it is Filip Gustavsson who will defend the Wild net.
Furthermore, striker Rafaël Harvey-Pinard trained without restrictions with his teammates for the first time this fall, Wednesday at the CN Sports Complex. St-Louis noted, however, that he was not yet ready to return to the game.
Harvey-Pinard fractured his right leg in July and required surgery.
