At 33, was Jesus too old to be tempted?
Updated at 12:04 a.m.
We would have liked to discuss theology with Martin St-Louis on Thursday evening, but we lacked time and unfortunately we had to stick to hockey. But it appears that at an average age of 26, CH players are subject to temptation.
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Ideas of youth, immaturity and temptation were on everyone’s lips after the Canadian’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Kings.
St-Louis, it is well known, relies on different formulas over the course of a season, in order to offer colorful responses to the cameras. Some of his answers are taken directly from his locker room preaching. These days, the importance of a “deep game” and “trusting the forecheck” is almost a daily occurrence.
These notions were crucial against the Kings, who played a second game in 24 hours on Thursday, a third game in four days. They had also allowed 14 goals in their last two outings. Listen to St-Louis at the end of Thursday’s morning skate.
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Samuel Montembeault
“I know I sound like a skipping record, but we have to come with the idea of playing a deep style[[deep game mentality]», said St-Louis.
This idea is essentially to send pucks deep into the opponent’s zone if the play options are uninteresting or too risky. Once the puck is deep in the territory, the forecheck is activated. These are elements that fit into a “mature” game.
And this maturity means “causing fewer turnovers, being calmer, not getting frustrated,” summarized Jake Evans. They played two games in two nights. We could have taken their lives early in the game if we had been strong on the forecheck, if we had bottled them up in their zone, and we didn’t do that.”
Opinions were unanimous after the match. “It was an immature effort,” said the captain of this young group, Nick Suzuki.
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Nick Suzuki (14) tries to outwit David Rittich
“As a group, we need to mature,” added Evans. Our team is young, but the guys have been here a long time. Look at the Kings, they arrived late last night, so they played a simple style and it worked out for them. »
David Savard was particularly angry with the first period, which was very unconvincing for the Montrealers despite a 1-1 tie. Also on Monday, CH struggled at the start of the match.
“We’re going to have to talk about it,” said Savard. We have reached another point in the maturity of our team. We knew what situation we were getting into, they were playing two games in two nights. We had to come out strong and take their lives. We didn’t do it. »
According to data collected by The Athletic this week, the Canadian comes 2nd among the youngest teams on the circuit, with an average age of 26.1 years, behind only the Sabers (25.4 years).
It is precisely this youth that St-Louis identified when he was asked why his message about forechecking is not getting through. “It’s a bit of a sign of youth. There are several moments when it’s tempting to make a play, replied St-Louis, before taking the mischievous look of the guy who knows very well that his words could be quoted out of context.
“And when you’re young, it’s easy to be tempted.” »
What solutions?
In the meantime, St-Louis must deal with two top lines that are not delivering the expected results. Kirby Dach had only played 4 periods in his last 18 months when the season began. A slow start was to be expected and that’s exactly what happened, with the result that he has a small point after five games, and a differential of -7. He got stuck with a -3 on Thursday.
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Mike Matheson, Justin Barron and Juraj Slafkovský
And the Suzuki trio, despite adequate production, does not offer overall play at the level of last winter. Thursday was another one of those evenings where he was too often under siege in his territory. The Kings controlled 60% of shot attempts at 5-on-5 against this unit.
“I think we can be better and produce more offense,” Suzuki conceded, regarding the offensive top 6. The third and fourth lines play a heavy and aggressive forechecking style. As we get more minutes of play, we have an additional responsibility. If we don’t do the little things that Martin likes to see, we’ll probably have fewer minutes and the others will have more. »
We will now have to see how, concretely, St-Louis will go about getting its message across. His repeated calls to play on the forecheck seem only to be heard by the trio of Jake Evans and that of Christian Dvorak, not exactly the locomotives of the team.
St-Louis also closed down when asked if he would be proactive in his decisions. “I’m proactive,” he retorted. We played five matches. I’m certainly proactive. It will be fixed. »
Rising: Jake Evans
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Jake Evans
Another commendable effort from his trio, who finished the evening at 3-1 with 5-5 scoring chances.
En baisse : Kaiden Guhle
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Kaiden Guhle
Easy to put Kirby Dach back in here. Guhle, however, fell back to Earth after four excellent matches.
Match number: 4
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Mikey Anderson
All four of the Kings’ goals were scored 14 seconds or less after they won a faceoff. Even the empty-net goal was scored seven seconds after a faceoff…in Kings territory!
In detail
Matheson injured
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Mike Matheson
Mike Matheson’s match only lasted 7:35. Absent from his team’s bench after returning from the first intermission, the veteran did not play again all evening, injured in his “upper body” according to the organization. Nothing at all is known about the exact nature of his injury or the circumstances that caused it. His state of health will be assessed again this Friday morning, just before CH flies to New York to face the Islanders on Saturday. Losing the team’s most sought-after player in terms of ice time was bound to have an impact on his teammates on defense. Kaiden Guhle, David Savard and Justin Barron thus saw their workload increase, but never as much as Lane Hutson, who concluded the meeting having spent a little more than 30 minutes on the ice. Needless to say, this is a high point in his young career. “He never takes a day off,” said Martin St-Louis. I like the consistency of his level of combativeness. […] He gave everything to try to help the team. » “We don’t want him to play as much, but it seems like he still has energy,” added Nick Suzuki. Note also that by playing 13:43 on Thursday, Arber Xhekaj essentially maintained his usage average for the first four games of the season.
Finally home (or almost)
Having left Los Angeles on October 1 to conclude their preparatory schedule in Quebec, then to begin their season with five games in the northeast of the continent, the Kings finally packed up following Thursday’s match, i.e. after 17 consecutive days on the road. It was the renovations at Crypto.com Arena, their home in the center of the City of Angels, that made them nomads at the start of the campaign. In the locker room, at the end of the evening, Phillip Danault made no secret that it was time for this trip to end. “One blow in, you let go, but [on dirait que] It just kept going on and on, he exclaimed. It was good for uniting the team, and it worked out well. Five points out of ten is good. » The Kings players will finally be able to sleep in their beds this weekend, and probably take a load of dark, but they won’t play in LA until they have played games in Anaheim and Vegas. The inauguration of their brand new facilities will not take place until next Thursday against the San Jose Sharks.
Rittich makes it out alive
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David Rittich
As long as the injury Darcy Kuemper suffered last Monday is not healed, the Kings must rely on David Rittich in net. The 32-year-old Czech had a difficult outing Wednesday in Toronto, allowing 4 goals on 14 shots before being removed from the game. He got the chance to recover against the CH, and it was difficult to be optimistic about him. Not only did he give in quickly following a turnstile from Justin Barron, but he was far from exuding confidence in his semi-circle. However, despite shaky technique and routine stops which sometimes took on the appearance of an adventure, Rittich held on and gave nothing more to the locals. “He saved us,” summed up Vladislav Gavrikov. Alex Laferriere praised the “resilience” of attackers and defenders to maintain their concentration despite fatigue. But nothing would have been possible, according to him, if Rittich had not been “the backbone” of his team. It remains to be seen whether this column will hold up in the event of a long absence of Kuemper, but for the duration of one match, it worked.
