ELMONT, NY | A Canadian has two options: to see the glass as half full or as half empty.
On Saturday against the Islanders, Martin St-Louis’ men suffered another setback, their third in a row. They have lost four of six games this season.
A defeat is a defeat, some will tell you. It’s basically true.
But in the process of rebuilding, or at least “transitioning to learning to win,” as St-Louis mentioned in the morning, there are ways to judge a group that goes beyond those two points.
Last Thursday night, against the Los Angeles Kings, the Habs were dull, lackluster. He let the Kings leave Montreal with a 4-1 victory without having to try too hard.
The Islanders can’t say that on Saturday.
Yes, Patrick Roy’s men dominated the shot column 36-24, but they still needed all the minor changes – and nine rounds of shootouts – to overcome the Canadian.
“If we had won this game, we would have deserved it,” St-Louis admitted after the game.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the Canadian was better against the Islanders than against the Kings. Not hard to beat, you might say!
“Our fighting spirit was there. Defensively, we had seven scoring chances after two periods. (…) I really liked our departure and the things we talk about recently. The intentions were there. You lose 2-0, but we were very calm on the bench.
Good news
When we say the glass is half full, we must add that the team received two good news.
Martin St-Louis questioned the presence of Mike Matheson and Juraj Slafkovski in the morning, but both ended up taking part in the match.
And Matheson’s presence made it possible not to overload Lane Hutson, as was the case against the Kings on Thursday, when Hutson was on the ice for more than 30 minutes, mainly due to Matheson leaving the meeting in the first period.
Well, almost. He played just over 24 minutes, the second-highest total for a Canadian behind Matheson (28min 10s).
Infinite presence
Of those 24 minutes, almost four took place during the same presence!
Midway through the second period, Hutson and linemate Logan Mailloux were trapped in their own territory for more than three minutes alongside Oliver Kapanen, Christian Dvořák and Josh Anderson, while the trio of Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat and Anthony Duclair circled the offensive zone.
The quintet still managed to fend off repeated attacks from the Islanders before they finally managed to clear their territory after endless minutes on the ice.
Almost four to be exact: 3min 58s for Mailloux, 3min 51s for Dvořák, while Hutson (3min 22s), Kapanen (3min 43s) and Anderson (3min 5s) must have also felt the effects of the acid milky in the legs when he returns to the bench.
“I was exhausted. But the boys fought well. That was the main thing today, we fought. It was exhausting, but I recovered quickly,” goalkeeper Cayden Primeau admitted.
Solid primer
Besides, he was very good.
He gave up the first five shots of the game twice (two very good shots by Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri, admittedly) to finish with 33 saves on 36 shots.
In addition to 36 shots on target at Primeau, CH blocked 25 (!), several of which came during one of the six penalties the team took on Saturday.
David Savard and Mike Matheson each had five blocks.
“Savard eats so many pucks, I’ve never seen anything like it. Matheson too. It’s a beast. And this applies to young people. Barron and I are doing our best,” admitted Jayden Struble, who returned to Arber Xhekaj’s lineup on Saturday after recovering from an upper-body injury.
