MONTREAL — It was a fifth straight win for the Montreal Canadiens, and the way it was earned had higher reinforce the lesson this workforce has already been served too many occasions this season.
“You begin feeling snug on this league,” stated captain Nick Suzuki, “and it’ll come proper again at you.”
Contemplating how issues had gone for the Canadiens by way of the primary 60 video games, you’d have thought they already knew.
They put themselves within the least snug place attainable by shedding 13 of their first 17 video games. Then they gained 19 of their subsequent 30 video games and kicked their ft up, solely to have them knocked proper off the desk by their competitors, which beat them in eight of 9 video games main as much as the 4 Nations Face-Off break. They usually shouldn’t have been settling again into the recliner after rattling off 4 wins and incomes a 3-0 lead on this fifth one, which inevitably put them one level again of a playoff spot.
The Canadiens need to maintain enjoying significant video games from right here to the top. They need to maintain progressing. They need to make the playoffs.
However they have to know none of these issues are going to occur in the event that they don’t discover a higher steadiness between video games — and inside them.
Monday’s recreation must be the final of its form for this workforce between now and mid-April.
The Canadiens have been up within the clouds after Juraj Slafkovsky made it 3-0 in opposition to the Buffalo Sabres within the 14th minute of play. They practically got here crashing down by way of the ice by the point they allowed the tying purpose with 1:01 to go within the third. In the end, they have been fortunate Mike Matheson cushioned their touchdown by scoring the winner 1:21 into extra time.
He is aware of they have been fortunate.
“After the primary, we went from attempting to win the sport to attempting to not lose it,” Matheson stated.
Earlier within the day, he talked about how the Canadiens have grown this season by recalibrating sooner to reassert themselves once they begin to slip.
“Earlier on, we’d let it bleed for too lengthy,” Matheson stated. “However we’ve achieved a a lot better job of resetting and discovering our recreation once more.”
However in opposition to the Sabres, the Canadiens did the other of that. They let the Sabres take over for 45 minutes between their third purpose and Matheson’s game-winner, they usually can’t permit the outcome to blur how lucky they have been to come back out on prime.
The Canadiens can’t afford to play any of their remaining 21 video games that approach.
“We’ve got to grasp the video games, generally, are going to grow to be tighter and that we should be extra exact, extra calculated, extra opportunistic. Our goaltenders are going to need to extend saves, our particular groups are going to need to be there,” stated Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “These are all issues that’ll be vital, and we’re attempting to test every field. We’d be delusional if we thought we’d be excellent in all that till the top of the yr, however we’ve to discover a option to win.”
What the Canadiens want to seek out is consistency of their effort and focus from shift to shift and recreation to recreation.
They’re lucky to be nonetheless standing on the height at this second and may’t afford to fall again into one other deep valley, and a efficiency like Monday’s might push them into it in the event that they don’t course of it correctly.
Cole Caufield, who scored his 30th purpose within the recreation, stated the Canadiens simply need to take issues one recreation at time.
Suzuki, who put up 4 factors to present him 13 over this five-game run, stated that regardless that it’s arduous to do as a workforce that’s “fairly process-driven,” the Canadiens ought to simply run with the 2 factors.
However as St. Louis stated, the Canadiens can’t afford to simply put this recreation away with out taking which means from it.
He has overseen all of the dramatic highs and lows this season and doesn’t need to see extra from right here to the top.
“I feel we’ve simply received to be extra demanding of one another. We’ve received to be extra accountable to one another,” he stated. “I’ve realized, too, as a coach going by way of this. I feel I’m higher ready now after I see that subsequent one coming possibly, for which we don’t have time. It’s crucial that we don’t go on these (lengthy profitable stretches adopted by lengthy shedding stretches). We will’t do this proper now. The clock’s ticking. We’ve received to play arduous. I’ve received to educate arduous. We’ve received to be engaged.”
If the Canadiens can do this persistently in a approach they haven’t but this season, it’ll be an enormous leap amongst a number of small steps ahead they’ve taken.
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