Canadiens’ most complete effort in weeks rewarded with valuable win over Predators

MONTREAL— In a season where results are largely inconsequential for the Montreal Canadiens, this one mattered, and perhaps more than any other before it since the puck dropped in October.

And it’s got nothing to do with the standings, where two points are worth two points no matter what night they’re earned on. It’s all about the process, which looked as unhealthy for this young team as it has at any other point this season in a 4-0 loss on home ice Monday.

That was when the Canadiens were booed off the ice after a listless first period, when coach Martin St. Louis suggested his players should feel “embarrassed” for the 20 minutes that rendered the next 40 inconsequential.

What St. Louis said after Wednesday’s practice, just a day and a half before his team responded with a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators at the Bell Centre really resonated.

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He talked about his players needing to embrace the culture of the Canadiens, about them needing to take pride in the prestigious and historic logo, about them having to reward the freedom he’s given them to express themselves with their play by committing to the concepts and structure he considers non-negotiable.

St. Louis wasn’t asking for the moon, and he made it clear he didn’t have unreasonable expectations.

“As a team, we’re a young team because we haven’t played together for five, six years,” he said. “I’m not even a year into coaching. We’re still in the infant stage. I’ve said it before, it’s like a puppy; you potty train a puppy and he’s doing well for two weeks and I know he’s (still) going to piss on the carpet. It doesn’t mean you don’t like the puppy. I know they’re going to pee on the rug sometimes, but as coaches we have to help them to get them to where they can be productive so they can hold their pee, sit, give paw, lay down. You know you’re going to get times where there’s accidents, but still, you need to have a plan and thoughts that are about our culture.”

The players had plenty of time between Monday and Thursday to think about the culture St. Louis has been working to establish and about correcting a substandard effort on Monday, and we don’t think it took seeing what happened with P.K. Subban and the fans before the puck dropped for it to really sink in.

The former star of the Canadiens was honoured with a touching video tribute. He walked out to a rousing ovation, with fans chanting his name as he brought a microphone with a Canadiens logo to his lips to address them at the Bell Centre for the first time since he was traded for Shea Weber in 2016.

Subban brought the house down.

“Bonsoir, Montréal,” the 33-year-old started, and the fans went wild.

Subban thanked Canadiens owner and CEO Geoff Molson and his family for inviting him, thanked his own family in attendance, thanked the Canadiens, and then before closing with “Merci, Montreal,” and enjoying a throwback moment with Carey Price, he said the most impactful thing any player in bleu, blanc et rouge could’ve heard.

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“I always felt we had an understanding that when you wear the Montreal Canadiens jersey, when you wear the CH, that you play with the same passion that you fans bring every single night to this building and all around the city,” Subban said. “All I wanted to do, every time I put that jersey on, was play with that passion. I hope that’s the message to the current players and the players that will wear the jersey in the future, that these guys will love you, no matter what, if you leave it all out on the ice. Leave it all on the ice every night.”

It was never in question he tried to do that through all 434 he played in a Canadiens uniform, and it was never more evident Subban left all on the ice in the games that mattered most—the 55 he played in the playoffs.

The fans exploded to celebrate his return on Thursday and the Canadiens saw his words reinforced by their reaction.

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Then they went out and dominated the first period of the game, notching the first five shots en route to taking 19 to Nashville’s eight, recording 34 shot attempts to the Predators 15, and finishing the frame with a 2-1 lead despite surrendering the first goal.

And it wasn’t just because the Predators were playing the second half of a back-to-back, coming off a loss in Toronto on Wednesday after nine days on the road took them through Carolina, Washington and Ottawa as well. The Predators were playing hard.

No, it was mainly because the Canadiens didn’t have a single passenger, unlike in Monday’s game, which left St. Louis saying they had way too many to overcome their talent deficit.

The very first shift of the game saw Jake Evans’ line, with Joel Armia and Evgenii Dadonov—two guys often criticized by fans for perceived substandard efforts—come out of the gate flying. Nick Suzuki, who said his line with Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach was at the root of Monday’s unacceptable first period, followed it up with a tone-setting first shift of their own.

Then Christian Dvorak’s line, with Josh Anderson and Juraj Slafkovksy kept the train rolling, spending the entirety of their first shift hemming the Predators in and whacking away at loose pucks in the home-plate area in front of sensational young goaltender Yaroslav Askarov.

Jonathan Drouin followed with Jesse Ylonen and Suzuki, who doubled because St. Louis dressed just 11 forwards to re-insert Justin Barron as the seventh defencemen, and they played the first of several excellent shifts in the game, with the former notching three points and the latter earning one in his first game with the Canadiens this season.

It wasn’t just the forwards who were fresh, mentally and physically engaged, and driving an all-out Canadiens effort not seen since November. It was every defenceman, and also goaltender Samuel Montembeault.

What did they like most about how they won?

“It was the way we played together, the way we stuck together,” said Dach, who made one of several really strong plays in his defensive zone before charging up the ice to score the goal that made it 2-1 in the first period.

Cole Caufield, who scored two goals to get to 25 on the season talked about the value of the power play clicking twice after so much work and focus went into fixing it.

The penalty kill put in a cohesive, strong effort on all three Predator power plays.

The optimal word there is effort.

Effort was Dadonov wiping out Matt Duchene. Effort was Arber Xhekaj throwing three-bone crunching hits in the first period and following that up by exchanging haymakers in a second-period fight with Tanner Jeannot.

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Effort was Slafkovsky blocking two shots on the same shift and then laying a big hit on Jeremy Lauzon.

“It’s just part of the game,” the 18-year-old said. “Everyone has to do that if you want to win.”

The Canadiens know they didn’t take care of any of those types of details on Monday. They know why they were booed.

Just as important as them seeing what it looks like when someone is celebrated for their effort, as Subban was in front of them, was winning the way they did.

The Canadiens were cheered by the fans all night, given a standing ovation after the game ended, and they’d have felt the love even if the result had fallen on Nashville’s side because their effort was excellent.

But the win—after losing nearly all their games from Dec. 10 through Monday’s terrible loss to Seattle—reinforces the value of pushing that hard.

“You can do everything right, outwork your opponents and lose the game,” said St. Louis. “But when you get rewarded, I think it carries into the next one. It’s not deflating, you have that positive vibe. Sometimes you do everything right, you lose, and you have that negative energy a little bit, and that negative energy weighs way more than the positive energy.

“So, if you’re able to keep away that negative energy with a win, hopefully you can take the next step and realize when we do that collectively, wow, we put ourselves in a good spot.”

The coach, who has said all season long he’s less concerned with results than he is with development, then said that’s why he was happy the Canadiens’ effort was rewarded.

“But I’m happier (with) the way we won,” St. Louis continued. “I thought our PK was strong, our PP was good, our 5-on-5 was great, our first period was terrific, which has been our problem, so I’m happy for the boys.”

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