TORONTO -- Martin St. Louis’ post-game press conference lasted 67 seconds, and nothing he said was quite as relevant as the look he wore on his face as he said it.
He was frustrated, disgusted, totally uninterested in answering questions about how his Montreal Canadiens took a 7-1 beating at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and no one could blame him for it.
“We weren’t there tonight,” St. Louis said.
At least he could count on one hand the number of times he’s had to say something like that this season.
The Canadiens limped their way to Toronto while 12 of their players remained in Montreal nursing injuries. At full health they were a group that wasn’t expected to challenge for a playoff spot, but they haven’t been at full health at any point this season and nights like this one have still been few and far between.
That doesn’t make them acceptable, and St. Louis wasn’t the only one left frustrated about the effort and the outcome.
Chris Wideman, Mike Matheson and Joel Edmundson, who all spoke after the game, all expressed their dissatisfaction with allowing Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander and Auston Matthews to make this such a one-sided affair.
When asked how the Canadiens reacted to allowing the Leafs to open up a 2-0 lead and notch 18 of the game’s first 19 shots, Wideman said, “Lot of Gatorade and water and trying to figure out what the hell just happened.”
“Not a good start, not a great night from us,” he concluded.
Wideman’s frustration level was so high that when he was asked about the Leafs putting in emergency backup goaltender Jett Alexander with a little over a minute to play—a great moment for a university goaltender who was signed to a one-day amateur tryout earlier in the day—he quipped, “They’ll get what they deserve in a few weeks,” suggesting the move was made to embarrass the Canadiens further.
It most certainly wasn’t, and they didn’t need any help in that department on this night.
But at least this Canadiens season hasn’t been full of nights like these.
St. Louis and the Canadiens have miraculously avoided them with seemingly indomitable will.
Perhaps that’s why the coach still had some expectation, 79 games into this injury-riddled season, that his completely depleted team could still compete against a Maple Leafs team firing on all cylinders and looking very prepared to damage when the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin in roughly 10 days.
“It takes better intentions,” St. Louis said. “It starts with that…”
“We just weren’t there,” he repeated.
Samuel Montembeault was, as he has been all season.
He made 16 great saves in the first period, and as many as he could through the rest of the night, and he could certainly be forgiven for smashing his stick over the crossbar when Michael Bunting tipped Matthews’ shot to make it 7-1 Leafs late in the third period.
Aside from Montembeault, Nick Suzuki did all he could, registering his 40th assist of the season on Johnathan Kovacevic’s marker.
Matheson, who also assisted on the goal, played hard, just as he had in the 45 other games he played this season.
But the will just wasn’t there for too many of the players wearing bleu, blanc et rouge.
“We have two games left to prove ourselves a bit and finish off on a good foot,” said Matheson.
It would be a shame for the Canadiens to end it with more performances like this one and less like most the ones they’ve authored this season.
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