Ducharme returns to Canadiens bench eager for chance to shape crucial Game 3

MONTREAL — Leave it to the always-articulate Jon Cooper to perfectly encapsulate Dominique Ducharme’s plight.

The Tampa Bay Lightning coach also traveled the back roads to this job — bussing through the cities of the North American Hockey League, the East Coast Hockey League and the American Hockey League — all in pursuit of the ultimate opportunity to lift the Stanley Cup, and he expressed, prior to the Lightning taking a 2-0 lead in this series with Ducharme’s Montreal Canadiens, what it would mean to have it temporarily stolen away by something completely out of his control.

“He’s been in the league as an assistant coach for a short time, he’s coached on some big stages in junior and whatnot, but this is the Stanley Cup Final and I know personally it would be killing you inside to miss the grandest ball of them all,” Cooper said. “The good thing, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I think he’s allowed to come back next game I believe. So probably a boost for their team, and especially for him. Because this is a time you should enjoy, and for him to have a team be in the Final and not be part of it, I feel for him — even if he’s the competition.

“You want a team to have its full slate of players and the entire coaching staff. You really want guys to experience this and one day tell their kids, ‘I coached in the Stanley Cup Final.’ So, he’s going to have that opportunity, but I’m sure it has not been a fun couple weeks for him.”

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You couldn’t tell in the way Ducharme described them, as he served out the final days of his quarantine due to a COVID-19 diagnosis made upon the Canadiens’ return from the first two games of the semifinal in Las Vegas. He talked about remaining calm and focused watching the games from his couch, and about how he avoided looking at the calendar and tried to keep himself busy.

But the 48-year-old from Joliette, Que., who grew up cheering for the Canadiens and made his way from France through the Canadian college hockey circuit, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Hockey Canada at the World Junior Championship, was completely gutted knowing that he wouldn’t be able to coach his team through the first two games of the Final after it won four of the five games he missed against the Golden Knights.

On Friday, ahead of Game 3 at the Bell Centre, Ducharme explained what it was like.

“It’s not easy,” he said. “I love what I do and I love being with that team, that group of guys. Same thing with the staff. I think we were working well together, and to have that taken away from me was difficult. But at the same time, there are things that you control and others that you don’t, and we tried just to make the most out of it.”

Ducharme is now stepping back behind the bench to make the most of what he can control in this series. The move shifts Luke Richardson out of the main slot and back into the role of managing the defence, while director of goaltending Sean Burke will return to the press box to look on from above with the video team.

Canadiens forward Eric Staal believes the shuffle will provide more than just an emotional jolt for the players.

“I think the way that our team sets up and the way Dom controls the lines and puts people in different positions, it helps,’ said Staal on Thursday. “Obviously, Luke did a tremendous job with that as well. But Dom talks a lot between periods about in-game adjustments and things that will help us be successful the next period going out. Sometimes, from afar, it’s a little bit more difficult. So, he’ll be hands-on with us and that’s good for us. Looking forward to having him back and give us a boost.”

It will be a huge one for Ducharme, too.

He managed as best he could from home, participating in daily zoom meetings with his players and relaying brief but direct messages to his staff between periods, but this is where he belongs, where his feel of the game can immediately impact how it gets played.

Ducharme is grateful.

“I don’t think the last two weeks changes what it means to me,” he said. “That’s everyone’s dream to be playing or be involved in the Stanley Cup Final. Just so happy to be back.”

Ducharme spent the morning preparing. He jumped into some one-on-one conversations with certain players before running Canadiens practice and appeared decided on not making any changes to lines or defence pairings after Wednesday’s 3-1 loss in Tampa.

Tyler Toffoli said the last 24 hours for the Canadiens, after processing that outcome, was an exercise in repetition, with a focus on not changing anything from the post-game routine the team has adhered to throughout these playoffs. It was implied that Ducharme’s return only added to that normalcy.

As for what has been Ducharme’s success in getting the Canadiens to be as united as they’ve shown in beating the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Golden Knights, Toffoli said that process began when Ducharme took over from Claude Julien in late February.

“I think he comes in and he expects a certain something from everybody, from every individual,” Toffoli said. “I think from when he took over, he did a good job of communicating with everybody. If things weren’t going well, he would pull you aside. And when weren’t playing well, he’d get on us. He’s done a good job and he’s really excited to be back, and hopefully we can get a win here tonight.”

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That will be a mountain of a challenge against the reigning Cup champs, who have led since the seventh minute of the first game and done a masterful job of limiting the Canadiens to just two goals in the series.

Cooper wants nothing more than for that to continue, but he expressed on Friday that he appreciated the opportunity to do it against a Ducharme-run Canadiens team.

“I don’t know him,” said Cooper. “Naturally, you cheer for other coaches. I think that’s one thing in the league is guys know how hard it is to get to this point in your career and guys go through different paths to get here.

“So, the one thing is I just haven’t watched a ton of his team, because in the year we didn’t play them there wasn’t much sense to watching them until we got to the playoffs. And so, I really think, in the short time I’ve been coaching against the Montreal Canadiens in these two games, he and his staff have done a great job, and it’s impressive to watch this team play.

“And you really get a sense for how good they are six feet from the ice watching them go. I’m sure I’ll get to know him here at some point when the pandemic finally breaks and we can all get back together.”

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