Montreal Canadiens HC Martin St. Louis critiques team's puck management after back-to-back losses: "Didn't make it easy on ourselves"

By ARJUN B

Modified Mar 26, 2025 05:12 GMT

Follow Us

Share

0 Discuss

Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis voiced his frustration with the team’s puck management following back-to-back losses.

After a rough 6-1 defeat to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, Montreal has dropped three straight games. That stretch includes a 5-4 shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and a 4-3 overtime defeat to the New York Islanders last Thursday.

In the postgame press conference after the Blues game, when asked about the team's puck management, St. Louis acknowledged the issue:

“Especially in the Colorado game and this game. You know, we’ll talk about it. I didn’t necessarily feel that against the Islanders or Ottawa, but I definitely felt it against Colorado. And, you know, their top two lines — both those teams — they’re dangerous.

“You do that with those guys on the ice, you have to defend a lot. And these are guys who can finish on their chances, too. So we didn’t make it easy on ourselves tonight."

St. Louis also shared his disappointment with the team’s forecheck, saying that it hasn’t been as strong as it was earlier in the season. He admitted that he might share some of the blame for the puck management struggles, noting the team trying to adjust with the opponent.

Despite the tough losses, the Canadiens hold the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, with a 33-28-9 record.

---

Recap: Canadiens lose 6-1 to Blues

The Blues struck first late in the opening period, as Jordan Kyrou found space in the slot and fired a shot through traffic that slipped past Montembeault.

The Canadiens responded quickly, with Nick Suzuki evening things up 47 seconds later by deflecting Lane Hutson’s point shot after a costly turnover by St. Louis. But the Blues regained the lead in the final seconds of the first, when Dylan Holloway redirected a shot from Philip Broberg at the point.

Early in the second, Robert Thomas added to the Blues' lead during 4-on-4 play to make it 3-1. Alexandre Texier then buryied a rebound on Cam Fowler’s shot for 4-1 lead.

In the third, Philip Broberg made it 5-1 with a wrist shot from the left circle that Montembeault couldn’t handle cleanly. Zack Bolduc closed out the scoring with a power-play goal at 18:02, sealing a dominant 6-1 win for St. Louis.