The Montreal Canadiens are in the midst of a rebuild and while that means growing pains with youngsters on the ice, it can also mean growing pains elsewhere in the organization.
Martin St-Louis has spoken at length of his Montreal Canadiens helping other teams beat them. We've had several examples this past weekend when the Habs surrendered four goals in to the Vegas Golden Knights in less than six minutes.
It started by a Lane Hutson attempted breakaway pass to Brendan Gallagher who was far too tired to execute the play. Caught on the ice by the icing, the Canadiens lost possession and were unable to regain it until it was in the back of their net.
It was closely followed by a couple of ill-advised passes (curtesy of Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky) which became instant turnovers and then by a fall in the offensive zone to lose possession (that one was on Alex Newhook) and set the table for goal four as everyone was chasing their man.
Then, it took another seven minutes before Samuel Montembeault spilled a rebound and it was promptly tapped in the net. 5-0 after 40 minutes, at that stage nobody thought the Canadiens were about to start an epic comeback like they had 16 years ago against the New York Rangers.
By the time the Habs shook it off and started working as a unit of five, it was too late, the game was already lost. We've heard a lot lately about the team needed to learn to win and a big part of that is learning to manage not only the game, but their emotions.
A turnover is not the end of the world, unless it's followed by numerous more. When they make a mistake, these young Canadiens are on the back foot, they're holding the stick too tight and they lose their ability to read the game and consequently, do what it demands.
Somewhere during those six minutes, St-Louis should have called a time out to settle his troops' nerves. Taking a timeout likely wouldn't have meant winning the game, but it may well have stopped the bleeding, as least temporarily.
Pulling the goaltender is one way to make your men realize things are going wrong, but when your netminder is left high and dry like Montembeault was on Saturday, and your backup's confidence is at an all-time low, that's not really an option.
Taking a timeout could have help to cauterizing the wound, that's not to say the Knights couldn't have created another wound, but it was worth a shot. On The Sick Podcast, Tony Marinaro spoke about the fact St-Louis should have taken a timeout and I must say that this time, I agree with him.
The coach, much like his players is still learning out there and when the game is getting away from you as fast as that duel was, there's no points in saving your timeout for a last minute push, the game will be long gone by then.
