Photo of Martin St-Louis and Canadiens players at practice in Brossard.

Photo credit: Screenshot

We had some action in the last few minutes during the Montreal Canadiens’ practice live from Brossard.

Clearly dissatisfied because of one of his defensemen’s poor puck protection (during a drill), head coach Martin St-Louis stopped everything: he put practice on pause and took several minutes to look his players straight in the eyes and talk to them.

Martin St-Louis loses patience during today’s Montreal Canadiens practice, live from Brossard

He really wasn’t happy as you can tell in the scenes below:

It even happened a second time, imagine.

“For a second time during practice, Martin St-Louis stops and speaks with the entire team. He does not seem satisfied with the players’ work along the boards. We see assistant coach Trevor Letowski and Mike Matheson also talking during this sequence.

Today’s practice is very focused on play in the defensive zone corners.”

– Patrick Guillet

It’s good to see Martin St-Louis insisting on this point, because it’s so important and it has been such a glaring issue recently for the Montreal Canadiens, especially against the Ottawa Senators.

Not surprisingly, St-Louis put a lot of emphasis today on work in the defensive-zone corners and on defensive-zone play. Whether we realize it or not, the Montreal Canadiens are back in an intense battle (notably with the Detroit Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators) to avoid losing their spot in the playoff picture.

Nothing is guaranteed, Martin St-Louis knows it, and you can feel that his sense of urgency just increased a notch, while his patience has gone the other way.

Of course, we remind you that the Habs have a date with the Toronto Maple Leafs this Saturday night, live from the Queen City. All signs point to young Jakub Dobes being back in net for his team, for a rare second consecutive start.

Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics

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Frustrated Martin St-Louis halts Canadiens practice twice and delivers a stern message to his players

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