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![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/654486.webp.webp\" "\\"Photo")
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Photo credit: Screenshot<\/p>\n
Head coach Martin St-Louis showed a surprising demeanor after the Montreal Canadiens\u2019 recent win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t overly angry, but he certainly didn\u2019t look like a coach who had just won a big game.<\/p>\n
Martin McGuire even pointed it out on the radio after the game.<\/p>\n
Winning a game in the National Hockey League usually satisfies coaches, but there was a major concern for St-Louis last night.<\/p>\n
One specific aspect of the game deeply irritated Martin St-Louis, and it\u2019s a key factor in winning playoff games in particular.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re talking about the starts to games!<\/p>\n
The head coach strongly emphasized his team\u2019s shortcomings in the first period.<\/p>\n
In front of the cameras, he did not hide his frustration with his group\u2019s level of execution early in the game, once again!<\/p>\n
He directly compared this difficult start to the one recently seen against the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
According to him, the Montreal Canadiens players gave the puck away far too easily to the opponent.<\/p>\n
Martin St-Louis demands more from his players at the start of games<\/p>\n
Committing direct turnovers in your own defensive zone always makes managing a game much more difficult, especially at the very start of the first period.<\/p>\n
Players need to come in more prepared!<\/p>\n
Fortunately for the Canadiens, these numerous early mistakes did not cause too much damage.<\/p>\n
From the second period onward, things settled down.<\/p>\n
The Montreal Canadiens then managed the third period with maturity to secure the win at the Bell Centre.<\/p>\n
That said, starting games this slowly is a very dangerous habit moving forward in the regular season.<\/p>\n
Building a true contender requires correcting this kind of issue quickly.<\/p>\n
“It was a first period similar to the one against Carolina. However, I feel that in the first period, we gave the puck back to them. We killed plays, but then we gave it right back, even in our own zone[…] That said, we didn’t hurt ourselves too much. We played a better second period and managed the third well.”<\/p>\n
– Martin St-Louis<\/p>\n
That said, one name was pointed out by Martin St-Louis to explain why these very poor starts did not have major consequences this week: Jakub Dobes!<\/p>\n
Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n
POLL<\/p>\n
20 HOURS AGO|275 ANSWERS<\/p>\n
Martin St-Louis calls out one major flaw in Canadiens\u2019 game despite win over Columbus<\/p>\n
Is Martin St-Louis right to be critical after a Montreal Canadiens win?<\/p>\n
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