The Bell Centre is no longer hostile to others; it is now hostile to the Canadiens.

Dose
Crédit: The Bell Centre is far from being hostile to other teams (and their supporters).

Generally speaking, a team usually finds a way to win more games than it loses in front of its fans. Mostly only the teams that flirt with the bottom of the overall standings lose more games than they win in their arena.

Last change… home crowd advantage… more normal sleep the night before…

Except that for Canadiens, it doesn’t seem to work that way.

The CH has lost 9 of the 17 games it has played at the Bell Centre since the beginning of the season.

One has to go back to the 2018-19 season to see the Canadiens win more than 50% of their home games. Even in 2020-21, the year the team made it to the Cup Final, they lost more games than they won in the regular season in downtown Montreal.

Why does the Canadiens have so much difficulty winning games in front of their fans? Good question!

Is it because of the pressure from the fans (who know hockey)?

Because of the other players who love playing at the Bell Centre?

Due to the lack of toughness of the Montreal team? The Bell Centre is far from being a fortress if the other players feel comfortable and enjoy coming there…

I don’t know!

The Bell Centre is far from hostile to other teams (and their fans).
(Credit: Getty Images)

One day or another, the CH organization will have to seriously address the issue. Because this is not normal…

Especially when your worst blowouts of the season are suffered in front of your fans (who pay several hundred dollars to come watch your show).

9 to 2 against the Penguins…

6 to 2 against the Golden Knights…

8 to 2 against the Kraken…

7 to 2 against the Rangers…

Something is wrong.

All the more so that the victories you’re managing to get are almost always against teams that will not make the playoffs…

It’s up to Martin St-Louis to react
No, I do not have THE solution for Canadiens to start winning the majority of their home games. If I had it, I would sell it to the CH (or I would be hired to analyze their game internally).

Except I have a line of thought…

Many head coaches have burned themselves over the years by being too hard on their players.

But others have also burned themselves by being too soft… by being too close to them.

The regular players who do not deliver the goods have not been left out in recent years with the Canadiens.

The players expected to produce offensively, but who do not, are never punished. On the contrary: they are placed – Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach – on the first or second line with the team’s best forwards. And they continue to be given power play minutes…

Only Juraj Slafkovsky has been A LITTLE reprimanded for his disastrous performances (for a first overall pick who will earn $10 million next season).

In front of the media after the blowouts, the coach finds it funny, cracks jokes, looks devastated and repeats the same words about the referees, talks about bad luck and unlucky bounces…

But he never gets angry. He never throws stones at his players. He protects them.

And that might be the problem.

Martin St-Louis still seems to think like a player, not like a head coach. He still seems to think he is one of them.

You should not become a head coach hoping to extend the fun you had as a player. When you become a coach, you are no longer a player. You are no longer one of them.

And that, Martin St-Louis seems to have forgotten.

“Martin, it’s time for you to start coaching like a coach, not with a player mentality. You are no longer a player… and your players need a coach, not a guy who still thinks like a player. It’s time to stop protecting them, defending them, feeling sorry for them or whatever. The players must feel they are accountable for their play.” – me

Martin St-Louis once said that John Tortorella was not always fun on a day-to-day basis, but that he made him a better player… that Torts’ demands pushed him to become the player he is now.

Can you name me a single player that Martin St-Louis DRIVES to be better right now…

Come on, I’m waiting…

The time has come for Martin to coach, and not just to lead a group of hockey players. We’re not at the local arena for a Pee-Wee practice at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday.

In Brief

– JT and I welcomed Catherine F. (O.D.) and her sister Alexandra this week for a special episode of the podcast Stanley25. We talked about hockey, the Canadiens, and Montreal. If you’re interested, here’s the link:

– The Canadiens play a man-to-man system… Laine has Rakell as his man to mark… Rakell ends up all alone in the slot…

– Let’s try to find some positives in yesterday’s blowout.

– Could Matias Cooraco stay in South America?

– CF Montreal will face Toronto FC in the first round of the Canadian championship… in Toronto. If they win, they could very well AGAIN face Forge. #Rivalries