St-Louis Reveals Exact Reason Why He Benched Patrik Laine in Loss to Ducks
Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Things have been stirring with the Montreal Canadiens in recent hours. The team's management, led by Martin St-Louis and Trevor Letowski, made a major decision regarding Patrik Laine.
Laine was benched for the entire third period against the Anaheim Ducks, with the exception of a very brief appearance, and Martin St-Louis didn't even look in his direction when the team absolutely needed to score a goal late in the game.
It's a big message that was sent here.
Clearly, Martin St-Louis has had enough of seeing a player who wasn't helping the team.
Martin St-Louis breaks the silence and comments on his decision to punish Patrik Laine
The head coach of the Canadiens had this to say:
«I didn't think he was helping the team at that moment.
It's a decision you make.»
- Martin St-Louis
It's a decision you make.»
- Martin St-Louis
In total, Laine played just over 10 minutes in the game. His level of engagement has often been «not up to par» in recent games.
Let's just say he wasn't in a very good mood, and we can understand why.
It was a short answer, in a dry tone, but one that also says a lot.
It will be really interesting to see his response in tomorrow's game against the weak San Jose Sharks.
Patrik Laine, 26 years old, still has a solid 18 points in 24 games this season, including 12 goals, but things have been much more difficult for him recently.
He is facing his first big challenge and his first obstacles as a Canadiens player, so it's up to him to respond in the best possible way, even though he also seemed very frustrated by this situation yesterday.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 3 | 2209 ANSWERS St-Louis Reveals Exact Reason Why He Benched Patrik Laine in Loss to Ducks Do you think Martin St-Louis did the right thing by benching Laine? | ||
| Yes | 1988 | 90 % |
| No | 221 | 10 % |
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