And it was notable that Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis decided to bench power play specialist forward Patrik Laine during the third period; he played just over 30 seconds in the game’s final frame and barely over 10 total minutes overall.
As Laine would later explain, being benched wasn’t fun but he knows that his performance must improve in order to justify receiving more ice time, via TSN.
“It’s never fun (to be benched), but guys that are going are playing and we weren’t going. It’s as simple as that. Just one game and gotta get back at it and kind of learn not to worry about that stuff too much. It’s just one game in a long season, those games happen and just gotta be better overall.”
“There’s no point in going out there and being mad or pissed off, that’s not gonna help anybody. Just get to work and work on the same stuff every day, and try to be better. That’s the mindset whether I play 25 minutes or 10 minutes, gotta get to work and be better.”
St. Louis explained that it was a gut decision to bench Laine after his line wasn’t playing up to standard on both ends of the ice.
“I felt that line was not doing enough on both sides of the ice and just made a decision,” he said. “You have to follow your gut as a coach during the game, and that’s what I did.”
The Canadiens face the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center in San Jose on Tuesday night; puck drop is scheduled for 10:30 PM EST.
Canadiens forward Patrik Laine admitted his confidence isn’t high right now
Laine, who burst onto the scene with the Canadiens in December after making his return from an injury he suffered in the exhibition schedule, admitted that his confidence isn’t the best right now – but that he has no choice but to continue working.
“Body feels pretty good, skating feels pretty good. Obviously confidence is not super high, but minus that, I’m feeling pretty good,” Laine said. “It’s kind of hard even if your body feels great, if pucks are bouncing and the confidence isn’t there, it makes it harder. But gotta bring something else to the table if you’re not feeling your best offensive game like last night – gotta work, gotta work.”