ANAHEIM, Calif. — The day after the Montreal Canadiens lost 5-2 to the Boston Bruins on the road Saturday night, coach Martin St. Louis went home to Connecticut with his wife and youngest son, making up for lost time with a family he has seen far too little of this season.
When he came back to work Monday, he did so with a purpose, a singular one he believed had fallen so far off the map in Boston that he had to immediately get it back: the team’s forecheck.
Now, by forecheck, St. Louis doesn’t only mean the traditional sense of the word. Yes, it includes putting the puck behind the opposing defence and going after it, but more broadly, it refers to how the Canadiens play once they don’t have the puck all over the ice. Though Brendan Gallagher’s blowing a tire certainly did not help matters and the goal was the result of a bad bounce, the Canadiens’ forecheck was generous in terms of the time and space they gave the Bruins to operate through the neutral zone and into their zone.
Pavel on point. pic.twitter.com/yfyMY49tb1
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 19, 2023
That first practice Monday was heavily focused on work. There were forechecking drills that continued on a loop, the work rate was extremely high, and practice ended with some sprints up and down the…
