Capitals-Canadian | A bad memory that became a decisive moment

There is no delicate way to say it: the Canadian probably reached his lowest level of the season in Washington, last October 31.

It was after this 6-3 defeat that Martin St-Louis said that his team had “vomited on itself”. It was also the day after this discomfiture that the head coach subjected his men to punitive training.

Since this dark moment, the Habs have been doing better. Much better, even. He’s not where he’d like to be in the standings, but on the ice, it’s almost day and night. To the point where we could argue that it is a transformed team that the Washington Capitals will face this Saturday evening at the Bell Center, compared to that of October 31.

“Completely different, yes,” said Kaiden Guhle on Saturday morning after club training. We turned the boat to send it in the right direction. Everyone has regained their confidence, individually and collectively. »

“We are much more disciplined, more mature too,” added Alex Newhook. Our signature is no longer the same. »

“Above all, I would say that we are more difficult to face,” summarized Mike Matheson.

The veteran hits an important point. The first month of the season looked like a long defensive hemorrhage. The change since then is obvious, and is confirmed in the figures. The scoring chances granted, in particular, have melted.

Can we see this humiliation of Washington as a decisive moment of the season so far?

“Yes,” Martin St-Louis briefly agreed. It was a very bad period that took us on a different path. We changed direction and found consistency. »

“We had to decide, as a group, if we wanted to get out of this or if we wanted to stay in the hole we were stuck in,” Kaiden Guhle said. We decided to get through it, knowing that it wouldn’t be easy. We got to work. »

“Sometimes you have to go through times like that to achieve your goals. It was one of those moments,” concluded Alex Newhook.

The Capitals in the lead

A team that has not changed its (good) habits is the Washington Capitals. They were already on a roll during the last clash against Montreal, and they didn’t let up.

They arrive in the metropolis while they sit at the top of the rankings in the Eastern Association. They dominate the NHL on the road (10-2-0 and .833 points percentage, tied with the Minnesota Wild), defeated the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Friday and are 5-0-1 in their last five outings.

Even though the Caps added some good players to their roster over the summer, virtually no one projected them to where they are now, especially not without Alex Ovechkin, who was injured three weeks ago.

“They have a lot of veterans, guys who know what it takes to win,” suggested Kaiden Guhle to explain these successes.

“They don’t give much to other teams,” added Mike Matheson. They are patient and have a great ability to make their opponents pay for their mistakes. »

This is what Martin St-Louis had in mind when recalling the importance of “risk management” for his troop. Another department where “we are not perfect, but we are better than we were,” recalled the pilot.

Absent from the last match because he was ill, Kaiden Guhle is back healthy. In morning skate, he skated to the right of Jayden Struble. In defense, Justin Barron will therefore be left aside. On offense, the combinations will be the same as in the two victories last week against the New York Islanders and the Nashville Predators.