2023-09-26 02:56:00
MONTREAL – It’s never boring to play a game at the Bell Centre, even when it’s the first of six preparatory games. Xavier Simoneau confirmed this with another tasty and honest response from him.
“Just arriving in the garage, it was fun! I’m grateful to play these matches, my childhood dream is coming true. My goal is to play several,” said Simoneau, who is enjoying every moment of this other audition with the Habs.
In the morning, the tenacious attacker admitted that he was “not in the boat, but that he was coming behind with his small boat.”
This little canoe has served him wonderfully since the start of his career. Even if all the predictions gave him no chance, at five seven inches and 178 pounds, he managed to achieve great sequences like his quick pass to Joshua Roy on CH’s first goal.
A progression can be seen compared to the two preparatory matches played last year.
“I had worked hard, but it seems like it was just that. To reach a certain level, it’s good to work hard, but you have to be seen differently. It’s my goal. I did some great things, it shows having played last year,” described Simoneau.
“I feel more confident, I want to make more plays like in the American League last season. I proved that I am capable of helping offensively and defensively,” added Simoneau who was not entirely satisfied with his performance.
For Roy, this goal demonstrated that his talent can be expressed in the NHL.
“It’s encouraging, I worked hard. It was a great game on their part,” replied Roy, who praised the contribution of Jesse Ylönen and Simoneau.
“He had some nice touches, you see, he’s very intelligent. He knows where his teammates are and he knows how to find space. He plays with good intentions,” analyzed Martin St-Louis.
ContentId(3.1431509):Canadians: Joshua Roy quickly displays his talent
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The Canadian coach often talks about gauging his risks effectively. In this regard, Roy has made immense progress in recent years.
We understand, however, that Logan Mailloux will have to focus on this reality.
“In junior, the guys attack the opponent more than the space. The NHL is more of a game of chess than junior. It’s true that sometimes you have to play checkers. But the chess game is much more important than that of checkers,” compared St-Louis to highlight the strategic side of this caliber.
“It’s not junior, everything is faster. You saw that they had very good players on the other side like (Jack) Hughes, he’s an extraordinary player,” Roy rightly admitted.
ContentId(3.1431527):Martin St-Louis: Logan Mailloux “very very comfortable” offensively
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A very young defensive brigade
Considering the youth of its core, it was to be expected that the Canadian squad would lack experience for this first preparatory duel.
All the same, it remained fascinating to note that Jordan Harris was the oldest member, at 23, of the defensive brigade against the Devils.
“There wasn’t really any philosophy in this choice,” admitted St-Louis. We try to give matches to everyone. It was good, they managed to do well. These days, they are exposed to several things, in relation to our game concepts, we try not to give too much away. We have examples so we can teach them. »
Goaltender Samuel Montembeault agreed that this inexperience was palpable.
“We had a very young defensive squad, they were perhaps a little nervous at the start of the match, they tried plays that were a little too complicated. Afterwards, they were more comfortable and I really liked Logan in the final stretch of the match,” he submitted.
“It was fun and demanding at the same time. You could see the ones that stood out, it was obvious, like Hughes who was difficult to contain. But it was a good test,” Mailloux said.
As for David Reinbacher, who was paired with Kaiden Guhle, he identified his priorities for the rest of training camp.
ContentId(3.1431531):Canadians: Good starts for Mailloux and Reinbacher; more complicated for Slaf
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“The game in the defensive zone, the battles for the puck and making plays more quickly,” said the Austrian who appreciated the communication with Guhle.
During their next outings at the Bell Centre, they will already be more familiar with this intimidating environment.
“Just jumping for the warm-up, it was pretty crazy. I tried not to look around, but it wasn’t easy. I almost broke my neck looking at the crowd. It was pretty cool,” described Mailloux.
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