St. Louis Blues

Who is this Jacques Martin guy?

Is he the guy who turned around an abysmal Ottawa Senators franchise? Is this the guy who’s the tenth most winningest coach in NHL history?

Or is he the one who was a mediocre coach of a mediocre Florida Panthers team? A guy who’s fallen behind the times and has lost the edge to be a premier coach in the National Hockey League? When Bob Gainey hired Jacques Martin back in June 2009, I was hoping he’d be the guy who did all that winning. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that’s who we got.

Carey Price is restrained by ref François St. Louis after the Canadiens goalie and Blues' Cam Janssen had collided then mixed it up.
John Mahoney, Gazette

Preview | Matchups | Wednesday's NHL schedule | Boone's Game Blog and About last night ... | Stubbs on Twitter | Pat Hickey's game story

• AUDIO: Mike Cammalleri | Brian Gionta | Roman Hamrlik | Benoit Pouliot | Jacques Martin

At A Glance: The Canadiens earned one point, were within a whisper of two, but dropped their third straight game Wednesday night, falling 4-3 in overtime to the St. Louis Blues at the Bell Centre after having engineered a spirited third-period comeback. Andy McDonald scored the winner on a hard snapshot to goalie Carey Price's stick side, the goal coming just a moment after Habs defenceman Andrei Markov was robbed point-blank, in alone, by St. Louis goalie Ty Conklin.

What It Means: With a win, the Habs could have vaulted into ninth place in the standings. Instead, they moved up one spot to 11th, tied with Philadelphia and Atlanta with 51 points, but with those clubs holding games in hand.

The Canadiens return to practice in Brossard this morning and there's no gauging the mood of head coach Jacques Martin, who saw his club turn in two less-than-stellar (read: dismal) efforts in back-to-back weekend games vs. Ottawa at home and in New York vs. the Rangers.

The Habs have three games between tomorrow and Saturday: Wednesday at home vs. the St. Louis Blues, Friday in Newark vs. the New Jersey Devils and Saturday back home to the Rangers.

Pat Hickey attends practice today; watch this space and Twitter for updates.

• Canadiens quit while they were ahead: Hickey
• Don't blame Halak, Habs say: Hickey
• Present is grim, but Canadiens' past remains relevant: Stubbs
• Habs need 19-12-1 rest of the way to make playoffs: Mirtle, Globe & Mail

The Canadiens will not practice today, following back-to-back weekend losses to Ottawa and the New York Rangers. The team returns to practice ice tomorrow at their training facility in Brossard, the St. Louis Blues next on their schedule with a Wednesday visit to the Bell Centre.

Alex Kovalev, the hero for the Canadiens tonight in their shootout win, carries the puck in St. Louis (scroll down for a photo of Kovy's game-winner).
Mark Buckner, NHLI via Getty Images

Rosters | Tale of the Tape | Play-by-Play | Faceoffs
Game Summary | Event Summary | Game Story | Boone |

AUDIO from The Gazette's Pat Hickey:

• Robert Lang   • Carey Price   • A. Kostitsyn   • Carbo

Alex Kovalev's top-shelf backhand goal in the third round of the shootout earned the Canadiens a 3-2 victory tonight in St. Louis.

Montreal battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to earn the win, a positive start to a three-game road trip that now moves on to Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday against the Hurricanes.

Steve Regier had a pair of goals for the Blues, in the first and third period, his second on the power play. They bookended the second of the year by Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn, who was assisted by goalie Carey Price, the third point of his career. Kostitsyn then would set up centreman Robert Lang for the game-tying goal late in the third.