DALLAS | Although his team took the loss after holding a two-goal lead, Martin St-Louis was not completely unhappy with his troops’ outing against the Stars.
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“It’s one of the best games we’ve played five-on-five in a long time. It’s not an easy team to face and we were able to handle their pressure,” he said.
Except that the match was played, as often happens, on the special teams. Led by Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski, Jamie Benn and Miro Heiskanen, the Stars made the visitors see all the colors.
“When you give the opponent five power plays, you give confidence to their offensive players. Tonight, we weren’t able to kill the penalties,” said the head coach.
“The Stars are threatening in many ways. Against some teams, you know they will go for the cross pass for a one-timer. But they have several options, ”said Jake Evans.
Author of a goal and an assist earlier in the game, Michael Pezzetta blamed himself for having received the punishment that led to the winning goal for the Stars. Severe towards himself, he put much more emphasis on this sequence than on the first two-point evening of his career.
“Pezz is a guy who takes care of the team. It is definitely a punishment that hurts. I know he’s going to sleep badly tonight, thinking about it, ”said St-Louis.
Time for experiments
The decision to separate Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki surprised many. And what about the decision to pair the captain with Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armia, two players who have still not hit the mark this season?
“I wanted to experiment with certain things. Jo has been giving us good hockey since he came back from his injury. As for Army, I feel that it is coming, explained the head coach of the Canadian. Sometimes you try things, trust your instincts and see if it works. »
“Cole and Suzy have been playing together since I’ve been here. Sometimes you separate guys for a while and then you bring them back together and then it starts working again. I have already experienced it as a player, ”he continued.
It remains to be seen whether this experience will continue when we return from the Christmas break.
