Patrik Laine Punished and Benched as Martin St-Louis Sends a Strong Message
We witnessed a significant moment with the Montreal Canadiens today. Head coach Martin St-Louis sent a strong message to his forward Patrik Laine.
Laine was benched for the entire third period!
He was even left at the end of the bench at the end of the game, while the Canadiens really needed to score a goal.
Wow!
Patrik Laine Benched by the Canadiens in the Third Period
In fact, he had only one shift during the third period.
Clearly, at some point early in the third period, Martin St-Louis announced a consequence for Patrik Laine and decided that his game was over.
That's a big decision!
The honeymoon is over, some will say.
Martin St-Louis rolled with three lines, and Laine was mainly used to separate the forwards from the defensemen.
In total, Laine played just over 10 minutes in the game. His level of engagement has often been «not up to par» in recent games.
Clearly, Martin St-Louis had enough and had a lot to say after the game.
«I didn't feel like he was helping the team at that moment. It's a decision you make.»
We were talking about Laine, but the same could be said about Kirby Dach, who also spent much more time than usual on the bench.
Patrik Laine, 26 years old, hasn't scored a point in the last four games and is clearly in a rough patch.
Let's hope he can get out of it as quickly as possible.
