Pezzetta scores shootout winner vs. Sabres as Canadiens keep building brand

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis often talks about the “brand” of hockey he wants his team to play.

He was recently asked if he could describe exactly what that brand is.

“I think the most important thing about our brand is just the balance and the connection on both sides of the puck,” St. Louis said.

The Canadiens were very well connected when they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 8-2 at the Bell Centre Saturday and they won their second straight game Monday night with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Sabres in Buffalo. The Canadiens are 3-1-0 in their last four games and improved their overall record to 30-38-6.

Jordan Harris, Alex Belzile and Brendan Gallagher scored in regulation time for the Canadiens and Michael Pezzetta scored the winner in the sixth round of the shootout.

Lukas Rousek, JJ Peterka and Riley Stillman scored for the Sabres.

St. Louis didn’t want to get into all the details of the brand when he was asked about it.

“One, I don’t really feel like I want to talk about it too much and, two, it would take me a long time,” he said. “I would have to show you so many examples of what it looks like. But to me, the two things I can really think about when you ask me that, to me it’s being connected. Because you’re not playing tennis, you’re not playing golf. The five guys on the ice are so important to work together on both sides of the puck. So that’s why I call it connected.

“You have five brains out there, but somehow we got to be somewhat on the same software, sort of speak,” he added. “I know that’s hard, but the more you talk about it, the more you work at it, the more you show examples it’s impossible to think that every time, every rep we’re going to take it’s going to be connected. But the more you stay at it the closer you get to it. I know hockey is a game of mistakes and it’s not about being perfect, but it’s about finding ways. I feel like we’ve grown tremendously on both sides of the puck that way and all that happens through balance on the ice.”

The Canadiens have had problems early in games this season, allowing a goal in the first two minutes 10 times. But on Monday it was Harris who opened the scoring at 1:22.

The Canadiens were trailing 3-2 when Gallagher scored at 8:35 of the third period. It was his second goal in two games and the 200th of his career.

In the shootout, Nick Suzuki, Jonathan Drouin and Mike Matheson all failed to score in the first three rounds. Jack Quinn scored for the Sabres to open the fourth round and then Jesse Ylönen scored to keep the Canadiens alive. St. Louis then gave defenceman Johnathan Kovacevic a chance in the fifth round (he missed) before Pezzetta scored the winner.

In the first full season of this Canadiens’ rebuild, St. Louis continues to work on developing the brand he wants his team to play.

Pezzetta was asked after practice Sunday if he could describe the brand.

“Just playing within a system, but to be free within what our set system is,” he said. “We have routes, we have things we’re supposed to be doing. But you got to make reads … there’s never just one option. It’s always just playing free, I guess, and being able to read off each other. There’s set things that are going to happen, but you’re able to read off each other and make different plays.”

Pezzetta has spoken before about how when he got called up to the Canadiens early last season from the AHL’s Laval Rocket he was basically told to just dump the puck into the offensive zone and chase it. Not with St. Louis.

“I think it helped me build a lot more confidence in myself,” Pezzetta said. “The more you hold onto the puck you just kind of rewire your brain to make plays like I was used to making when I was young. I think it’s helped me rewire those pathways so that instead of just thinking so simple I can think outside the box again. It just gives you the confidence to play your game and I feel like I’ve developed as a player because of that and I’m thankful for that opportunity.”

St. Louis gave Pezzetta another opportunity in the shootout and he made the most of it. Pezzetta celebrated by riding his stick and pointing at the many Canadiens fans in attendance.

This is a fun brand of hockey to watch.

Primeau called up: It was announced before the game that goalie Cayden Primeau has been called up from Laval and will join the Canadiens in Philadelphia, where they will play the Flyers Tuesday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM). Jake Allen was in goal against the Sabres, stopping 30 of the 33 shots he faced.

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