GOTTA SEE IT: Canadiens Martin St-Louis Fuming Over Referees

The Montreal Canadiens had a very undisciplined game against the Ottawa Senators, but Head Coach Martin St-Louis felt the Canadiens were the only ones to blame.

During the game, St-Louis was visibly upset at some of the calls his players were receiving from the referees.

In total, the referees called seven (!) penalties against the Canadiens on Tuesday night, which got the Canadiens bench boss riled up; especially the late-game penalty to Jordan Harris for hooking.

When it came time to talk to reporters after the game, St-Louis was showing shades of his former coach, John Tortorella, giving colourful responses to reporters who asked him questions about the officiating.

“You guys watched the game? Then I think you know my answer,” said St-Louis on what he thought of the officiating.

St-Louis’ patience had been zapped by the frustrating game he witnessed, and few could blame him, as he continued to answer questions from the crowd of reporters in Ottawa.

“What do you think broke our momentum in the second? – No, I get it, but what did you see?” asked St-Louis in response to a question about the Montreal Canadiens’ difficult second period.

When the reporter responded with “penalties”, St-Louis met him with an affirmative and moved on to the next question.

Martin St-Louis s’adresse aux médias après le match de ce soir contre les Sénateurs à Ottawa.

Martin St-Louis is addressing the media following tonight’s game against the Senators in Ottawa. #GoHabsGo https://t.co/7JEGppKq42

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 15, 2022

Considering how calm St-Louis was after the Canadien’s tougher losses of the season, including their collapse against the Vancouver Canucks earlier this month, it was really interesting to see him so fired up against the officiating in this game.

Granted, seven penalties in a game is simply too much to be giving to a team in particular, and almost 20 minutes of special teams kills any type of flow of a game.

However, the Canadiens are now the most penalized team in the NHL, which means that they also need to start keeping their emotions in check.

As for St-Louis, you got to love this kind of fire from the coach. It’s refreshing and you know that, if he was this upset with reporters, he was likely exponentially more upset in the room.