The frustration within the Montreal Canadiens locker room is hard to miss these days. And even upper management seems to be struggling to hide their emotions as the team falls to the bottom of the standings.
After Saturday afternoon’s 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers — a game riddled with questionable officiating — head coach Martin St. Louis did his best to stay composed during his post-game media availability. Despite the mounting tension, he carefully avoided directly criticizing the referees to dodge a fine.
“I loved our game. I’m not gonna talk about the refs,” St. Louis repeated in both French and English, sticking to the same response for all six questions from reporters.
« J'ai adoré notre match. Je ne parlerai pas du travail des arbitres. »
La réponse de Martin St-Louis à TOUTES les questions des journalistes après le match CH – Rangers 😲 pic.twitter.com/4HcG1Q8BQJ
— RDS (@RDSca) November 30, 2024
St. Louis’ need for restraint was understandable, given that the Habs lost the game when the Rangers scored a power-play goal with 22 seconds left in the third period.
The decisive penalty was particularly controversial, as officials appeared to miss a clear trip on Canadiens forward Joel Armia moments before the Rangers’ game-winning play. That no-call ultimately cost Montreal a point or two in the standings.
spot the trip on armia pic.twitter.com/EALjTGT3pf
— Alessia Grisolia (@ales_habs) November 30, 2024
While the bench boss kept his cool, another member of the Habs’ brass did not.
As per Arpon Basu of The Athletic, Jeff Gorton was fuming after losing to the team he managed from 2015 to 2021.
“At the end of the game, Canadiens executive vice president of hockey operations — and former Rangers general manager — Jeff Gorton came walking toward an elevator full of reporters, Canadiens hockey operations staff and a couple of Rangers assistant coaches,” wrote Basu in his post-game article. “He was so angry that he did not take who was in the elevator into account. He probably didn’t even see them.”
Gorton proceeded to punch the wall and say something the reporter decided not to repeat.
“He walked straight up to the wall next to the elevator and punched it. Hard. He then made a comment on those random circumstances that we won’t specify.”
To make matters worse, the Canadiens were defeated by Gorton’s other former team, the Boston Bruins, the following afternoon.
Here’s hoping the elevator at TD Garden was spared from his wrath.