Since it was announced that Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis would be away from the team indefinitely to deal with a family matter, assistant coach Trevor Letowksi has been filling some big shoes.
But after getting his first win with a Sunday night blowout against the Seattle Kraken, the interim Canadiens coach was simultaneously delighted and uncomfortable with the accomplishment.
“For me, it’s a little bit awkward just because of the circumstances; I feel like I was the guy, I guess, the head coach but it was a real group effort,” Letowski explained to reporters. “That’s why I feel a little uncomfortable about saying that’s my first NHL win as a head coach.”
While it came as a replacement, the Thunder Bay native was given the game puck for reaching the milestone.
“It’s been a challenging eight or nine days, so it’s nice to get a reward,” Letowski told RDS announcer Pierre Houde.
Still, humbly, the 46-year-old, who played 10 seasons in the NHL, wanted to divert the attention to his players’ efforts.
“It was a memorable week for me just because of the way the team rallied around each other and how the staff and players had to push a little extra to keep some kind of normalcy when we’re missing our leader,” he added.
Great goaltending has helped. Arguably their best player of the night, Canadiens backup Cayden Primeau, was lights-out, stopping 36 out of 37 shots to help Montreal take a comfortable 5-1 lead.
CAYDEN PRIMEAU, HOW DO YOU DO?! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Hl65p8IZFi
— NHL (@NHL) March 25, 2024
“He was really good right from the start,” said Letowski. “He was our best player.”
With St. Louis away for the foreseeable future, Letowksi and the Habs will try to keep the ball rolling as the team wraps up its ongoing West Coast trip with a road game against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
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