- Martin St. Louis pulled a Jordan Belfort impression in the Habs locker room after Game 7
- The 50-year-old chanted “We’re not leaving!” and pounded his chest while the room went wild
- Read below for the full video of the speech and what St. Louis said about jumping back into player mode
Martin St. Louis is not leaving Tampa. At least not in spirit.
Moments after the Montreal Canadiens knocked off the Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night, the Habs head coach turned the visiting locker room at Benchmark International Arena into a scene straight out of The Wolf of Wall Street. He channeled Jordan Belfort, beating his chest and rallying the room with the famous chant.
Sportsnet caught the whole thing on video:
“We’re not leaving! Let’s keep going!” St. Louis yelled, pounding his chest as the players matched him beat for beat. Alex Newhook, who scored the winner at 11:07 of the third, called it “the perfect message.”
St. Louis explained afterward that stepping into that role isn’t something he does often. He prefers to leave the dressing room to the players.
“I feel like you can’t take the player outta me a little bit,” St. Louis said. “I don’t try to be in the locker room a lot because to me it’s their space. But every now and then I’ve had moments with them. Obviously on a night like tonight, I wanted to be with them, and we had some fun.”
The setting was loaded for the 50-year-old. He spent nearly 13 seasons with Tampa Bay from 2000-14, won the Stanley Cup with the franchise in 2004, and grabbed the Hart Trophy that same year. His No. 26 hangs in the Benchmark International Arena rafters.
So beating his old club in Game 7, in the building where they retired his number, then going full Belfort about it? That’s a script no movie writer would touch.
The Habs followed his lead in a literal sense too. According to Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, Montreal scrapped its travel plans and stayed in Tampa overnight, leaving for Buffalo after practice on Tuesday.
Up next is the No. 1 Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Game 1 goes Wednesday night at KeyBank Center on TNT. Montreal will need every ounce of that locker-room energy after only managing nine shots in an NHL-record-low Game 7 performance.
For now, St. Louis got the message across. The Habs aren’t going anywhere.
