- St-Louis didn’t push back on Bell Centre fans booing the Canadiens after their Game 4 loss
- The Hurricanes scored three goals in 2:47 of the first period and never looked back in a 4-0 win
- Read below for the full St-Louis quote, video of his postgame presser, and the Game 5 stakes Friday
Martin St-Louis isn’t blaming the fans.
The Canadiens head coach was asked about the boos that rained down at Bell Centre after Montreal’s 4-0 Game 4 loss to Carolina on Wednesday. St-Louis didn’t dodge it.
“The game’s going to humble you. Whenever you get humbled, you stand tall. It’s not fun to hear that but they’re not wrong,” St-Louis said, per team reporter Priyanta Emrith.
Watch his full media availability:
There wasn’t much for the home crowd to chew on. Sebastian Aho, Jordan Staal and Logan Stankoven scored in a 2:47 span in the first period to put Carolina up 3-0 before fans had finished their first beer.
Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-netter with 1:54 left for the 4-0 final.
By the third, the crowd had given up on its team. Chants of “Shoot the puck!” broke out before Nick Suzuki finally got Montreal’s first shot of the period at 17:05. The Habs were outshot 19-3 in the frame.
The Habs have now dropped four straight playoff home games and have been held under 20 shots in three straight contests. Down 3-1 in the series, they face elimination at Lenovo Center on Friday.
Frederik Andersen stopped all 18 shots he saw for his third shutout of the playoffs, the most playoff shutouts in Hurricanes franchise history. The Carolina goaltender has been a wall all postseason, and the Habs still haven’t found a way through him.
St-Louis told reporters he doesn’t want his group looking past the next game.
“You can’t look at the mountain. You’ve just got to look at what’s in front of you and stay present,” St-Louis said.
Game 5 goes Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Montreal has been better on the road this postseason. They’ll need that version of their team to show up if they want a Game 6 back at Bell Centre.
