Cowan: Coach’s faith in Kirby Dach pays off as Canadiens forge ahead in series with Tampa

After practice in Brossard Thursday, I asked Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis what message he had for fans who had attacked Kirby Dach so viciously on social media that he decided to shut down his Instagram account.

“We need all hands on deck — fans included,” St. Louis said. “We’re not perfect. Guys are going to make mistakes, but I can tell you that we have good intentions out there. I would say: ‘Let’s stick together.'”

On Tuesday night in Tampa, Dach made two mistakes in overtime — first icing the puck and then not covering his man on the ensuing faceoff — that led to the winning goal as the Lightning beat the Canadiens 3-2 to even the best-of-seven first-round playoff series 1-1.

St. Louis decided to keep Dach in the lineup for Game 3 Friday night at the Bell Centre and when he was shown on the giant screen during the pre-game warmup the fans chanted “Kir-by! Kir-by!”

Canadiens’ Kirby Dach is congratulated by Alex Newhook, left, and Josh Anderson after scoring the tying goal against the Lightning during second period Friday night. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette

Dach paid St. Louis and the fans back with one of his best games in a Canadiens uniform, scoring a goal, adding an assist and finishing with a plus-3 differential while playing centre on a line with Alexandre Texier and Zachary Bolduc. The Canadiens beat the Lightning 3-2 on an overtime goal by Lane Hutson to take a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 Sunday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).

“I’m sure it meant a lot to him,” St. Louis said about Dach hearing his name chanted during the pre-game warmup. “For me, I don’t know if they did that because I said that. When you guys ask me a question, I’m trying to give you my truth — it’s not necessarily the truth, it’s just the way I feel. But I’m glad that Kirby got some cheers in warmup and feel good and definitely deserved everything else after that.”

There were more chants of “Kir-by! Ki-rby!” after Dach assisted on the game’s opening goal by Texier at 4:53 of the first period, after he scored to tie the game 2-2 at 12:43 of the second period and again after the game when he was named the second star with Hutson getting the first star.

“I didn’t really expect it, so it was nice,” Dach said about the reception he got during the pre-game warmup. “The fans have been unbelievable for us all year and, for me, they’ve stuck by my side through a lot. So it definitely meant a lot. I think as a group we really pulled together and used the crowd tonight to our advantage and were able to find a way to win this game.”

It was a huge win for the Canadiens, since teams taking a 2-1 lead in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win 69 per cent of the time. The Canadiens won despite getting no goals and only four shots from their No. 1 line of Nick Suzuki between Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky. They also went 0-for-4 on the power play.

But St. Louis’s newly formed line of Dach between Texier and Bolduc combined for two goals and six points with Texier and Bolduc both assisting on Hutson’s overtime winner. St. Louis also reunited centre Oliver Kapanen with Ivan Demidov and Alex Newhook.

“I’m always a little bit maybe more comfortable at the centre position,” said Dach, who played right wing on a line with Kapanen at centre and Bolduc on the left wing in Game 2. “I’ve always played it throughout my career, so for me it was just about coming to the rink and doing what I needed to do yesterday to get ready for today and the same thing with today and this morning. Making sure I’m checking all the boxes for what I need to do to be able to go out and put my best foot forward.”

Dach said he only found out he was going to be in the lineup on Friday morning.

“I knew he was going to have a good opportunity tonight to feel good about himself and he took advantage of it,” St. Louis said.

Dach’s teammates were impressed by his performance and by the fans.

“It just shows with all the negative there’s still a tremendous amount of love in this city for every one of us,” said Arber Xhekaj, who played a solid game along with his defence partner, Jayden Struble, as they both finished plus-2 with Xhekaj assisting on Dach’s goal. “There’s always going to be negative stuff, but we felt the love tonight and (Dach) especially did and unbelievable performance by him and his linemates tonight.”

When St. Louis was asked after practice Thursday if he had spoken with Dach about what happened after Game 2 the coach responded: “Of course.” After Dach scored in Game 3, St. Louis spoke with him on the bench.

“I’ll kind of keep that between Marty and I,” Dach said after the game when asked what St. Louis had said to him. “But I think Marty is a phenomenal coach and a great person. He’s able to kind of level with you on a personal level and kind of understand maybe what you as a player are going through. I think he’s also able to find ways to get the best out of each and every one of us in individual ways and also as a team and collectively.

“You got to be thankful to have Marty as our coach.”

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