Montreal media has a habit of bringing up the Quebecois when the Tampa Bay Lightning are in town, and the Bolts have carried marquee Quebecers in the past in former captains Vincent Le cavalier and Martin St. Louis.
Now it’s Jonathan Drouin’s turn. The rookie isn’t having the star-studded season that many had predicted before the season, and in a way that’s been deliberate from Lightning management as they try to hone the game of the former 1st round draft pick.
Head coach Jon Cooper was asked about Drouin and both Tampa Bay papers reprinted the remarks at length in game notes articles for tonight (TBO and Tampabay.com), but I’m just going to highlight the end of remarks from Cooper on the subject of Drouin:
“He’s been responsible at both sides of the puck, that’s why his minutes are going up. He’s found his way onto the power play. And he’s earned those, they aren’t gifts. And we are in Montreal, so crazy things can happen. Maybe this is his night?”
While I can’t name specific games, I can say that Lecavalier and St. Louis were both known to have marquee games playing in Montreal. Having a marquee game probably is less of a personal want for Drouin than lighting the lamp; he hasn’t scored a goal in 33 games, the last one (his second of the season) coming on December 15th in Pittsburgh..
