'Coach Martin St-Louis’ ordeal brought the team together'.

On March 16, the Canadiens announced that Martin St-Louis would be leaving the Habs temporarily. A family situation arose and he chose to take some time with his family.

In the first three games without the coach, the Habs lost – once in overtime – in Western Canada. Then Trevor Letowski won in Seattle.

It was after that game that Martin St-Louis returned. He traveled all the way to Colorado to meet up with his team at the end of the trip, when he could just as easily have waited for the club’s return to Montreal… and the Canadiens won.

After that, the Habs won at home against the Flyers before losing to the Hurricanes and winning against the Panthers.

It all added up to a great atmosphere in the Habs dressing room. After all, as David Savard said at the Flames game, the guys want to play for Martin and his family.

But clearly, over the past five games, this has worked more often than not.

And according to Michel Therrien in his Journal de Montréal column yesterday, the St-Louis family ordeal has welded the team together, and they’ve been playing with a good approach for some time.