The Montreal Canadiens didn’t give us much to be thankful for this weekend dropping both halves of the back to back games against the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, 6-1 and 2-0. I don’t think these results will be typical of the Canadiens season, but it’s very clear there are struggles and they aren’t limited to one or two players.
The Canadiens played more bad periods than good over the weekend, but even their good periods felt like they led to steps backward. Against the Capitals the entire team was badly underprepared for the energy of Ovechkin and the Captials. Ovechkin looked 8 years younger as he and Kuznetsov owned the game of hockey Saturday night. A night in which the Habs struggled in all areas: Offence, Defence, Goaltending. No heroes. Sorry, one hero: Shea Weber, who played half the game, literally, and finished with a +/- of 0. He showed up.
La décision est renversée pour obstruction envers le gardien. Deuxième but refusé pour les Canadiens, toujours 0 à 0.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 8, 2017
After review, the goal is waived off for goaltender interference.
MTL 0, NYR 0 #GoHabsGo https://t.co/SDD6UWsY7o
The Canadiens came out better against the rival NY Rangers. There was a line up change where Mitchell was brought in to center the fourth line, scratching Hemsky, and Davidson was brought in to replace Streit. The Habs controlled much of the first period and out shot their opponents 12-8, but after two disallowed goals (one: I guess…, two: should have counted) the Rangers Brady Skjei was the only goal scorer of the period after banking in a cross ice pass in close off Shea Weber’s heel. It definitely appeared to effect the team as the second period with the Rangers playing better, and chippier, and tilting the ice back into their favour.
Canadiens end three-game road trip with a 2-0 loss in New York.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 9, 2017
READâž¡ï¸ https://t.co/hGmllBhGOf #GoHabsGo
The third saw the Rangers find their insurance goal after a lost puck battle from Petry down low behind Price, led to Price losing track of the puck directly behind him, and missed coverage in the low slot by Drouin led to a goal by Zibanejad that Price didn’t know was coming until it hit him. The team looked lost again, as they did the previous night, just not as much. There was push back. There was some unfortunate calls, sorry non-calls, but the team did play better.
Victor Mete hasn’t looked bad so far, but you wonder if he performance is skewed by being with Weber most of the time and Weber being the best player on the team right now. At this point if Weber walked out next game with the “C… and everyone in the locker room was completely in support, it wouldn’t surprise me. Not to say Pacioretty has been bad, I don’t think he has. I just feel that Weber is leading by example and the team did play better tonight, but there is work to do, coverages to learn, and chemistry to build. Not impossible for professional athletes, especially with the group of exceptional players/leaders the Canadiens have.
So, it’s just a matter of time in my opinion. And thats about as much as I want to say about that. It’s early in the year and the team will make their opportunities as the new lines begin to find chemistry. If they are playing like this in late December … and the defence looks the same, in terms of level of play.
So, Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Enjoy whatever you have planned and don’t dwell on a pair of losses.
Positive note, the Habs minor league team, Laval Rocket won their second straight game against the Thomas Chabot and the Belleville Senators. This time by a score of 6-2 with goals from Leblanc, Holland (2), Eisenschmid, Petti, and Gregoire and the win going to Lindgren. The Rocket outshot the Sens 46-19 as well. Take that info and do with it what you will.