The Montreal Canadiens were given the opportunity to add to the San Jose Sharks’ recent woes last night by potentially serving them a seventh consecutive loss. They were not up to the task, and they lost by a score of 3-1 in yet another disappointing show of effort. Playing in front of the Bell Centre home crowd, the Canadiens carelessly turned the puck over on all three goals, and former Hab Dainius Zubrus scored his first goal in the 9 games he’s played this season after joining San Jose on a professional tryout.
The story of the match was not the glaring lack of scoring by the Canadiens forwards. It isn’t that Michel Therrien was forced to reunite semblances of the trios that led the team to an early-season 9-0 record in dominant fashion. Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty were reunited, and rookie right wing Daniel Carr took Brendan Gallagher’s spot on the “top… line. Tomas Fleischmann, Dale Weise and David Desharnais played together, and it was nice to see Alex Galchenyuk flanked by Lars Eller and Sven Andrighetto once more. Torrey Mitchell made his return to the lineup, and played alongside Brian Flynn and Paul Byron as the game progressed, but it was simply too little too late for Therrien’s group. I’d like to see these trios stick together – through the wins and losses to come – because they’re the combinations that have helped the Habs do well earlier this season and have developed a chemistry that needs to be reinforced.
The story of last night’s game revolves around the defense corps. Rather ordinary through the course of the past few weeks, Therrien decided to change the pairings around for the first time this season. Andrei Markov played next to Tom Gilbert, while P.K. Subban was paired with Nathan Beaulieu, who continues to impress since he was left out of the lineup last week against the Detroit Red Wings. He’s really coming into form, and will likely play with Subban again tomorrow night when the Habs host the Los Angeles Kings. Jeff Petry and Alexei Emelin played together, and there’s no telling if Markov will join Petry or not. At practice this morning, that was not the case, and perhaps taking some ice time away from Markov will serve him well.
Both Therrien and Pacioretty were frustrated after the game, stating that the team simply gave the opponents three goals that they really did not have to work for. I’ve never seen Pacioretty get angry at members of the media for repeating questions, and was quick to remind them that he had answered the question regarding what went wrong five times already. A true leader, one must think that he had something to tell his teammates during intermissions and at the end of the game.
Lately, the Habs have been playing games that should soon be forgotten. Many are claiming that this is the true face of the Canadiens, and that the injuries are really starting to rear their ugly heads in bringing to light the shortcomings of this team. I do not see it that way, but there is definitely something that has to give for this team to find its winning ways once more. Maintaining an elite status in the NHL is a difficult task, and it’s promising that the Habs started their season as well as they did and are going through the phase they’re experiencing early in the schedule. If there’s anything this team has shown, it’s the quality of character and leadership that they are capable of demonstrating in the face of adversity. I don’t see how that will change now.