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Game 44: Canadiens vs Red Wings AKA A 7th Loss in a Row |
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Well, the Canadiens started alright in a way... At the end of the first period, they were leading 1-0 off an Artturi Lehkonen shorthanded goal even though they had only taken 6 shots to the Wings' 12. To be fair, Charlie Lindgren did very well in that first frame and that's the main reason why they were ahead. In the second period, Nick Suzuki widened the gap with his 8th goal of the year with assists from Domi and Kovalchuk. Problem is though, they allowed the Wings to come back and make it 2-2 before Victor Mete made it 3-2 Habs thanks to helpers from Suzuki and Kovalchuk and a lucky bounce it must be said. That was the last good thing the Canadiens did tonight, 5 minutes later, Detroit came back again and with 4 minutes to go, Zadina gave the Wings the lead for the first time of the night... Well, he did say he'd make Montreal pay when he fell at the draft didn't he? So, the Habs have now lost 3 games to the worst team in the league and are free falling in the standings but is this a bad thing? At this stage, no it's not.
Now, let me clarify what I said in my last blog. I wasn't trying to say that the addition of Kovalchuk is a big deal by no means, to me, it's a distraction, a smokescreen, something to keep us interested when all hope is lost. Like it or not, he was once a great player and his arrival created chatter and interest and his presence might keep some people watching out of sheer curiosity. Tonight, the new number 17 got a couple of helpers and ended up playing alongside Suzuki and Domi on the second line and well, that was interesting. There was some definite chemistry between those 3 and it did make the game mildly more interesting to watch.
In his post game comments tonight, Claude Julien looked positively fed up. He said that his team only had himself to blame and that tonight, they lacked commitment and dedication. He didn't want to name names and got a wee bit aggressive with a journalist who tried to make him do it. Tonight, the Canadiens took 4 minor penalties and some of them were downright stupid. That cross check in Mike Green's back from Cousin was a real "say what?!?" moment and Tomas Tatar mouthing off to the ref when his team was up by a goal was silly to say the least.
With this 7th loss in a row, the team just "needs" one more to tie up the mother of all skids they had in November... There once was a time where it seemed impossible that they'd lose 8 games in a row now, it appears highly probable that they will do it twice in the same season...heck twice in 3 months! Because, come Thursday, Connor McDavid and co. will hit the Bell Centre and right now, I don't know many people who'd bet on the Canadiens against McJesus....
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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