Canadiens Game Day: Habs' hot start to season now looking like a mirage - Montreal Gazette

Minggu, 28 Februari 2021

Canadiens Game Day: Habs' hot start to season now looking like a mirage - Montreal Gazette

Winless streak reaches five games and overall record falls to 9-6-5 after 2-1 overtime loss to Jets in Winnipeg.

Author of the article:

Stu Cowan • Montreal Gazette

Publishing date:

Feb 28, 2021 • 13 minutes ago • 11 minute read •

26 Comments

Jets forward Paul Stastny (25) is congratulated by teammate Nikolaj Ehlers (27) after scoring in overtime against Canadiens goalie Jake Allen for 2-1 victory Saturday night at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg. Photo by Terrence Lee /USA TODAY Sports

The Canadiens’ first 10 games this season now look like they were nothing more than a mirage.

The Canadiens got off to a 7-1-2 start, but after Saturday night’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Jets in Winnipeg they now have a 9-6-5 record after 20 games and are in fourth place in the North Division, one point ahead of the Calgary Flames (10-10-2). Four teams will make the playoffs.

The Canadiens played a much better game in Dominique Ducharme’s second game as head coach than they did in his first, when they lost 6-3 to the Jets on Thursday night. But they still lost and the team that had two eight-game winless streaks last season now has a five-game winless streak this season (0-2-3).

The Canadiens outshot the Jets 41-21, but the only goal they got was a fluky one from Nick Suzuki, who was able to bank one in off goalie Connor Hellebuyck from behind the goal line. Jake Allen was solid in goal for the Canadiens, making 19 saves. Nikolaj Ehlers scored a power-play goal in regulation time for the Jets and Paul Stastny got the winner only 36 seconds into overtime. The Jets have now won four straight games and are in third place in the North Division with a 13-6-1 record, four points ahead of the Canadiens.

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The Canadiens had a lot of long-range shots with 15 of them coming from their defencemen.

“It’s always a good play to get it to the net,” Suzuki said after the game. “He’s a strong goaltender, trying to get bodies in front of him. I thought our D did a great job of either getting it on net or shooting wide for us to go retrieve. So it’s definitely a part of our game plan.”

Five of the Canadiens’ first 10 games this season were against a struggling Vancouver Canucks team with the Canadiens posting a 4-0-1 record in those games while scoring 28 goals, an average of 5.6 per game. The Canadiens have a 5-6-4 record in their other 15 games while scoring 37 goals, an average of 2.5 per game.

“I thought we played a great game,” Suzuki said after Saturday night’s OT loss. “Outshot them a lot, had a lot of chances, just didn’t come out on the right side of the scoreboard. The coach said he thought we deserved better. I think as a group we’re headed in the right direction, for sure.”

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When asked if his goal was a lucky bounce, Suzuki said: “I wouldn’t say lucky. I kind of worked on that through junior and tried it a bit here. I think it’s just getting pucks on net. I kind of catch goalies off-guard on the strong-side post. It was a great play by (Joel Armia) to get it to me and I just tried to find my spot there.”

The Canadiens aren’t going to win many games going forward when they only score one goal.

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Problems in OT

The Canadiens have now lost three game in overtime and two in shootouts this season.

The Jets started overtime Saturday night with three forwards on the ice — Stastny, Ehlers and Kyle Connor — who had combined for 23 goals and 48 points coming into the game.

Ducharme responded by putting out forwards Phillip Danault, Armia and defenceman Jeff Petry. Danault has yet to score a goal this season, while Armia has four goals and Petry has six.

“So, the first thing for me is that they have three forwards, we have to take possession of the puck right away (off the faceoff),” Ducharme said after the game when asked to explain his player selection. “I don’t want to say exactly what we wanted to do, but if we take possession of the puck and we keep it I think at one point we can pick the right time with good changes to make them pay. So I think it goes for both sides. They are three forwards and they have good speed on the ice and so on, so they can create. But if we win (the faceoff), I think we can take advantage of it. So that’s why Phil was on the ice.

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“I thought Army was one of our, if not our best forward tonight and last game we played,” the coach added. “Suzy’s line just finished (the third period) and had a lot of ice time toward the end and I wanted to start that way and bring them against three forwards that might be tired.”

Danault ended up losing the faceoff to Stastny and the Jets went down the ice and scored.

Game over.

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Reason for hope

Allen was with the St. Louis Blues when they won the Stanley Cup in 2019.

That season, the Blues had a 7-9-3 record after 19 games and decided to fire head coach Mike Yeo and replace him with Craig Berube. The Blues went 38-19-6 under Berube for the rest of the regular season before going on to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

“I thought our overall game was a step in the right direction,” Allen said about the Canadiens’ performance Saturday night under Ducharme. “It’s not going to happen overnight. I’ve been through a few coaching changes and it takes a little bit of time. We’re moving the right way.”

Allen recalled that it took a few weeks before the Blues started to take off after their coaching change.

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“I think the first two or three weeks we weren’t great, to be honest,” Allen said. “We were still sort of mulling around, finding our game. And then we finally got all on one page. I think that’s the biggest thing. We can all get on one page. I think we’re really jelling here to get on one page. I liked what we brought to the table yesterday (at practice) and today and tomorrow’s a travel day. But get back to work Monday.

“It’s a thing from past experiences this takes a little bit of time, but we’re moving in the right direction,” the goalie added. “It’s a shortened season, every game’s crucial. But it’s coming. It’s building.”

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Attitude adjustment

Allen was asked what he thought the biggest difference was in the Canadiens’ performance Saturday night from the previous four games in their winless streak.

“I thought it was just an attitude adjustment,” Allen said. “We had a good day of practice yesterday, a good skate today. It was a good mood in the room, good attitude tonight. We did a few things structurally that I thought in the offensive-zone game was great and we’re going to get better.

“We changed our structure a little bit to a system that is maybe a bit more simple,” the goalie added. “To be honest, I just thought it was our attitude. I thought our attitude was good tonight, in the room, before the game and we were ready to go. It didn’t go our way but, like I said, it’s going to come.”

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Some stats

The Jets won 53 per cent of the faceoffs in the game, while the Canadiens outhit the Jets 26-15.

Ben Chiarot led the Canadiens in ice time with 22:54, while Petry had 21:47 and Shea Weber had 20:37. Suzuki led the forwards in ice time with 21:03, while Jonathan Drouin had 19:52 and Tyler Toffoli had 19:19.

Toffoli led the team with six shots, while Weber, Chiarot and Alexander Romanov had four each. Armia had a team-leading four hits, while Suzuki, Paul Byron and Chiarot had three each.

Jake Evans went 5-4 in the faceoff circle (56 per cent), while Suzuki went 12-12 (50 per cent), Danault went 7-8 (47 per cent) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi went 7-10 (41 per cent).

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Anderson misses game

Right-winger Josh Anderson missed Saturday night’s game after being injured late in the first period of Thursday night’s game. Anderson appeared to be slew-footed by Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo and fell awkwardly on his back, suffering a lower-body injury.

“The chances are slim for him to be in the lineup tonight,” Ducharme said about Anderson after the morning skate. “He’s still getting treatments and things like that. He’s doubtful tonight.”

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Tough way to start

Ducharme was thrown into the deep end without a life jacket as the Canadiens’ new coach.

He didn’t even have a chance to hold one full practice before his first game behind, one day after taking over from Claude Julien

It would have made much more sense for GM Marc Bergevin to have made the coaching move early last week when the Canadiens had a six-day break in the schedule and Ducharme would have had time to make the changes he wants to put in place.

Thursday night’s game was the first of 18 in 34 days for the Canadiens through the end of March, so there won’t be much practice time for Ducharme. As a result, his morning skates will have to be mini practices.

After Saturday’s morning skate, Ducharme said his morning skates won’t be as long and won’t have the same physical intensity of a practice, but there will always be a reason why they’re doing something on the ice, whether it be little details in the system or structure with and without the puck.

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“Every time we’ll be going on the ice, everything we’ll do will be a reflection of something we want to work on,” Ducharme said Saturday morning. “Something specific to the game.”

Chiarot spoke Saturday morning about Ducharme bringing a fresh, new voice to the team.

“He has a certain way that he wants us to play and a little different style and systems,” Chiarot said. “He’s just been instructing us on what he likes to see defensively first and once we get that in place then we can kind of move forward and out with the puck and what we’re doing with the puck. So it’s just been a lot of instruction on how he wants us to defend and I think that’s what you’ve been seeing the last couple of days.”

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Evans returns to lineup

Evans took Anderson’s spot in the lineup after being made a healthy scratch for the first time this season on Thursday night.

“Obviously, you want to be playing every time, but I completely understood,” Evans said about Ducharme’s decision to sit him out. “The explanation I got was just a fresh start and a new way of doing things. One of the biggest things that we talked about the night before the game was just being a good teammate. So that was a big thing for me. I understood and I just wanted to work hard and get my chance to get back in the lineup.”

Evans was pointless in 9:51 of ice time and has 2-1-3 totals in 19 games this season while averaging 11:57 of ice time. The Canadiens selected him in the seventh round (207th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft.

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“To be honest, I think my approach every game is to play like it could be my last and if I have a bad game I could be out and never get that opportunity again,” the 24-year-old Evans said. “So it’s never really been about who’s coming up behind me or who could be taking my spot. It’s about me and not throwing away an opportunity like this.”

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Coaching differences

Evans was asked Saturday morning about the personality differences between the 60-year-old Julien and and the 47-year-old Ducharme as coaches.

“I think they were both great,” he said. “Claude’s been giving me a lot of opportunity and it was great to have him. I guess sometimes you just need a fresh face. Dom’s been a very vocal guy and I think he’s talked with everyone a few times so far. So that’s been good to get that feedback.”

Ducharme, who joined the Canadiens as an assistant coach before the 2018-19 season, has made a point to talk with all his players one-on-one since taking over as head coach.

“I’m trying to talk to 24 guys every day and sometimes it’s just asking how he is and it takes five seconds, 10 seconds,” he said. “Sometimes it’s about the game, it’s about details, it’s about the last game, it’s about progression, many things. We have a way of playing together that we’re putting in place. Within that, every individual here, there’s a reason they’re NHL players and we want them to bring those strengths to our team. But within our structure or our philosophy.”

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Working with Armia

There are games when Armia looks like he should be a star in the NHL and other nights when the 6-foot-3, 212-pound right-winger is the Invisible Man.

You have to wonder if the 27-year-old realizes how good he could be. There’s a reason why the Buffalo Sabres selected him in the first round (16th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft. He’s the complete package of size, speed, skill and shot. With his size, it’s too bad he doesn’t have a little bit of Brendan Gallagher or Byron in him when it comes to compete level.

Armia has 4-4-8 totals in 13 games this season after picking up an assist on Suzuki’s goal Saturday night.

“Army’s got world-class qualities as a player,” Ducharme said. “You guys saw him … he’s got good size, his skill sets are really, really good. It’s about being consistent and we started working together, me and him. There’s a few things in his game that when he’s consistent doing and when he’s going to do that every time then it’s going to reflect on being that good night in and night out.”

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What’s next?

The Canadiens will fly back to Montreal on Sunday afternoon and have an 11 a.m. practice scheduled for Monday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard.

The Canadiens will play their next three games at the Bell Centre. The Ottawa Senators will be the visitors on Tuesday (7 p.m., TSN2, TSN5, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM), followed by two games against the Jets on Thursday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) and Saturday (7 p.m., SNE, SNW, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

The Canadiens have a 3-5-0 record at the Bell Centre this season.

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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2021-02-28 07:52:30Z
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