Montreal has only three wins in its last 10 games and the offence has completely dried up, with only 18 goals in those contests.
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The Canadiens, yet again, are mired in a slump. And yet no player seems willing to take responsibility. Not captain Shea Weber and not Jonathan Drouin.
Will that lack of accountability be a problem moving forward? Time ultimately will dictate that with the Canadiens in the midst of a five-game road trip that could determine whether they make the playoffs.
Defenceman Weber, never one to talk about himself, continued that theme on Tuesday, although he has been guilty of more turnovers than usual of late while being held to one assist in nine games and no goals in 18.
Weber said there was no reason to assess his own play during a video conference from Edmonton. “To be honest, it’s a team game,” he said. “Is it not?”
Similarly, winger Drouin, who has now gone 25 games without a goal and has but two on the season, also seems unwilling to look at himself in the mirror — although he’s received enough rope from interim head coach Dominique Ducharme to hang himself.
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“There’s another column on the right, too, if you want to look at it,” Drouin said of his 21 assists in 43 games — as if that justifies his US$5.5-million salary.
Perhaps it’s understandable some players are getting defensive, with the Canadiens on a two-game losing streak and with only three victories in their last 10 games heading into Wednesday night’s return encounter against the Oilers at Rogers Place (10 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio-690, 98.5 FM).
Montreal remains in a playoff position, fourth in the North Division, six points ahead of Calgary — with two games in hand — and faced with the prospect of playing three games in four nights at the Scotiabank Saddledome beginning Friday.
“Coming down the stretch, we need to win these games,” Weber said.
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Montreal’s coming off what could be a deflating setback Monday night. Leading 1-0 after 40 minutes, the team imploded in the third period. Not only did it allow Ethan Bear’s tying goal, but with the game seemingly headed to overtime, the Canadiens missed an opportunity to garner a point, surrendering three scores in 190 seconds — beginning with Connor McDavid’s solo effort at 15:11, during which he undressed defencemen Joel Edmundson and Jeff Petry.
“I thought we played really well (Monday) night, especially for the first two periods and even into the third,” Weber said. “I think we sat back a little too much in the third. That’s kind of where they got their opportunities.
“We can’t dwell on what happened,” he added. “We have to move forward and have to win. We can’t sit here and be disappointed, dwell and feel bad for ourselves. We have to find a way to get it done.”
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Moving forward, the Canadiens will have to live without goaltender Carey Price for at least a week, after he sustained a concussion in the first period on Monday. He was replaced by Jake Allen at the start of the second.
But the team’s play in net is the least of its concerns for now.
The Canadiens have been held to 18 goals in 10 games and simply haven’t recovered from the loss of winger Brendan Gallagher, out for the rest of the regular season with a fractured thumb. Gallagher is the team’s undisputed leader; one of the few players willing to pay the price and sacrifice his body in front of the net. In eight games without Gallagher, Montreal has been held to 12 goals — four coming in one game, against Toronto.
“We have to get into those scoring areas and get our nose dirty,” Weber admitted. “Obviously, the guy on our team that gets his nose dirty the most is out. He’s missing. Other guys are going to have to find a way to step up and fill that job. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of courage.”
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Allen will start Wednesday’s game and it seems Ducharme might tinker with his lineup again. New defenceman Jon Merrill, acquired in a trade from Detroit, was practising with Alexander Romanov on Tuesday in place of Brett Kulak. And Drouin might be teamed with veterans Eric Staal and Corey Perry in an attempt to end his funk.
“We’re trying to find chemistry on four lines,” Ducharme said. “Those two guys (Staal and Perry) he’s playing with are very experienced. They’ve gone through a lot. They’re competitors. They have great offensive thinking. They read off each other pretty well. They’re getting to play together more and more and you can see the chemistry’s building there.
“Our goal’s to find four lines that can produce. We’re not producing enough right now.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigAFodHRwczovL21vbnRyZWFsZ2F6ZXR0ZS5jb20vc3BvcnRzL2hvY2tleS9uaGwvbW9udHJlYWwtY2FuYWRpZW5zL2FjY291bnRhYmlsaXR5LWFwcGVhcnMtdG8tYmUtbGFja2luZy1pbi1jYW5hZGllbnMtZHJlc3Npbmctcm9vbdIBrgFodHRwczovL21vbnRyZWFsZ2F6ZXR0ZS5jb20vc3BvcnRzL2hvY2tleS9uaGwvbW9udHJlYWwtY2FuYWRpZW5zL2FjY291bnRhYmlsaXR5LWFwcGVhcnMtdG8tYmUtbGFja2luZy1pbi1jYW5hZGllbnMtZHJlc3Npbmctcm9vbS93Y20vMDY4ZmRkODctNjc0My00NGZhLTkxY2ItYzBlZjYyZDY1M2IxL2FtcC8?oc=5
2021-04-21 00:46:52Z
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