Marc Dumont
File this one under the understatement of the year so far from Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme after his team were blown out for the eight time this season 6-0 by the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.
“Playing together,”said Ducharme on what the difference has been from the style of play his team showed in the playoffs compared to the one that has led to a 4-13-2 start. “Obviously tonight we didn’t do that. I (think) if you look back at the way we played in Calgary, that’s the same kind of game we played in the playoffs. Or you look at the games on the road…besides a few mistakes that in some games cost us, we were right there against some good teams. Especially those games in Boston and New York. But like I said tonight we didn’t play that way. We just weren’t on our game. We were bad.”
We were bad.
Absolutely. There are a few more choice adjectives to throw in there to characterize the Habs performance.
Somehow bad just doesn’t quite cut it at this point.
Here are your five takeaways from the Montreal Canadiens 6-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins
Hideous history being made
You’ve probably already heard it but for those in the back.
THE MONTREAL CANADIENS ARE OFF TO THEIR WORST START IN THE 112 YEAR HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE.
Have you seen the show Drunk History? Where comedians drink to excess and then try to explain various historical moments in their own buffoonish style?
Well, the 2021-22 Habs are participating in ugly history. You just drink a 24 of Busch and projectile vomit everywhere.
Here are the two puke worthy statistics from last night’s game courtesy of Sportsnet and TSN. The Habs minus-14 goal differential is their worst in franchise history through their first ten home games of a season. The previous mark was minus-13 set way back in 1938-39.
Want more? Since 1993, only one team has had a worse goal differential than the Canadiens minus-43 before the 20 game mark of a season. That would be the 2014-15 Buffalo Sabres who went on to win 23 games that season. The Habs are tied with the 2006-07 Phoenix Coyotes and the 1997-98 Tampa Bay Lightning. Those teams won 31 and 19 games respectively.
What did those teams get for those abysmal seasons? The Sabres drafted Jack Eichel, the Coyotes drafted Kyle Turris and the Lightning got hoodwinked into not drafting one of the Sedin twins.
Mixed results to say the least.
Will the real leaders, please stand up?
Much has already been made about the Montreal Canadiens lack of leadership on the ice. The holes left by Shea Weber and Carey Price have been addressed repeatedly. They have grown to chasms in the earth’s crust.
But off the ice, there is a serious leadership void that hasn’t been spoken about enough.
Whether you like him or not, Ducharme appears to be a rather level-headed individual. But if his message to his players is ‘aww shucks’ and move on, that clearly isn’t working. When he simply says the team was bad, he sounds borderline delusional.
There is a fundamental flaw on this team that he hasn’t been able to put his finger on yet.
Injuries have played their part, of course. But to go from the Cup Final to one of the five worst teams in the league is quite a cataclysmic drop. There is far too much talent on this team for them to challenge the Arizona Coyotes for losers-in-chief.
If you climb the ladder further you’ll find general manager Marc Bergevin. He has met the media twice already this season to try and take pressure off the team. And also to provide some rather cryptic quotes on his future.
“In an ideal world, I’d like to be back next season.” What does that mean? The man who is overseeing the entire organization is out of contract in less than seven months.
He certainly looks to be on his last legs with the Montreal Canadiens. If Bergevin wasn’t given an extension after being a finalist for the GM of the year and constructing a team that made it to within three wins of the ultimate prize, then he isn’t getting one.
Which begs the question: how much power does he have right now? Should he and his scouting staff be allowed to make preparations for the draft? What about the trade deadline? Will those decisions mesh with those of his eventual successor?
And then there is the president of the team. Who, by the way, is also the owner. Always a rather untenable dynamic. Is Geoff Molson contacting potential GM candidates now? Will he bring in a director of hockey operations? Does he remain president? Will he hire someone from outside to do a top to bottom evaluation of the organization before making his decision?
The Habs do appear lost on the ice. Maybe it’s because they also seem so rudderless off of it.
Two kids impress
The lone bright spots from the team’s beatdown courtesy of the Penguins were the performances of Cole Caufield and Mattias Norlinder.
It was the first chance anyone has had to see Norlinder at the NHL level. And boy did he deliver.
Not in making highlight-reel, game changing offensive plays. But by simply looking like the calmest coolest guy on the ice.
His breakout passes were tape to tape. He rarely made a bad decision with the puck. Skating out of trouble. Sensing the pressure on the forecheck. Joining the rush. Finding and filling open ice. Creating lanes for his teammates.
Just basic things a professional does. He did them with minimal fuss. The style and flair that he has will come with being comfortable. But a showing like that in a blowout loss, earning more than 17 minutes of ice time from your coach, has to be encouraging for the young man.
Caufield was out to remind every one that he can be a game-breaker at his best. He played as though he’s allergic to the ice at Place Bell in Laval.
His confidence was through the roof. He simply took the puck and tried to make things happen with it on his tape. His shift in the second period, combining with Norlinder, was as close as the Bell Centre came to coming alive last night.
Speed. Agility. Elusiveness. For the first time since the playoffs it appeared natural to him. His play didn’t waver as the scoreline got more and more lopsided. He was on a mission and he succeeded.
He was the only player who deserved a goal last night. If he had some help from his linemates Nick Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli, both of whom just seemed off, he likely would have potted one.
What can Caufield do for an encore? Tune in on Saturday night and find out.
