by Taylor McIlwaine , Digital Media Producer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
TORONTO, ON.– The Canadiens’ rough patch does not seem to be getting any easier to navigate.
Things got off to a rough start in Montreal on ‘Hockey Night in Canada,’ with the Habs only taking five shots on goal while the Pittsburgh Penguins took 12 on Mike Condon, who kept the boys in play for the first 20 minutes. The 40 minutes that followed proved no better, as Pittsburgh left Montreal with a 2-1 win in their arsenal.
“I think we weren’t good enough coming out of our zone. We didn’t have enough support in our zone. As a group we just didn’t support each other well enough. We’re chipping the puck to nobody we’re not moving our feet; that’s where it started. […] We gotta understand that we have to play a certain way every night to have success. We didn’t do it consistently” – P.K. Subban
While there were not many high points during Saturday night’s home game, two Habs did have quite an effective game including Condon and P.K. Subban, who scored the game’s sole goal. When asked by the media following the loss about his first goal since October, Subban responded by saying “I couldn’t give a shit about my fucking first goal in however long. It doesn’t fucking matter. I’m not a goal scorer. It’s not my job to score goals.”
Here’s a look at what went down Saturday night in Montreal (spoiler alert, it wasn’t much):
Condon said no to Sidney Crosby several times over the course of 60 minutes. Crosby, who has been having a rough go this season, has been showing signs of much anticipated improvement more recently, however, Condon kept him off the scoreboard.
On a lighter note for Habs fans, Phil Kessel tried to score, but scoring on an essentially wide open net is hard work, you guys.
Halfway through the second period, following a penalty taken by Torrey Mitchell, Patric Hornqvist scored, putting the Penguins on the board first. Shortly after, Subban who seems to get an extra kick in his step when playing against Crosby, wound up and took a shot in a way that only he could and put the Habs on the board, 1-1.
Pens didn’t take long to respond as Bryan Rust makes it 2-1. Despite the slightly better play and equal shots on net with 12 a piece in the second period, the Canadiens trail 2-1.
What seems to be happening all too much lately is that the Habs are showing up to play much too late and Saturday was no exception as they only showed signs of truly wanting to win in the last 10 minutes of play. Regardless, the third period remained scoreless until less than 30 seconds left to play. Picture this: Habs are down by only one goal, they are on a power-play and they have pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, then this happens…..
Andrei Markov passes the puck to Eric Fehr who scores on the empty net. Game over, Canadiens lose 2-1.
Up next, the Canadiens have a rare four-day break before they welcome the Chicago Blackhawks to the Bell Centre on Thursday at 7:30 pm. Let’s hope that something gives between now and then.