Written by: Iain Carnegie, AllHabs.net
MONTREAL, QC. — Somewhere near three o’clock this morning it began. The clouds opened up, and feathering down through the Montreal air came the snow. And just like most snowfalls in Montreal, it has remained consistent throughout the morning and well into this afternoon.
With over a quarter of the season past, the Habs find themselves in a very precarious situation. The end of November is upon us and that means a tough month ahead — a month which has been notoriously hard on this franchise. It’s a month that sees the longest road trip of the year in which Les Boys will face two division rivals, and some fierce competition in general.
But before they can even get there, they must close out the month of November facing the Flyers and the newly “Crosby-infused” Penguins.
As things stand to date, the club sits with a 9-9-3 record (21 points) placing them dead last in the Northeast, and eleventh overall in the Eastern Conference. It’s a far cry from the 13-7-1 record of last year (27 points) where they constantly toyed with holding down the number one spot in the division.
Five-on-Five play has been sporadic at best, with the team showing no consistency in finding the back of the net. They have games where they break out, hammering the opposition, only to be followed up by games where the team can’t seem to buy a goal. In the past, many would have said it was a problem with the size of the team, but that was addressed over the off-season to some degree, and yet there has been no improvement in the goal scoring category for the Habs.
Last year at this time, the Canadiens had amassed 53 goals, while surrendering 42. This year, they have allowed eight more goals against, while the offense has produced the exact same number of goals. This might suggest that the defensive unit, and perhaps the goaltending has been weaker. Strike the goaltending, Carey Price just received the honour as the NHL’s First Star of the week for the second time this season.
It’s no secret that Josh Gorges has had a tough start to the season, and that Hal Gill and P.K. Subban have riddled the play of the team with mistakes. We all know that a healthy Andrei Markov would make a huge difference to the transition portion of the game, so he’s been missed. Having Ryan White back in the line-up might have an impact on the bottom six. But in the end, this team needs to find more consistent play.
I’ve commented before about the special teams fiasco that has plagued the team over the beginning of the season, which you can read here; and I’m not certain that it’s been solved. Having Erik Cole on the power-play on a regular basis has definitely been an improvement, but going zero for three against the Bruins in their last outing doesn’t cut it.
As things stand going into tonight’s game against the Hurricanes, Montreal’s top two goal scorer’s have nine and seven goals respectively (Max Pacioretty and Brian Gionta). The teams that are excelling in the standings are showing far more depth, team-wide in scoring goals, with the only anomaly being the Rangers (47GF v 38GA).
There’s only one real solution to the goal scoring woes, and that’s for the top six forwards to step up their game, get more quality shots on net, and take the dirty goals as often as possible. At the end of the day, they count with the same level of importance as the pretty ones.
Mike Cammalleri can snipe with the best of them, but his game has been lackluster – even taking into account his injury. When Travis Moen is up there on your production list of goal scorers, you can only shake your head and wonder. I’m even hearing some fans say they can’t wait for the return of Andrei Kostitsyn.
I know it’s difficult to remain consistent when the line-up constantly is plagued with rotation due to injury, but Montreal isn’t the only team that has to face this fact. As the Habs take to the ice tonight in Raleigh, perhaps they can take a note of lesson from the weather that is encompassing their city at home, and somehow find a way to play with the same consistency, as that of the falling snow.