CANADIENS
Montreal

CAPITALS
Washington

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Desharnais – Weise
Eller – Galchenyuk – Carr
Fleischmann – Plekanec – Byron
Flynn – Mitchell – Smith-Pelly[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Beaulieu – Subban
Markov – Petry
Tinordi – Emelin[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Tokarski

Scratches:  Sven Andrighetto, Greg Pateryn, Tom Gilbert
Injured reserve:  Brendan Gallagher, Carey Price

Game Report

A typical response when one raises the possibility of firing Michel Therrien goes like this: ‘Are you crazy? His regular season record since re-joining the Canadiens is 145-78-26!’

Then ask who is to blame for the Habs current 1-10-0 streak? ‘It certainly isn’t Therrien. He’s not on the ice. The coach isn’t the one who can’t score a goal.’

Hmmm. Sounds like a double standard to me.

It’s the coach’s record when the team is winning but he is held blameless when the Habs can’t buy a win. This isn’t any normal slump.

There have been some bad Canadiens teams in the last 15 years, including the one that delivered Alex Galchenyuk, the third overall pick in 2012. But none of them have put together a losing streak like these Habs. But even a cursory glance at any of the weak rosters of the past should convince you that while there are holes, this team is better than they have been playing recently.

Prior to leaving for Washington, coach Therrien said that over the holidays he had been looking at video and thinking about what had gone well at the beginning of the season and what has been going wrong the past 10 games. Therrien came to this conclusion, “You know what? We’re playing better the last 10 games than we did the first 10 games, but we don’t have the results.”

With all due respect, that’s ridiculous.

It’s true that the Canadiens have been the better possession team in many of their past dozen games, but they aren’t able to finish.

If it was one player, it would be called a slump. We could even extend that to two players. But when it is affecting the entire team, there is a systemic problem.

It is an issue of confidence. Without Carey Price to provide it, confidence is at a season-low. Normally, it is the responsibility of the coach to contribute to player confidence and self-esteem. But that has never been a strength of Therrien. He is expert, however, at stripping confidence from select players.

Interesting, isn’t it, that the players who have spent the least time when the coach are the only ones performing. Daniel Carr and Sven Andrighetto top the list of scorers in December.

The players have lost their confidence and their trust in the system that they play. And that goes double for the leadership group.  The smart money says that the coach has lost them already.

But make no mistake. Whether you are critical of the head coach or a Therrien-supporter, this is Michel Therrien’s problem to fix. It is his responsibility to create the environment that allows his players to succeed.

Marc Bergevin will likely come to the rescue for his friend pulling the trigger on a trade where the Canadiens will overpay for whomever they acquire. And no doubt, the move will create a temporary bump. But that core problem between Therrien and his players will not be solved until the coach loses the stubborn, arrogant approach that has got him fired in the past.

Therrien may believe that he is above reproach in Montreal this time. There are certainly legions of apologists especially in the mainstream media.  But even they are finding it hard to justify his continued employment.

Remember, coaching staff don’t count against the cap. So to use the “fiscal” argument for one of the richest teams in the NHL is pathetic.  And indicative that even they are running out of excuses for this coach.

After spending the first month as the toast of the NHL, the Canadiens are four points out of ninth place in the conference. Montreal will play two games in Florida early in the week and then it is off to the Winter Classic. It’s not too hard to imagine a scenario where the Bruins, with a win on January 1st, could put the Habs out of a playoff spot.

Keep in mind that as of December 27th, with only 12 games played, Carey Price still leads the Canadiens in wins.

▲     Daniel Carr, Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller, P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov, Mike Condon

▼     Nathan Beaulieu, Alexei Emelin, Jeff Petry, David Desharnais, Dale Weise

1. Jay Beagle  WSH
2. Tom Wilson  WSH
3. Nate Schmidt WSH

• “We’re looking, offensively, way too much for the perfect play with no results. We stayed way too much on the outside with no results. We need to make sure to put our nose in the kitchen and pay the price a little bit more. We played against a really good hockey team, probably the best team in our conference. It was a tough day for us. You’ve got to give the Capitals a lot of credit; they’re a good hockey team.“

Max Pacioretty

• “We’re not far off. When you don’t feel good about yourself, when the confidence isn’t there, I don’t think you give it the extra 5, 10 percent. It looks a lot worse than it is — and it is bad and we have to take responsibility for it — but we’re not far off from playing the right way.“
• “No one will feel sorry for us if this keep going, there will be consequences.”

P.K. Subban

• “We all need to bring a little bit more. Ultimately that’s going to make the difference in a hockey game, and right now we’re almost 40 games in and teams are getting ready for that second half and the playoffs and trying to find out where they stand amongst the League, and we have to understand that teams are looking at us as an opportunity.”

Capitals coach Barry Trotz

• “A lot of the times our top line has to carry the load. This team relies on different people to contribute, and when there’s an extra goal or two from the third line — tonight we got two — it makes us even more dangerous when those guys are contributing. I thought they were the best line. They had lots of zone time, they were good on faceoffs, they had some good looks, and they were physical.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com