CANADIENS
Montreal

1-7

LIGHTNING
Tampa Bay

Game Recap:

Primed for a collapse. The Canadiens were riding high at the top of the league with a 3-0-0 record as they arrived in Tampa Bay. Before the night was over, they would be brought back to earth with a humbling loss.  Problems have evident even during the wins.  As mentioned in our Recap after the game against the Flyers, the Habs have only played “solid hockey for four of the nine plus periods” this season. Now make that four of 12.

It’s not sensible to make too much of simple errors after one loss. But given that we have seen the same problems for four games now and that the wins came by the slimmest of margins, they deserve mention.

First line.  Neither Brendan Gallagher nor P.A. Parenteau have been able to help the ‘inseparable’ Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais. Three wins masked the fact the supposed top pair of forwards have not earned their minutes nor contributed as expected. For Desharnais, his struggles go back to a dreadful playoff in the spring.

P.K. Subban. Many are pointing the finger at the $9 million dollar man for not earning his pay cheque. But the truth is that Subban’s play hasn’t even been worth his last year’s salary.  Bad decisions, a lack of discipline and perhaps most surprisingly, not contributing on offence.

Special teams. The power-play simply looks awful now 0-for-14 to start the season.  Given that the first line plus Subban eat up the majority of the power-play minutes, it perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise that their poor play has spilled over to the man advantage.  But let’s add some culpability to Michel Therrien.  With so much talent on the bench, better strategy and personnel choices are the responsibility of the coaching staff.

The other PK. The Canadiens penalty kill has allowed four goals in 18 times shorthanded.  An efficiency of 77.8 per cent is well down from last year’s stat of 85.1 per cent, which ranked fourth in the league.  It’s early but are Subban and Tom Gilbert capable of being as effective penalty-killers as Josh Gorges was last season.

Defence. It’s one thing to be tolerant with mistakes from young players like Jarred Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu. That said, Tinordi has played well in his two appearances.  But it’s more frustrating to see bad defence and poor decision-making by Gilbert and Mike Weaver.

Strategy. When you arrive behind the bench with a sunburn, you better make sure that your gameplan is bulletproof. Michel Therrien’s off day choices are fair game for criticism when just three games into the season, it’s obvious that he spent far too much time by the pool. Defensive zone chaos and inept special teams beg the question why Therrien wasn’t spending more time prepping for an opponent who had something to prove.

While some might add goaltending to this list, it would be misplaced.  Carey Price was solid against the Leafs and stoned the Flyers in the shootout earning the team two wins.  Likewise Dustin Tokarski helped steal the win in Washington.  Neither could do anything to stem the tide tonight while being mostly abandoned by their teammates.

Plus / Minus

▲   Brendan Gallagher, Jarred Tinordi

▼   Tom Gilbert, Mike Weaver, P.K. Subban, David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty, Rene Bourque, Michel Therrien

1.  Steven Stamkos  TBL 
2.  Victor Hedman  TBL
3.  Ryan Callahan  TBL

Coach Michel Therrien

• “We didn’t play a good game. We have to forget about it and focus on the next one. We have to look at the big picture. We picked up six points on the trip. Before we left town, we knew we had a big challenge ahead of us. We still managed to pick up six points.”

Max Pacioretty

• “You don’t want games like this to happen. We show what we are capable of doing when we play the right way. But it was a huge letdown tonight. We just have to control our emotions, never get too high or low.”

Brendan Gallagher

• “I think in Philly, we had a big comeback. It was an emotional win for our group, and we came in here and had another letdown. I think as a group, we just need to learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper

• “This was a must-win game for us. They have been on the road since the start of the season and they were probably a bit tired. When in those situations you have to get those points and we did that. They are a really good team over there.”