Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, Brendan Gallagher, Marc Bergevin, Dominique Ducharme, Paul Byron, Ben Chiarot

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Canadiens started the week by snapping their three-game losing streak with a 4-2 win against the Maple Leafs on Monday.

“Anytime you play the Leafs, you get up for these games. They’re always big games to play. I think we all had confidence going into tonight’s game. After losing three, we wanted to come out and play with full energy. I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight and set the pace of the game,” Josh Anderson said.

On Wednesday, the Flames dominated the Canadiens, and went on to a 4-1 victory. “We got the result we deserved. We didn’t deserve to win. It’s just as simple as that,” Dominique Ducharme said.

Tyler Toffoli snapped his six-game goal drought by scoring twice as Montreal handed Calgary a 2-1 loss on Friday. Toffoli reached the 20-goal mark in a season for the fifth time and 38 games consists the fewest amount of games to reach that milestone in his career.

“Just having a good start with the team, and them having a lot of confidence in me to be put out there in key situations. That gives you confidence. From the start of the year, I’ve just been trying to work and stay consistent,” Toffoli explained his success.

On Saturday, the Senators embarrassed the Canadiens 4-0 at the Bell Centre. It was the fifth time in eight games that Ottawa has been victorious against Montreal. “We lacked execution at times during the game. We didn’t generate enough traffic in front of Matt Murray. I’d say those were the main reasons why we didn’t score,” coach said.

Slow Starts

Montreal has lost five of their last seven matches, all in regulation. With all games being within the division this year, leaving so many points on the table is impactful. As a result, the Flames are hanging by a thread in the battle for the fourth spot in the Scotia North division.

During this seven-game stretch, there’s been a trend of Habs having a slow start. They allowed the first goal in all five losses, and scored first in their two victories. This is a sign of a club that’s fragile.

“Our starts to games aren’t where they should be. The Senators were skating faster and winning the battles. They wanted the puck more than we did. We played better after the first 10 minutes,” said Paul Byron on Saturday.

“It would be nice to get a lead early, just to get some confidence going and get those feel-good starts. It’s all about just building momentum right off the start of the game,” Carey Price added.

The Canadiens have won two of the 18 games this year, where they allowed the opponent to score the opening goal. It’s the least amount of wins in this category by any team in the NHL, tied with the Canucks.

“The biggest thing is being ready right from the start, and matching the intensity that the other team is going to bring,” Ben Chiarot said.

“We had the same preparation, we knew what was coming. I didn’t like our first 10 minutes, after that it was better,” Ducharme said. The lack results should dictate that the preparation needs to be adjusted.

Lack of Scoring

In addition to the club struggling to score first, they’re not scoring at any time during a game. In the last seven games, Montreal has put the puck in the back of the net 11 times in total. It’s really 10, as one of those instances was into an empty net.

“We have to find a way to play together and support each other, we have to go to the net and find a way to get second, third and fourth chances. We have to find a way to produce more offensively. But, we aren’t getting the puck enough, we have to start by winning the battles and going to the net to score goals,” said Byron.

“I think we need to create more chances around the net. It doesn’t seem like we get very many dangerous chances,” Chiarot said. The Canadiens defender made his return from injury on Saturday, and shared his insight from watching the game from the press box.

“That’s something I noticed, that we need to generate some more offense and more high-danger chances and get the puck to the slot a little more. You’re not going to win many games scoring one or two goals.”

Montreal has scored two or less goals in six of their last seven games. It’s a thin margin that puts a lot of pressure on the defencemen, and goaltenders to protect a victory.

“We lacked execution at times during the game. We didn’t generate enough traffic in front of Matt Murray. I’d say those were the main reasons why we didn’t score,” added the coach. Ducharme’s message for Monday’s contest against the Oilers will be to get into the dirty areas.

Lineup Changes

Many observers, including myself, believed at the start of season that this was the deepest roster that the organization has had in years. Stanley Cup champions Corey Perry, and Michael Frolik were on the taxi squad. That’s how the deep the roster that Marc Bergevin built was, which would allow the team to play any style of hockey.

The internal competition would make the club that much better because the players would battle to hold on to their spot in the lineup. When Eric Staal was in quarantine following his acquistion, Byron, Artturi Lehkonen, and Jake Evans played their best hockey of the year.

Fast-forward to the trade deadline, and Ducharme has been handcuffed and can’t use the team’s depth to the full extent. After the deadline, each club is permitted to make four recalls from the taxi squad or the minors. The Canadiens used three recalls on April 12th, to recall Alexander Romanov, Xavier Ouellet, and Byron from the taxi squad.

The three players were on the taxi squad in order to create cap space for the general manager to upgrade his roster on trade deadline. Bergevin used the room to acquire Jon Merrill, and Erik Gustafsson. In other words, potential upgrades for the third pairing on defence.

Meanwhile, no reinforcements available for the forward group. Eric Staal’s tenure has been highlighted with the overtime winner that he scored in his debut against the Oilers, and the 59.3 percent success rate at the face-off circle. He was acquired to help with the team’s struggles at winning draws, but the rest of his play has been underwhelming. Since his arrival, Staal is a minus-8, worst on team.

Missing Gallagher

On Saturday, Ducharme announced that Brendan Gallagher won’t need surgery on his thumb. It’s excellent news for the forward. Gallagher has missed the last seven games. Is it a coincidence that the struggles began at the exact same time of his injury?

Since Gallagher began his NHL career, the Canadiens have only won 27 of 71 games without their forward in the lineup. He contributes a lot to the team besides his offensive production.

“[Gallagher] brings energy that’s contagious. It’s up to everyone to do their part and put a little Gally spice in their game,” the coach said on Saturday.

“You don’t really replace a guy like Gally, and what he means to our team. His timely goals, leadership, his energy, it’s on everybody to find an extra gear on their game and try to replace it as a team. It’s not an easy thing to do,” added Byron.

The Canadiens head to western Canada for a five-game road trip starting on Monday to face the Oilers twice, followed by three matches against the Flames.

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By Chris G., Senior Writer
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