Montreal 1 Minnesota 3 (Bell Centre)
A fifth loss in a row has a way of making folks grumpy.
While the boo-birds reserved their serenade for the return of Guillaume Latendresse, Bell Centre fans instead chose to express their displeasure with their feet leaving a number of empty seats by the end of the game.
Players weren’t in a good mood either. “It’s a tough thing we’re going through,” Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill said. “We’ve been playing a lot better, we’ve been in games, we’re just coming out on the wrong end of them and we’ve got to find something to make the difference. We’ve got to dig a little deeper and get some goals and find a way to capitalize on chances.”
However, coach Jacques Martin had a much different view. “We had better discipline tonight with only one penalty, so that’s positive after the last couple of weeks,” Martin said.
Whether the Canadiens were more disciplined or simply ran into a more tolerant officiating crew, is debatable (Minnesota was only called for two minor penalties). But the coach went on to say that he liked the effort and the ability to create scoring chances.
Reading between the lines of Martin’s post-game comments after the loss in Buffalo, I speculated that the coach was looking longingly at the return date of Andrei Markov as a solution to his problems. Tonight the coach seemed to confirm it. “I’m encouraged with how we played, and also that Mara was able to play,” Martin said. “We have other players who should be coming back soon, and that should help.”
There were some positives tonight. The Canadiens outshot the Wild 31-21, the first time in 14 games that they went over the 30-shot mark. The Habs abandoned their passive system in the second period and third periods, pressuring the Wild and outshooting them 24-10.
Andrei Kostitsyn continued his hot pace scoring his seventh goal in the last seven games. Scott Gomez showed some extra jump with an assist and a team-leading five shots.
With the injury to Roman Hamrlik, Paul Mara was rushed back into duty. Mara didn’t look out of place and was physical in the first period but faded as the game wore on. One wonders if Yannick Weber would have been a better choice, or at the very least, dressed as a seventh defenseman. He could have taken the place of Georges Laraque who played only three shifts and had less than two minutes of icetime.
It was not a good night for the defense pairing of Hal Gill and Josh Gorges. Gill was on the ice and a contributing factor to all three Minnesota goals. Robbie Earl used his speed to embarrass Gill on the Wild’s first goal.
Earl’s goal is one that Carey Price would like to have back. The Wild won the goaltending duel with Niklas Backstrom having a great game. Minnesota’s solid defense didn’t allow many second-chance opportunities for the Canadiens.
The return of Latendresse to Montreal was a non-event on the ice. He had no shots on goal and 14 minutes of ice-time. “To be honest, I had some trouble controlling my emotions,” Latendresse said. “I was very nervous in the first, it kind of dipped in the second, but between the second and the third it came right back. I’d say I was never able to get on top of the situation.”
The Canadiens were held to one goal for the second night in a row by a Jacques Lemaire built team. The Habs aren’t going to win many if they can’t find ways to generate more offense.
Montreal begins a nine game road trip with a game against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Mikko Koivu
2. Andrei Kostitsyn
3. Cal Clutterbuck
Material from wire services was used in this report.
(photo credit: Getty)
I suppose getting more than 30 shots for the first time in an eternity is a positive. So is taking 1 penalty.
At the end of the day, it's about wins and losses and the Canadiens are quickly playing themselves out of a playoff spot. If 90 points is the cut-off (and that may be low), then the Canadiens need to play .620 hockey from here until the end of the season. Can you see that happening, even with all of the players back from injury? I have a hard time believing it can happen.
To me the biggest positive of the game was seeing Martin attempt to change his system. He allowed the team to attack, to forecheck harder and even had the "guts" to pull Price with 3 minutes left.
As for Price, the pressure he's now finding himself under is unfair. He gave up a bad goal in Jersey, and a softie on the 1st Wild goal last night. When your team is only scoring 2.4 goals per game all year, goals like that will get you in the fans' doghouse quickly. That's not fair to Price, as he's been very good lately.
This upcoming road trip to me represents the most important stretch of the Habs' season. They need to start accumulating wins, and immediately. A poor record (against relatively equal to inferior opposition) on this road trip may be the final stake in their heart, and it would be delivered before January 1st. Rose-coloured glasses-wearing homers, pie-in-the-sky dreamers and cock-eyed optimists aside, how would being effectively out of the playoff race by January 1st sit with realistic Habs fans? Of course we will still hear from those who will trust that the team can somehow approach .700 hockey. How would the rest of us react to having a team that is nose-to-nose against the salary cap, yet thoroughly mediocre? Maybe it's a good thing. It will undoubtedly force the Molsons to change something, won't it?
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