Canadiens need to find a way to spark offence

The Canadiens are three games into a new season and, as they prepare for the home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN-690 Radio), there are some impressions to be gleaned from the three-game road trip that opened their season.

Let’s start by acknowledging that general manager Marc Bergevin was being overly optimistic when he said he thought the defence was better than last season.

You can’t lose a veteran like Andrei Markov and say goodbye to Alexei Emelin, Nathan Beaulieu and prospect Mikhail Sergachev without feeling some pain. But the defence may be the least of the Canadiens’ problems. Working new faces into the lineup is a work in progress, and the defence was decent in two of the three games.

The Canadiens escaped with a 3-2 shootout win last Thursday in Buffalo, were humiliated 6-1 in Washington Saturday and then dropped a 2-0 decision to the Rangers Sunday in New York.

The Rangers’ game put the focus on the Canadiens’ biggest problem — the inability to score goals. That was the reason the Rangers bounced the Canadiens from the playoffs last season. The goal during the off-season was to bolster the offence, but there has been no discernible improvement to date.

It’s not a question of generating chances. The Canadiens had 40 shots in Buffalo, they outshot Washington 39-23 and had a 34-25 edge in New York. All that firepower has produced three goals, and two of them were short-handed.

“We had a couple of goals in the first period that were turned back, so we felt we were playing fairly well,” coach Claude Julien said after the game in New York. “At the end of the day, it was the same result. We had lots of chances, but we have to finish better. I thought it was an improvement from our last game — defensively, breaking out, managing the puck. I thought we spent a lot of time in the other team’s end, and the next step is to find a way to capitalize on those opportunities.”

The first period was crucial in both weekend losses. Washington scored twice in the first minute and was up 3-0 by the 2:51 mark. Brendan Gallagher netted a shorthanded goal in the second period, but a couple of defensive miscues by veteran Mark Streit led to two more Washington goals.

Streit was replaced by Brandon Davidson Sunday and he played a solid game after what Julien described as an “average” training camp. The Canadiens are hoping the defence gets another boost with the addition of David Schlemko, who has been out since training camp with a bruised hand.

But the offence remains the major concern. The key off-season addition was Jonathan Drouin. He’s playing centre on a regular basis for the first time since junior, and Julien says the key is to be patient.

The Canadiens will face a major test this week. After the Chicago game, they will have a few days off to prepare for a game against Toronto on Saturday. The Blackhawks and the Maple Leafs have exploded out of the gate with 15 goals each in their first two games. To match firepower like that, the Canadiens will have to find a way to score.