Habs can draw positives from pair of road losses
There were some encouraging signs on the Canadiens’ two-game foray to the south, but the results continue to be disappointing.
Montreal salvaged a point when Joe Morrow scored a late goal to force overtime Wednesday in Nashville, but their losing streak stretched to five games (0-3-2).
If you want positives, the Canadiens’ defence held two highpowered teams in check despite the absence of No. 1 defenceman Shea Weber.
And there were two quality goaltending performances, by Charlie Lindgren in Dallas Tuesday and by Antti Niemi in Nashville.
But no matter how good the defence, a team isn’t going to win too many games without scoring, and the Canadiens produced only three goals in two games. Only one — Brendan Gallagher’s teamleading ninth goal in Dallas — was scored by a forward.
The Canadiens head into Saturday’s home game against Buffalo (7 p.m., Sportsnet, TVA Sports, TSN-690 Radio) with the worst offensive production in the NHL, a mere 2.30 goals a game. In a season when scoring is up in the league, Montreal’s production is down from the 2.72 goals a game it averaged last season when lack of offence was viewed as the team’s No. 1 problem.
Coach Claude Julien bemoaned the lack of scoring in the Dallas game by trotting out the old line about your best players having to be your best players. He was referring to the top line of Jonathan Drouin flanked by wingers Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk. They had one shot on goal in Dallas.
On Wednesday, Julien said the trio would stay intact, but would be on a short leash. Julien gave the trio high marks for effort in Nashville, but they failed to put any points on the board. When asked to assess the line’s performance, Pacioretty replied: “Not great.”
Pacioretty has gone five games without a goal; Drouin hasn’t scored in seven games and Galchenyuk’s drought has hit 11 games.
The Canadiens came into this season convinced Galchenyuk is not a centre, but you have to wonder if that’s also the case for Drouin. He has won only 39.6 per cent of his faceoffs. That means the Canadiens are chasing the puck on many of the line’s shifts. In Nashville, he won only two of his 13 draws — a success rate of 15 per cent.
The biggest problem is the three players seem incapable of helping each other. Galchenyuk and Drouin miss the injured Artturi Lehkonen, who made clean entries into the zone and was willing to muck it up in the corners.
Weber skated in the morning before both games, but was scratched at game time. He said his lowerbody injury is something that has bothered him for a while and it reached the point where he didn’t think he could help the team.
Weber said his ailment is getting better, but over the past week he has gone from playing 27 to 28 minutes a game to not playing. He joins Carey Price and David Schlemko on the day-to-day list.
But defence hasn’t been the problem. The makeshift pairings and goaltenders have given the Canadiens a chance to win. The offence hasn’t returned the favour.
Jakub Jerabek made his NHL debut Wednesday and the former KHL player showed poise and an ability to move the puck. His arrival and the imminent return of Schlemko could have repercussions for rookie Victor Mete, a healthy scratch Wednesday. Don’t be surprised if the Canadiens loan Mete to Team Canada for next month’s world junior championships.
In other news, the Canadiens traded Torrey Mitchell to the Los Angeles Kings for a conditional fifth-round draft pick. If the Kings make the playoffs, it becomes a fourth-round pick.