Canadiens need to play with desperation: Julien
Montreal was terrible in faceoff circle and didn’t battle for pucks at the net
Coach Claude Julien said he saw some effort from his players in Thursday’s 2-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, but what he wanted to see was more desperation.
“That’s what we need to turn things around,” Julien said. “Make a little mistake and it’s in the back of our net. That’s just the way it is.”
And even one little mistake is costly because the Canadiens can’t find a way to score goals. The Canadiens scored five goals against the Hurricanes last week in a 6-5 loss in Montreal, but that game was an aberration. Thursday ’s loss marked the 19th time in 51 games the Canadiens failed to score more than one goal.
The Canadiens’ problems began in the faceoff circle. They won only 21 per cent of the draws, which may have been a season low. Byron Froese was 0-for-8 and one of his losses was the mistake that led to Carolina’s first goal. Jonathan Drouin won two of nine; Charles Hudon won four of 15 and the usually reliable Tomas Plekanec won only three of 10.
“We didn’t do a good job at all tonight and you spend a lot of time and you waste a lot of energy chasing the puck,” Julien said. “It would be a lot nicer if we could start with it and save our good energy for managing the puck and being on offence.”
Captain Max Pacioretty said the Canadiens could learn something from the Hurricanes.
“We’re not able to create offence and we have to figure out why and make adjustments to our game to get that offence,” Pacioretty said. “The chances we do get seem to be too much from the outside or one and done and Carolina was a great example tonight. They attacked us with four or five (players) and when they dumped it in, they always seemed to be in an area where they had a guy with speed to get it and they knew when to take the blue-line at the same time.
“It’s frustrating because we can do it,” Pacioretty added. “We haven’t generated any offence and that’s my job. I have to be better at anticipating plays and get the puck in with speed instead of being flat-footed.”
The lack of net presence continues to plague the Canadiens. In practice Wednesday, Julien and his staff worked on battles in front of the net, but there was little evidence of that work in the game. The closest the Canadiens came to scoring was when Brendan Gallagher shovelled a shot into the net seconds after the whistle halted play. But there’s something wrong when the smaller players like Gallagher, Paul Byron and Hudon are the ones battling in front of the net.
“We’d like to see more guys going to the front of the net,” Julien said. “That’s what we’re working on. Is it frustrating? Absolutely. That’s why we worked on it yesterday and we’re gong to keep working on it until we get it right.”
Byron said the Canadiens have to find a way to balance offence and defence. He said in the games where the Canadiens generate offence — and there have been precious few of them this season — “we give up a ton of chances and we know that isn’t a formula for success.
“I think everyone has to tighten up, but sometimes we play too safe,” Byron said. “We play a little guarded, but we have to have confidence in ourselves.”
Byron ducked the question of whether more of his teammates should be battling in front.
“We’re all different players,” Byron said. “Some guys want the puck, some guys create plays. Some guys, like myself and Brendan, are north-south diggers who go in the corners and go in front of the net. That’s where we make our living. We can’t expect everyone to do that.”