Habs need to douse Flames' hopes
For the second straight game, the Canadiens can expect to face a fired-up Calgary Flames team Friday at the Bell Centre (6 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
The Flames totally outplayed the Canadiens in a 4-1 victory Wednesday improving their chances of making the playoffs to 7.1 per cent, according to sportsclubstats.com, up from 2.4 per cent. The Canadiens' playoff chances are 91.3 per cent, falling from 96.7 per cent.
The Canadiens remain in the driver's seat, holding the fourth and final playoff spot in the all-canadian North Division with an 18-13-9 record, four points ahead of the fifth-place Flames (19-21-3) while also holding three games in hand. After Friday's game, the Canadiens still have three more games remaining against the Flames, all in Calgary. The Flames are 4-1 against the Canadiens this season.
The Flames are on a threegame winning streak, during which goalie Jacob Markstrom allowed only three goals and had a .957 save percentage. The Canadiens are 1-4 in their last five games.
“We've played in two pretty tough buildings the last two nights and a late night last night,” Flames head coach Darryl Sutter said after Wednesday's win, noting their 3-2 OT win over the Maple Leafs Tuesday in Toronto, followed by a late-night arrival in Montreal. “So I think the team functioned pretty well as a group tonight.”
Sutter said there wasn't an increased sense of desperation with his team.
“No, I don't think so,” he said. “I think we're pretty focused on how we have to play to beat Montreal. We knew last night (in Toronto) that we were going to have to check our asses off to try and win that game and we did. I give our guys credit. First period tonight, we came out and played really well.”
The Canadiens, who had a day off Thursday, need to increase their sense of desperation heading into Friday's game or this playoff race is going to get very interesting. Not making the playoffs after all of GM Marc Bergevin's off-season moves, followed by a promising 7-1-2 start to the season, would be a disaster.
The Flames have won all three games they have played against the Canadiens since Sutter took over as head coach last month while limiting them to three goals. Sutter has obviously figured out how to shut down the Canadiens.
“We know what style they bring," said defenceman Brett Kulak, who scored the Canadiens' only goal Wednesday. "We look at our playing style and we always focus on us. We touch base on a little bit what the other team's doing to know what to expect.
“But our main focus is us and our preparation getting ready to play our game. And when we do that and we're managing pucks and we're putting pucks in deep and wearing them down in their D -zone, good things happen for us. So that's what we're going to get back to.”
Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin said this week that his team has been very good at times and “confusing” at times. That's a very good way to put it.
The Canadiens have not been able to string together more than three wins in a row all season. They had a 9-5-4 record when Claude Julien was fired as head coach and they are 9-8-5 since Dominique Ducharme took over.
“I think there's maybe two or three teams in the league who manage to be consistent at a high level,” Kulak said. "And even then at some point in the season, there's always some lows. There's no bad teams in the league. Every night is a battle and you can't just come in and games are going to be easy. Sometimes we get on our rolls and you get feeling good. And then sometimes, when you're in the D -zone a little more and you don't have that same energy going, it can be a little bit more of a grind. That's just things you've got to work through and it's going to be like that the rest of the season and it's going to prepare us for playoffs.”
A playoff spot still isn't guaranteed, but a win over the Flames Friday would be a big step in that direction. It will take a much better effort than what we saw from the Canadiens on Wednesday.
“Our systems that we play, we know we can beat any team and we've seen that," Kulak said. "We feel that as a group and we know we have the players to get the job done and we can win and go deep in the playoffs and win a Stanley Cup. So we trust our group and ... it sucks losing like that and we wish we could go back and start the game over. But we've just got to move on and make sure we're coming and ready to work hard Friday.”
That would be a good start.