(Los Angeles) There isn’t a million rounds a team can use to get back on track in a season.
A dismissal? Quite unlikely when the head coach has just signed a contract after bringing his team to the final. A major transaction? Although the CH were in the race to acquire Jack Eichel, the Sabers forward is injured.
There remains the good old team meeting after a defeat. The season is only nine games old and that cartridge was burned on Saturday.
The Canadian indeed held a team meeting after – another – stinging setback, a 5-2 caning at the hands of the Kings who, contrary to what the score suggests, did not count exactly on Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille and Rob Blake in their training.
A good twenty minutes passed between the final siren and the arrival of David Savard in the press room. Neither he, nor Ben Chiarot, nor Tyler Toffoli obviously went into the details of this meeting, which was originally believed to be between players only. Dominique Ducharme either – “I can’t pick them up every two days either”, however wisely reminded the head coach.
So Marc Bergevin did it. The general manager of the Canadiens, whose future beyond the month of April is still unknown, addressed the players.
This is not a first, however. Bergevin did so in December 2015, after his team suffered a sixth straight loss. CH had won their next game, three of the next five in fact, before resuming their setbacks.
For those who have forgotten, this 2015-2016 campaign ended at the end of November for Carey Price. Again this season, it is without its number 1 goalkeeper – at least in the medium term – that the team will have to find solutions.
This time, it’s not that the Habs are at the heart of a series of defeats, but rather that they fail to line up the victories in order to catch up with the delay created by the series of five setbacks in raising the curtain .
“I’ve been through things like this before,” Toffoli said. It’s hard to get out of it. It’s a bad sequence and there are several negative elements. You make more mistakes and start cheating on the ice, and you get into more trouble. ”
Disturbing
Beyond the standings, it’s the way this team loses that is troubling.
Of the seven losses, it is already the fifth by a gap of three goals or more. Exclude the 4-1 against the Hurricanes, because the CH was in the game, the last goal was scored in an empty net and the Hurricanes are an excellent team. Hard to say the same for the Sharks, Sabers, Kraken and Kings, the authors of the others Thawed. Should we add that the Kings were deprived of their first two defenders?
Also, how do you explain the reaction of the team after they played a very decent first period? The middle period was atrocious, but as Ducharme recalled, “it’s 2-1, you can come back in third and change the wind”. We let you guess the rest.
“It takes a certain level of competition and work to win in this league, and right now we don’t do it consistently. Our results prove it, ”said Chiarot.
An example ? Take the shorthandedness. Again Saturday, it is three goals allowed in this situation, for a total of 12 since the start of the season, for a success rate of 64.7%. If he was dead, the word “success” would turn over in his grave.
The Kings have scored twice on similar games, shooting the wrists from the top of the face-off circle. Dylan Larkin scored that way last Saturday for the Red Wings. Timo Meier, Kyle Okposo, Victor Olofsson and Pierre Engvall also hit the target as well. It’s as if there is an instruction manual lying around somewhere, maybe even with a smiling man like at IKEA.
“We made some adjustments in San Jose and it went well. But sometimes you have to concede something, and you try to give what is less dangerous, and to make sure that the goalkeeper knows where it comes from, ”analyzed Ducharme. He didn’t say it, but we’ll say it for him: Jake Allen wasn’t in top form either.
Chiarot, him, recalled that there is a part of sacrifice there, it is obvious. You have to be ready to get in the line of fire when the time is right. You also have to pay attention to details and make sure you are well positioned ”.
Chiarot must know what he is talking about; he was his side’s most used shorthanded player in this game (3:29), but the Kings scored their three goals during the roughly 2:30 he was on the bench! It is rather against the Romanov-Savard duo that they have cracked down.
The problems are many, the time limited. The Habs will get back to work this Sunday afternoon, against the Ducks, another team expected in the bottom of the standings this season.
“If we win, we are 3-2 in our last five games,” said Ducharme. Difficult to share his optimism, but if he himself does not believe it, who will believe it?
In details
A spoiled return
The day had started well for Tyler Toffoli. From the first commercial break, we presented on the giant screen a montage of his best moments – especially goals – in the Kings uniform, which he has worn for 515 games of the season. Individually, he did not miss his return to Los Angeles, delivering a very decent performance. There was a chance to score early in the game, when goalie Calvin Petersen handed him the puck, along with a good bodycheck from the start and strong defensive play halfway through the game to deprive Arthur. Kaliyev with a goal. Toffoli, however, seemed deeply disappointed with the turn of events after the meeting. “The video was really good. I had a great time here. I just find it unfortunate that it was wasted, ”he explained, with some emotion in his voice.
Big bill for Danault?
Conversely, Phillip Danault did not miss his reunion with his old friends, which will cost him a few dollars if he did indeed put money at stake, as he had suggested on Friday. Danault was not transcendent, even losing the face-off that led to Josh Anderson’s goal in the first period. But the Quebecer also prepared Alex Iafallo’s second goal, and above all, he was part of the winning team. Danault also delivered some very intense fights to Nick Suzuki; they crossed each other eight times in the face-off circle.
The next generation at work
We’re starting to see what the Kings will look like two or three years from now. Rasmus Kupari (1er tour, 2018), Arthur Kaliyev (2e tour, 2019) and Tobias Bjornfot (1er tour, 2019) all played an important role in this victory. The first two scored. Kupari hit the target with a “Brett Hullesque” shot, while Kaliyev recalled that he had not scored 52 goals by chance in his draft year in the junior ranks. Bjornfot, on the other hand, spent nearly 21 minutes on the ice and demonstrated his speed during a pullback to deprive Toffoli of a breakaway. All is not rosy, however; Gabriel Vilardi, 11e total choice in 2017, was left out.
They said
We will never let go. I won’t let them go, I won’t let go, that’s for sure. And I don’t think we have these types of players there either on our team.
Dominique ducharme
It’s 2-1 at the start of the third period. But in 10 seconds [23 secondes, en réalité], we take a punishment. It’s one of the worst ways to start a period, especially when you want to get back into a close game. It killed the game. You have to be able to manage that. You have to be better than that.
Dominique ducharme
Our penalty kill is not good enough. Our adversaries enter our zone too easily. That’s the key to a good power play. And we, on the power play, are not generating enough chances.
Tyler toffoli
These are things that happen. It was time to talk and that’s what we did.
David Savard, on the team meeting
We had our rhythm, it turned after a few penalties, but we have to be able to recover and play in their zone. It takes effort and competitiveness and we are not able to do that.
Ben chiarot
Rising
Cole caufield
He’s still chasing his first goal of the season, but it’s not for lack of trying. He got four shots, one of them cutting into the enclave, in order to give himself the best possible chance.
Falling
Jake allen
After his evening of 45 stops in San Jose, he fell back to Earth. He was beaten in the “chicken wing” on first base and allowed a long comeback on fourth.
The number of the match
29
Cédric Paquette won 29% of his faceoffs in this match (2 in 7). It’s also his success rate this season. The absence of Jake Evans hurts the Canadiens in this facet of the game.